Guess who made cricket crook?

by Tom Pearson

It is ironic that the Warne/Waugh cricket bribe took place in the 1994-95 
season, the 20th anniversary of Kerry Packer's takeover of Australian 
cricket. Back then it was a cricket circus, under lights, with coloured 
uniforms bringing it the derisive title of "pyjama cricket". Packer split 
the game, creating his own international competition alongside the ACB's 
(Australian Cricket Board). Sound familiar? And something else happened 
then: the door to corruption was pushed wide open.

In that cricket circus, pretty well everything was okay. Naked streakers 
became a regular part of the game with Packer's Channel Nine cameras 
caressing every flash. It was great for ratings and bringing in the crowds.

Drunkenness was encouraged, with grog being brought in by patrons by the 
Esky-full. The more booze, the more noise, the more circus atmosphere. This 
was Packer's deformed clone, with the real batting, bowling and fielding 
skills of the game taking a back seat. All was keyed to supply the rush of 
a quick sport fix.

Ratings soared and so did Kerry Packer's profits. With this came increased 
betting by players, the involvement of organised crime, match fixing and 
bribery. It has surfaced occasionally since then. Probably the best known 
incident in Australia up until now being Australian wicket keeper Rod Marsh 
and fast bowler Dennis Lillee in 1981 betting on England beating Australia.

Back to Shane Warne and Mark Waugh. They claim to have been given $5,000 
and $6,000 respectively from an illegal Indian bookmaker during a tour on 
the sub-continent in 1994. In exchange they say they gave the bookie 
information on weather at game venues and on the condition of the pitches. 

This is information the bookie could easily have found on the internet or 
by making a couple of phonecalls. Both cricketers claim they gave no secret 
information, such as the make-up of the team or its tactics. 

So why were they paid $11,000? The answer is that the bookie wasn't buying 
information, he was buying Warne and Waugh. In that context it doesn't 
matter if all they told him was their shirt size, as long as he paid them 
for the information.

Last year bookmakers tried to buy the then captain of the England one day 
team, Adam Hollioake, promising to make him a millionaire if he gave them 
information on who would take the field, tactics and pitch and weather 
conditions.

The corrupt state of the game has reached a point where the Lahore Supreme 
Court in Pakistan is conducting a corruption inquiry into match fixing and 
bribery. The Court wants the two Australian cricketers to go to Pakistan 
and give evidence.

Not surprisingly the ACB has refused that request. They, after all, covered 
up the Warne/Waugh bribe when told about it early in 1995, and that's 
really crook.