Kick my Salman Butt,but keep a level playing field..

[Steve_uk]

There's no doubt that the latest betting scandal to come to light involving Pakistani cricket has sent shock waves throughout the sporting world,and the halcyon days I remember of listening to the reassuring sound of leather on willow as the sun set over the cloudless skyline have long been dispersed,yet I can't help but feel that there is a fine line between being made a scapegoat and getting away with it with a light slap on the wrist.

That's not to downplay the seriousness of the latest allegations: in a typical day's Test Match of 90 overs with 540 balls you might expect three or four no-balls;the odds of bowling three no-balls in one over would be 200/1 at least. No self-respecting bookmaker should have taken this bet in the first place.Now it's true that there has been a particular problem with Pakistani cricket for the past decade,with suspicious dropped catches and misstumpings,which have undermined the integrity of this game which symbolizes the wider fairness in everyday life. But to consider imprisoning one of the game's best bowlers since the likes of Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram,an 18 year old who was no doubt subject to the peer pressure endemic in today's society,seems excessively harsh. My guess is that Mohammad Amir had been fed tales of the million-dollar salaries earned by India's top stars,and had gone along with the plan as youngsters of that age are wont to do.

When this latest scandal is compared to the Shane Warne and Mark Waugh controversy,the Marsh and Lillee scandal of 1981,or other incidents such as Bruce Grobbelaar or John Higgins,eyebrows might well be raised. One of the solutions,sadly,is to have more professional sportsmen on the bodies such as the ICC,who will spend their entire day scrutinizing every move of their fellow-professionals.The love of money has once again shown itself to be the root of all evil;but if we don't want a completely disillusioned public there is no alternative in this new world of spivs,professional gamblers and spread betting.

 

[Rob44]

methinks you put this post in the wrong section

 

[swooperman]

All 3 sent down for various lengths of sentences up to 32 months.
Reading into it I'd say that none of the 3 considered that jail was an option, until quite late in the day, & I wouldn't think that Wandsworth nick will be a nice place for Butt & Asif tonight, although I've no doubt that they won't serve anywhere near the full term, or even half.
Its interesting to hear Pakistan slag them & wipe their hands of them as normally they're pretty non-committal & back their own.

Its interesting to note the sentences. The captain, Salman Butt, has got 30 months, whereas Asif, certainly as far as I am concerned the main culprit, has received only 1 year? Cricket, more than any other sport in my opinion, places the emphasis of control very firmly on the captain, & he is liable for virtually everything that occurs.
Having played at a half-decent level for years, & captained for many of them I know the score. One of my batsmen was given out by a league umpire 3 or 4 seasons ago now, & had a go at the umpire. He didnt actually moan about his decision, more like pointed out the fact that the umpire had given 3 or 4 'what looked like' poor decisions throughout the match. The player concerned is very much a batsman & believes bowler should probably be castrated at birth & believes every lbw is not out. Generally our umpires can be quite old, but the bigger problem is a fair few haven't actually played the game, which creates major problems, as you have to have a 'feel' for cricket to understand it properly. Anyway, the umpire told me he was reporting him which automatically means the club has to ban him for 2 games, end of story, but the point of the story is that if the tirade had occurred whilst we were fielding then I would have been deemed to not be in control of my team & banned as well. As it was I had to fetch him off the field I've had to drag a fielder off the pitch before as well by his shirt to avoid the same kind of thing. Once an umpire said he wanted to report my opening bat for showing dissent by 'not leaving the crease quickly enough'. I just looked at him, took a deep breath & said 'you mean the fat black kid, yeah?'. The ump said 'thats him, but whats that got to do with it?'. 'Nothing much' I said, 'just hes the only coloured player on either side, as he was the last time I talked you out of reporting him, but you've never reported anyone else that I know of...'
Luckily we havent had him since

Anyway, I digress.butt had a bigger sentence as captain, & probably quite right, but he didnt do the actual overstepping. Now him & asif pleaded not guilty, whereas Amir (18) pleaded guilty. I hope the severity of Butt's is because he ordered the kid to do it, not just because he knew.
Asif has always been in trouble, a shame as hes a good bowler. He was locked up in Dubai (or somewhere) for carrying drugs ffs & has been banned before.
My reservations are: I do feel a bit sorry for Amir. He was being paid £2500, whereas Butt got £10k & asif £65k (how did Asif get the lighter sentence again ) & although you should know wrong from right I guess, he was probably doing what he thought was expected of him, although all those dodgy MP's used the same defence so we shouldnt get too high & mighty here
Amir is 18, & as hes only got a 5 year ban as well as 6 months he may well play again, whereas Butt will be 32 so possibly as hes a batsman, & Asif 33. there's a question: prison sentences yet only a 5 year ban? They don't seem to match to me.

One of the biggest problems here is that nobody was tough enough when all this started appearing. Nobody threatened Hansie Cronje with prison did they? No, maybe they were too lenient & misguided or maybe South Africa was too strong & white?
One of the main things John Major was guilty of (apart from scuttling Edwina Currie obviously which deemed him worthy of a medal if you ask me) was being one of the leaders that stopped on Iraq's doorstep & allowing Saddam to build again, maybe the cricket authorities are guilty of the same?

 

[Steve_uk]

It seems stupid that the British taxpayer is once again footing the bill for prison,when they could have been fined and given a community sentence,and the talented Asif Mohammad has been cut down in his prime. As the pressures in society have increased so this has taken its toll on the cricket field;I can still remember Mike Gatting remonstrating with the umpire in a 1987 Test,the behaviour of whom as an England captain was unknown until that time.However the sport in general compared favourably with football as I was growing up,with football hooliganism rife in England throughout the 1970s,which led to Heysel,we had the lack of investment in grounds which was one of the causes of the Bradford City fire,there was a similar fire on the London Underground,then we had Hillsborough,the victims of whom couldn't escape because they had been caged in like animals..

As far as John Major is concerned,he was happy with his long shadows on cricket grounds,warm beer and old maids bicycling to Holy Communion through the morning mist..in the Gulf War it would be the USA who made the final decision not to invade Iraq,being frightened that the international coalition would have broken apart had there been a move to unseat Saddam.

 

[swooperman]

John Major was 'one of the leaders that made the decision'....that is what he is best remembered for, I pointed out he was not alone.
The whole point is that they have been given prison sentences at the same time as the ICC are insisting it is an isolated event, as in 'wow, thats harsh' so no more questions are asked. I doubt they were alone.
Also presumably you mean the 'talented Mohammed Amir' is cut down down in his prime? Not Asif? Asif as far as I'm concerned is the main protagonist here.
See, I can pick posts apart too

 

[Steve_uk]

John Major was 'one of the leaders that made the decision'....that is what he is best remembered for, I pointed out he was not alone.
The whole point is that they have been given prison sentences at the same time as the ICC are insisting it is an isolated event, as in 'wow, thats harsh' so no more questions are asked. I doubt they were alone.
Also presumably you mean the 'talented Mohammed Amir' is cut down down in his prime? Not Asif? Asif as far as I'm concerned is the main protagonist here.
See, I can pick posts apart too

Yes,Mohammad Amir,as I stated in my original post. As far as John Major is concerned,he explains in the You Tube video Sir John Major Remembers the First Gulf War 17.01.11 just why the coalition forces did not enter Baghdad.

 

[swooperman]

and the talented Asif Mohammad has been cut down in his prime

 

[Rob44]

don't know how this became a gulf war thread, but just as an aside my brother in law, was in iraq for that one and he said that the french foreign legion got to within 25 miles of bagdad before being recalled - not sure if the distance before the recall was ever widely reported (or indeed if his claims are true)?

 

[Steve_uk]

don't know how this became a gulf war thread, but just as an aside my brother in law, was in iraq for that one and he said that the french foreign legion got to within 25 miles of bagdad before being recalled - not sure if the distance before the recall was ever widely reported (or indeed if his claims are true)?

The Voice of America controlled by the CIA urged Iraqis to rebel,then left them to their fate. They made a similar mistake when they funded the mujahideen against the Soviet Union,then abandoned them along with bin Laden. Wikipedia says the French Foreign Legion captured al Salman airport..24km south of Baghdad,so it's probably true.

 

[Gavster]

I wasn't that far away either. I remember being on the Canberra not far from Greece when two harrier jump jets hovered over us. Ahh, memories.