Hidden Agendas - Geoff Lawson on Waugh and Warne (16 January 1999)
SHANE WARNE and Mark Waugh admitted having accepted payment for giving information that could be obtained from a hundred other sources for free, and were punished by the Australian Cricket Board...four years ago
16-Jan-1999
16 January 1999
Hidden Agendas - Geoff Lawson on Waugh and Warne
Geoff Lawson
SHANE WARNE and Mark Waugh admitted having accepted payment for
giving information that could be obtained from a hundred other
sources for free, and were punished by the Australian Cricket
Board...four years ago. Was their act a capital crime, a minor
misdemeanour or just good management? The debate rages inside and
out of Australia as to whether they have committed a horrible,
unforgiveable, heinous crime or were simply na*ve and foolish.
Some cricket-playing nations want them banned for life (is this
so they don't have to play against two of the world's best?). The
agendas are hidden and multiple.
If someone came up to you on a street corner and offered you £100
for directions to the nearest pub, telephone, taxi, post office
etc., etc., what would you do? Probably raise an eyebrow, think
twice (firstly to recall the information and secondly to think
'this is money for old rope') then take the cash and smilingly
part with the reference. Last time I looked it wasn't a
punishable offence to accept payment for doing very little - if
it were, most of our politicians would be in some strife.
Giving weather and pitch opinions is in a whole different paddock
to fixing matches for bribe money, yet there is an attempt to tar
Waugh and Warne with the same brush. It is obvious that culprits
from the subcontinent are eager to deflect publicity from their
accusations which grow in solidity with each passing day of the
Pakistani inquiry. What punishment will those who are found
guilty of match-fixing face? Sarfraz has allegedly suggested the
death penalty but I feel that is a tad harsh. You only get 20
years for murder in most countries but not Pakistan apparently.
Sadly, it was the players who were trotted out to face the media
and treated like terrorists after a bungled kidnap, rather than
the authorities who acted in secret after Waugh and Warne
admitted the gaff. The ACB and the ICC did not see fit to inform
the cricket public or their fellow cricket nations that attempts
were being made to influence international cricketers. They lost
a prime opportunity to forewarn and therefore forearm the cricket
community.
It appears that match-fixing had its genesis in the early '90s
although we may never quite know the extent to which games have
been affected. The administrators involved at the time have since
hidden behind written statements and underlings, not having the
courage to show their faces and accept responsibility for their
actions as the players have. Now there are inquires in two
countries and already worms are emerging from the woodwork with
more stories of bookmaking inducements.
Where it will all end is anybody's guess at this stage but when
the dust settles will the ICC show decisive leadership? I haven't
got my hopes up.
If they show the same timidity on a matter which affects the very
fabric of cricket's integrity as they have on bowlers who appear
for all the world to have illegal actions and are allowed to
thrive at Test level, then we are in for some very dark times
indeed.