London's News of The World newspaper today published details of a sting involving London based Pakistani businessman Mazhar Majeed who allegedly arranged for Pakistan to bowl three no-balls delivered by Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif at designated times in the Lond's Test being played against England this weekend.

Majeed also told the News Of The World reporter the Test match against Australia at the SCG in January was fixed and that the players had made a fortune.

He said that Pakistan captain Salman Butt was the ringleader and that Kamran Akmal and up to seven other players were involved.

http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport/newspaper-sting-claims-pakistan-team-was-involved-in-no-ball-scam/story-e6frep5o-1225911432960

I think all of us tragics knew something was wrong with that loss in Sydney.
The ICC must take action here, its almost certain that these are not isolated events. There has never been as much money on offer as there is now and still these players are prepared to risk their careers taking bribes.

It's still early with the news only just breaking, so I'm waiting for more details and confirmation to jump up and down over this. Having said that when one of the alleged deliberate no balls had this commentary:

2.1
Mohammad Amir to Cook, 1 no ball, 88.3 mph, no-ball this time from Amir, rare from him, the delivery was pretty decent though, swinging away a fraction. Yikes, on replay that was an enormous no-ball, good half a metre over the line

It doesn't look great.

Edit: And IF it does turn out Amir is on the take then that's a tragedy. He has enormous talent and potential to be one of the greats that Pakistani cricket can rebuild around.

last edited by Chakas at 13:08:04 29/Aug/10

f*** that is crazy

pretty hard now to look past that loss in sydney as anything but rigged

If you don't care about cricket, why the f*** did you click on this subject? Please don't come into threads just to post s*** about how uninteresting you find them.

Pretty crazy and sad story, I sorta feel cricket is getting the back seat more and more in Australia (especially Test cricket) because of the glam of 20/20 and the fact that all the drug-smoking, gang-raping NRL and AFL players get all the media spotlight and are the new role models

In some weird way now I'm actually kinda glad they let that game in Sydney go. It just made no f***ing sense to me!

Sorry guys, I won't do it again.

Makes you wonder if this has infected Indian Cricket too or even further.
Throwing a Test match would be harder then throwing say, a 20/20.

Any game Pakistan plays now will have no credibility.
They have to go.
At least ban them from Test Cricket.

I reckon Indian cricket is clean.

Also it is early days yet who knows how many players were involved. And if this Mohammad Amir is the player I was seeing bowl against the Aussies in the recent tests then yeah that is damn shame because he seemed like a fine bowler. South Africa redeemed itself from a match fixing scandal I really think it is now up to how well the authorities handle it.

yeah it's a shame it was him he's one of those fiery guys that bring some sting to an attack

easy for him to bowl a no ball too no one would look oddly at it as he does it a bit unintentionally too because he bowls so fast

yeah they need to be pulled from test cricket atleast, how the f*** can anyone take any game from now on seriously that they play

On their day they can beat anyone, theyve always been a freakish team.
Yet i doubt they earn much at all.
The lure of big money must be tough to refuse.
We also dont know if players are pressured into playing through threats of violence against them or the families back home or even threats on their careers that might go higher up the chain of Pakistan Cricket.

I haven't been able to take the game seriously since Greg Chappel bowled underarm.

Was legal at the time.

Legal vs "it's not cricket" mentality are completely different.

He used an exploit of the rules and set the downfall of a sport.

/yawn

^ is that yawn ok ?

how can the underarm thing have been the downfall of the sport when the greatest australian team of all time came well after that incident?

how can the underarm thing have been the downfall of the sport when the greatest australian team of all time came well after that incident?

If it had any of the players accused in fixing a match in it (and I am going to assume it did) then I doubt it was the greatest. Except at being bookies friends ...

Yeah this is pretty f***ed. Pakistan need a suspension for sure, and the players involved a lengthy (or life) ban. As someone said earlier, it is pretty dumb considering they have won two tests in England this winter against the Poms and us. They have plenty of talent, but plenty of greed as well. They are the embarrassment of world cricket - match fixing, drugs, in-fighting, the laughable PCB, unable to host games in their own country due to security risks.

And then there's this guy...

http://www.cricnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/shoaib-akhtar.jpg

Looks like Cricket isnt the only game with a gambling problem...
remember that Roosters Cowboys game that was alleged to have been rigged ?

The NRL has called in Racing NSW chief steward Ray Murrihy to head up the investigation, which centres around a massive plunge on the first scoring play of last week's Cowboys-Bulldogs match.

Punters stood to win more than $250,000 if the Cowboys opened the scoring with a penalty goal.

Bulldogs prop Ryan Tandy was penalised in front of his side's posts within the first two minutes of the match, but the Cowboys opted to take a quick tap.

The fact that a penalty goal - normally a low-interest option - was so heavily backed convinced bookmakers to stop betting on the option hours before kick-off.

http://tinyurl.com/2cdzu83
Cowboys again involved.

Who played in both of those games
Big Willie

Is that why no Clubs wanted him ?
A huge gambling debt

last edited by FaceMan at 19:31:22 29/Aug/10

didn't shane warne and mark waugh receive thousands of dollars from indian bookmakers for "pitch and weather conditions" info?

bs

Video recording of the matchfixing taking place.

Who played in both of those games Big Willie Is that why no Clubs wanted him ? A huge gambling debt

from what I've read it may be Ryan Tandy.
Ryan Tandy story
Wasn't it him who dropped the ball cold to give away the penalty?
pretty dumb scam though depends on to many factors.

A for cricket scams will they never end? what is it with the Paki's do they honestly think they will get away with it?

People who doubt the Warne and Waugh story really need to rtfm.

Can someone explain how bowling 3 no balls at specifc times is beneficial to someone somewhere?

Is it possible to place bets on specific balls throughout the game and what type of result it is eg, dot ball, 1 run, 4 runs, no ball, etc?

Surely a few big wins on "no ball" results would set off alarm bells anyway.

I can't see any other reason it'd be worth doing...

People can bet on pretty much anything in cricket, leaving it open to spot-fixing. And with all the bookies on the subcontinent and huge sums of money that flow through them, I expect it would get pretty hard to track irregular wins there.

Its to prove that a fix is possible.
A demonstration.

Rubba - as Chakas said, you can bet on the result of any ball with some bookmakers and betting agencies, particularly in India. It's big big business.

Sad news and comes at a bad time for test cricket but good on the investigators for exposing this.

I have a good mate from Pakistan that I called this morning to ask his opinion, he told me that it didn't suprise him because corruption and bribes etc are pretty much everyday life in Pakistan.

filfthy grubs. it's not exactly surprising the pakis are without honour.

filfthy grubs. it's not exactly surprising the pakis are without honour.

I just feel sad about it for Cricket.
Also, if players are being bought, what about Umpires ??

it is very sad, not hard to see how it can happen though.

I mean you cant even turn on the TV to watch cricket or League without them giving sportsbet odds for various outcomes. I don't doubt that league games have been influenced by this. Look at the amazing turnarounds on the weekend for eg. Easts vs Manly was fukn suss as.

yeah it's not the best time for this to happen to test cricket

I mean you cant even turn on the TV to watch cricket or League without them giving sportsbet odds for various outcomes.

Yeah I reckon the betting advertising is getting a bit out of hand, considering its not just during the ads, the commentators are always telling you the odds during the games etc.

I reckon it will go the way of cigarette advertising eventually.

i was always under the impression that that type of advertising was illegal?

when i worked at treasury casino they told us about the changes to the rules so they had to advertise the experience and the restaurants over GAMBLE GAMBLE GAMBLE


pokerstars.net started advertising their freeroll tournies, then just went into advertising the gambling straight out...then sportsbet and the other bets followed

tbh i'd love to have pokies reduced to $1 spins and for casinos to close at 11pm.. who the f*** is making rational decisions pissed at 6am drunk that they can barely key in their pin number and take out a few hundred and blow it?

It's all about the money.

And the OLGR is one of the tightest departments going because of this, if these companies are doing it it's going to be legal or they'd be all over it like a rash. I'm sure you remember how much you had to go through when you got your job at the casino persay, hell when I got my KE license at treasury they did a background check on me longer than I had even been alive. AFP now have all my fingerprints & more and worst I've ever done is get a speeding ticket, woot! Then again I was going into the cage every day - yay lots of money that I can only dream of having.

Then again I was going into the cage every day

you're a cage fighter?

the cage is treasury's name for their vault.

This really puts the ICC and ECB in the path of a lot of criticism if they guess wrong with what to do with the rest of the current tour. If the allegations hold up (especially the ones of 7 players being involved in a match fixing ring) and the tour continues then they'll be in the wrong for not cancelling a tour that is so fully under the cloud of match fixing, and allowing cheats to continue to play the game. However if they do cancel the tour and it turns out to be false accusations (and realistically it needs to be a case of innocent until proven guilty) then whoever cancels the tour will be accused of overreacting in the face of unverified accusations that anyone could falsely make about any player around the world.

While we can speculate now, we may not know anything for sure until it all plays out in court, well after the current tour is over.

you're a cage fighter?

Don't be ridiculous, he's an aviculturist

they have to cancel it chakas, so they over reacted if it somehow comes out that it's bulls***. whoopty f***ing do there are some games of cricket not played. letting them play if it's true is just crap, like making the melbourne storm an entire season for nothing

shows they aren't taking it lightly

If it turns out to not be true the PCB will throw an absolute fit over the tour being cancelled. There will be cries of racism, bias and prejudgment against Pakistan. And then there's a precedent set where any random can come out and claim any other team is on the take and there would be calls for the same treatment and cancelling of tours. Could you imagine if a bunch of people with axes to grind came out after the 2nd test and claimed the Ashes this summer was rigged?

Despite that I am actually leaning towards the view that the tour needs to be cancelled, but I'm just saying it will be a hard call to make for the ICC or ECB. The best scenario for world cricket would probably be the PCB calling off the tour while the allegations are investigated. But I don't see them doing that because it send the message that they think there is a strong possibility of corruption in Pakistani cricket while they are actively trying to downplay the possibility.

The ICC have a anti corruption task force that has obviously failed and has been failing for some time. The PCB can't be trusted to clean it up internally either .. I mean even Asif's bollywood star gf is saying he payed to have his 2 year ban reduced to 1 year lol.

I reckon the ICC decision to let the Pakistan team play on is sending the wrong message, it seems there is enough evidence to use this incident to clean house. Sure it would rock cricket worldwide, but hasn't that already happened? I say throw the f***ing book at them, suspend Pakistan from world cricket for an amount of time and tell them to clean up their act. While they are at it, put the Indians on notice also.

Otherwise we risk the game suffering a long and painful death.

suspend Pakistan from world cricket for an amount of time and tell them to clean up their act

I agree, if the allegations are upheld. Even though it looks pretty bad, we don't have all the details yet and need to presume innocence until guilt is proven. However at that point every sanction and then some need to be thrown at Pakistani cricket to make sure the risks for anyone around the world to fix a match are too grave to ever contemplate.

the only penalty is life bans for all players involved. nothing less will suffice.

Death is beta

Death is beta

The way the Pakistani ppls are reacting I think it's best the players in question don't go home for a while. Wouldn't like to be their families atm - s***.

I seen some footage last night of the Pakis tour bus leaving the test match and Pakistanis were outside throwing food and insults at the bus.
Looks like they are convinced.

Very good article written by Geoff Lawson on the matter, he gives an interesting insight on the matter from the perspective of former Pakistan coach.

Hmmmm.

They sacked him though didnt they ?
Maybe thats why.
Its not like hes going to come out and name anyone but I bet he knows more than hes letting on.

Hey guys remember Bob Woolmer and Hansie Cronje? How are they doing these days?

So as far as I can gather 4 things have happened in the last 12 or so hours:

-Firstly someone from the ACSU met with Asif's ex-girlfriend who claims to have proof or verification that Asif was involved.

-Then the 3 players currently implicated met with people at the Pakistani High Commission in the UK.

-Then there were claims the Pakistani players were setup, but that they were pulling out of the current tour because of "mental torture".

-Their withdrawal from the tour was however meaningless as the ICC provisionally suspended all 3 players anyway, leaving the tour to continue without them. Given 7 players were implicated but only 3 named, it may mean there is still speculation over up to (or even more than) 4 players still in the squad.

yeah, set up my ass.

Lawson's article is almost as bad. If it is true, there is no justification for taking money.

I saw another article that blamed western cultural insensitivies for not understanding the Baksheesh culture which dominates Pakistan and India but refused to admit that there was anything wrong with corruption.