Cricket Special Edition: http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Rashid-Latif-c84084 digs deep in match & spot-fixing scandal (Part Two)
“Coming back to Mazhar Majeed, who is a British-born Pakistani and was shown in the video with a huge amount of cash in his possession. The thing which amazed me about the video is that even a person like me who spends his summers in England tries not to carry cash and does all the transactions either online or via debit card.
The big question is that how can Mazhar Majeed carry out a deal in cash. In England, such huge cash dealing is only carried out in drug business, therefore, it gives me an impression that the money on the table was obtained through drug trafficking.
By the look of things it is obvious that the showing of cash is also a part of the setup. In the printed story published on the website of the NOTW it is mentioned that spot-fixing was done in a match played on May 10th between http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 instead.
I once again would like to make it clear that my agenda is not to prove that the Pakistani players had never been involved in malpractices.
I have also spotted another blunder in the reported conversation between http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mazhar-c75448 Majeed and Mazhar Mehmood published by the NOTW, which gave me the initial feeling that this saga could be full of loopholes. Following is the conversation from NOTW
Reporter: What does that mean, a script?
Majeed: In other words, this bowler is going to concede this many runs or more. This
batsman's going to do this.
Reporter: Right, so he'll be out before 20?
Majeed: Exactly...
Mr. Majeed who portrayed himself as the bookie gave a totally wrong definition of the word “script”. This word along with its meaning is clearly mentioned in my column published on 24th July 2010 on a leading website cricinfo.com.
The T20 match between West Indies and Zimbabwe can be seen as a classic example. Before the start of the match the rate was 10/1 for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Zimbabwe-c3045 but if the match was scripted in Zimbabwe’s favour, then one would witness swings in the match to trigger rate fluctuation and that was exactly happened in the match.
Zimbabwe won the toss, elected to bat and scored 105 runs. With this score the rate fluctuated to 25/1 in favour of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760. However, West Indies lost the match by 26 runs. One can argue that they (West Indies) followed a script and after pushing the market rate they lost. So this is the real definition of “script” not the one given by the bookie in the NOTW article. Bear in mind that I am not at all claiming that the above-mentioned match was fixed.
Whatever was done by Muhammad Amir, whether on the behest of Salman Butt or Mazhar Majeed, is a crime and stern punishment should be handed out to him, if he is found guilty. My philosophy is to make an example out of a person who enjoys public sympathies the most.
If I have to award the punishment to Amir (if he is found guilty) then apart from imposing a life-ban, I would award him a two-year jail sentence too, because as compared to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Salman-c88163 and Asif, the harsh sentence to Amir would send a very powerful signal to other players.
I am not at all against Amir, but for the sake of cricket a player like Amir is to be presented as an example. I know that the ICC’s code of conduct provides http://www.senore.com/Cricket/A-Young-c41367 player with a liberty to escape harsh punishments, and I also know that Amir would eventually get away; at the most he would be suspended for a certain period.
As far as Salman Butt is concerned I would admit that I was not expecting such a blunder from him, which not only plunged the Pakistan cricket into a deep crisis but also tarnish the image of the country as well. I would blame Salman Butt because due to his carelessness he along with other players fell into a trap.
Now I would urge Salman Butt to apologise to the cricketing world and reveal whatever he knows about fixing in the game. He should not hesitate in taking names of the past and current players involved in the malpractice. This move from Salman Butt will ultimately benefit cricket and the ICC.
I am not talking about Pakistan only, but he (Salman) should also expose any wrongdoing he witnessed elsewhere especially in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Usually a bookie never comes to the fore instead his punters deal with players for fixing. What amazed me is that in only the second meeting the bookie (Mazhar Majeed) told the reporter (Mazhar Mehmood) that a few players were in his pocket, and he would charge around half a million pounds to fix the test match.
What I know is that the amount of risk is higher in a test match and the money that was asked was too less for me to believe. According to a story published by the NOTW, the bookie made $1.3 million out of the Sydney test.
Also, as a normal practice a fixer asks the names of the players who are ready to fix a match, but in this case Mazhar Mehmood did not. What I understand is that since it was a setup, therefore, both Mazhar Majeed and Mazhar Mehmood did not take name, otherwise they could face a legal challenge for the players.”
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