Pakistan have been this way before — their Qayyum Inquiry into match-fixing was damning when it was published in the summer of 2000 — but that was in a time of peace in the country. This latest incident has occurred when the country’s cricket team can only play abroad because of the security situation, and only makes a sad situation tragic.
The facts are that in the first three Tests of this series, Mohammed Amir bowled three no-balls in 105 overs. In the Lord’s Test he bowled 28 overs with four no-balls.
Throughout yesterday Pakistan played as if something was amiss, especially when they batted. Their batting had improved substantially in the Oval Test a week ago, but in only two sessions they lost 14 wickets - a disintegration even by their own mercurial standards.
It had been widely assumed that match-fixing in cricket had been largely eradicated after heat was turned on various players in 2000, notably the Pakistanis identified by Justice Qayyum’s investigation, and the Indians identified by their Central Bureau of Investigation.
But it all seemed much too like a cosy deduction that suited all concerned. No more questions were to be asked by investigators.
The only upshots of note were that the International Cricket Council set up their Anti Corruption and Security Unit and appointed regional officers who lectured young players in the dangers of becoming involved in match-fixing.
But some older players who had been involved escaped the net and lived to fix another day. The game within the game also became more subtle. Instead of fixing results, as happened in the heyday of the 1990s, attention turned to fixing incidents within a match — often of a minor nature, but equally lucrative and insidious, because small events can still influence the result.
Bowling a no-ball in the first over of a game was 'standard practice’, or a wicketkeeper allowing a ball in the first over to go for four byes. A change of batting gloves, or a signal made during a drinks interval, would be enough to confirm the deal between on-field players and the illegal bookmakers or punters.
This crisis, which it will be if the allegations are proven, can be seen as a direct result of the game’s authorities not clamping down much harder when match-fixing was brought into the daylight ten years ago. The ICC were content with the bans imposed by India and Pakistan on their players, while plenty of other players with doubts against their names — from other countries — were allowed to stay and pollute.
The ICC’s regional security officers are few and thin on the ground. The declared practice is for one of them to attend every international match: the officer then keeps an eye on the players’ dressing-rooms, arranges for a close-circuit television camera to monitor comings and goings, and makes sure the players and coaches do not use mobile phones in the course of the day.
But there were many loopholes in the security arrangements for this year’s Edgbaston Test for a start. The old pavilion had been demolished to make way for the construction of a new one, and the temporary dressing-rooms were next to the media centre and a corridor that any hospitality guest could use.
It is understood that a key figure in the News of the World allegations had access to this corridor and the media centre during the second Test at Edgbaston between England and Pakistan.
This routine is clearly insufficient, even at the best of times and at the securest of venues. The ICC has to monitor what is happening on the field of play as well inside and outside the players’ dressing-rooms.
Sudden changes in scoring-rates for example have to be monitored, and the incidence of wides and no-balls — especially no-balls delivered when the bowler oversteps the popping crease by a large margin.
When Lord Condon became the first head of the Anti-Corruption and Security Unit, his initial report argued that there was far too much cricket played — and that the more international cricket there was, the greater the danger of infiltration by illegal bookmakers and punters.
This remains just as true today.
In addition, the link with Indian television has become all the more perilous. Most of the illegal bookmaking is carried out in India, partly to avoid taxation and service the black economy.
In April this year the Essex police announced there were investigating 'match irregularities’ involving the Pakistani legspinner Danish Kaneria and the fast bowler Mervyn Westfield. Kaneria was in Pakistan’s Test party until after the first Test.
Both players have to appear before Essex police on September 15.