Pakistan needs engaging, not alienating

The evidence seems damning

HEADING to the first day of the first Ashes test in Cardiff last summer, I jumped out of the taxi some way short of the ground, so I could join the throng of international cricket fans, walking in the morning sunshine through Bute Park on the way to Sophia Gardens.

As a visiting fan in Leeds, Nottingham, London, Birmingham and Manchester, I had experienced the traditional and magical walk to the ground on the morning of many a Test Match; the lugging of a coolbox through a happy, chattering, floppy-hatted crowd, speculating about the day’s play ahead.  And wonderfully this, the first Test in my adopted home of Cardiff, felt better. Throughout the five days I felt every up and down of the match and its administration very personally. I knew the eyes of the sporting world were on Cardiff, and there were quite a number waiting, thankfully in vain, for failure.

And now the eyes of the sporting world once again turn to Cardiff, not for traditional rugby reasons, but for another improbable cricket match.

Today’s Twenty20 International between England and Pakistan – the current and former T20 World Champions – should have been another occasion for Cardiff and Glamorgan cricket to savour.  But, as everyone now knows, a week ago today cricket was thrown into turmoil by the News of the World exposé regarding “spot fixing” allegations made against three Pakistan players.  The evidence – of purposefully bowling no-balls to aid an illegal gambling scam – seemed damning. Commentators, including cricketers past and present, wasted no time in making judgements.

There is still no agreement about exactly what has happened, why, or what to do next.  This is understandable, because there remain so many unanswered questions – and so much of the controversy surrounds illegal black-market betting that it is questionable whether anyone that really matters will be brought to book even if the allegations are proved.  You cannot simply go to a high-street (or online) bookmaker in this country or any other, and bet on a bowler no-balling; no market exists.  So the first immediate problem is how you go about regulating something that is mired in illegality in the first place?  Will the charges facing the accused players do anything to tackle the more serious problem of illegal gambling?

The Western Mail this week, riding to the aid of an understandably upset Alan Hamer, the Glamorgan chief executive, said that perspective was needed and that cricket fans everywhere just needed the show to go on.

And as a Glamorgan member, I certainly sympathise with the desire for the two matches in Cardiff to sell-out and be successful occasions, but it is not quite as simple as that.  To borrow from one of the more interesting blockbusters of recent years – consider this quote from the film Inception:

What is the most resilient parasite? Bacteria? A virus? An intestinal worm? An idea. Resilient… highly contagious. Once an idea has taken hold of the brain it’s almost impossible to eradicate. An idea that is fully formed – fully understood – that sticks; right in there somewhere.

Once the idea exists among a sporting public that you are experiencing something that is not entirely real, not a proper contest, everything begins to unravel.  And much like another notion explored by Inception, it only takes one small thing to be out of place – three no-balls in a Test Match would always be negligible to the overall contest and outcome – to make you question the fabric of the whole.  What about Australia’s amazing victory in Sydney last year, when Pakistan seemed sure to win?  What about those other unlikely defeats Pakistan suffered in the past?  And once you make that leap, everything improbable – all the moments that make sport worth watching – become unsure and tainted.  It is a feeling of deep sadness and suspicion that too many fans of too many sports have had to grapple with for years.

To dismiss the problem then as a one-off that should be disregarded in the interests of the greater good, is not the right way forward.  The perpetual attitude of sporting authorities to muddle on while flinging a band-aid here and there simply exacerbates the problem.  It is also much too easy to assume that by eliminating Pakistan you will eliminate the problem.  Certainly, for too long that country’s cricket has been mired in scandal and while the Daily Mail’s Martin Samuel might have gone further than most, he summed up the feelings of many by claiming: “There is no darker force in modern sport than Pakistan cricket”.

But now more than ever, Pakistan needs cricket and cricket needs Pakistan.  In a country that too often seems devoid of hope, a Test Match win against England – yes, meaningless when stacked against the ongoing suffering caused by floods and factional violence – at least offered a symbol of something good, something to unite around and be happy about. Something to talk of with pride and not despair.  It is the joyous reaction to moments like this, beacons of hope, that make it easy for people who love sport to prove to those non-believers that sport does indeed matter.  To take cricket away from Pakistan, rather than establish a genuine, far-reaching and international approach to get to the root causes of the corruption that clearly does exist, seems both simplistic and callous.  Not least because some of the revelations since last week’s news speak of an international sports team under siege. Geoff Lawson’s take offers an invaluable insight into the depth of the problem – recalling threats of kidnap and blackmail over team selections.

And why does cricket need Pakistan?  Because they are good.  They are very, very good.  Their bowling attack is probably the best in world cricket today. And people want to watch them. I want to watch them. Almost regardless of what this team (individually or collectively) has done, it will feel like being doubly cheated if sport is denied their talents for what appears to be a systemic evil that has been allowed to flourish for too long.  It would be dishonest to pretend total objectivity. Regardless of any truth behind the allegations, I would feel a deep sadness at the suspension of Mohammed Amir – the 18 year-old fast bowler who lit up the match that may be his last, with a spell of bowling that suggested he could become one of the all-time greats.  I’m not alone. Andy Bull of The Guardian summed up the thoughts of many in his first reaction to the breaking news on Saturday night  – ‘“For the next hour all we could do was softly shake our head and mumble “not the kid, please not the kid”.’

Players past and present have been quick to suggest life bans to anyone found guilty. In Pakistan there has even been a call for those implicated to face a charge of treason, a crime punishable by death.  If the truth of the matter is that Amir, Mohammed Asif and the captain Salman Butt are where this thing begins and ends, if they are the rotten apples in the barrel, then OK, they should be banned. They should take the fall.  But as it seems just as likely that they are victims of something that is beyond their control, then it requires a more serious re-examination of the game and those supposedly in charge.

So, if Pakistan should not simply be thrown out of the game, then what?  Quite simply, and sadly from a Glamorgan point of view, today’s game should not go ahead. The rest of the tour should not go ahead.  It is happening for commercial, not cricketing reasons.

How can you properly administer a full investigation, whilst all the people you need fully engaged: the players, staff, broadcasters and administrators are embroiled full-time in the here-and-now of making an international series tick along?  The truth is that as the shock value of this story dies away, the battling hundreds and the five-fors will start to dominate the headlines once again.  The eyes of the world will move away from the courts and tribunals and yet another fudge (see the Qayyum Report) will be foisted upon world cricket.  You cannot carry out an MOT on a vehicle that is still moving.  If there is such a thing as a global cricket family, now is the time for everyone’s attention. Suspected cheating in a Test Match, an illegal multi-million pound gambling racket, and threats of kidnapping and violence to players’ families – these are issues that require solutions, not scapegoats. The juggernaut of international cricket needs to stop, and the rest of the world needs to engage with and not alienate Pakistani cricket, for the long-term good of the sport.

If you haven’t already donated, please consider donating to the Pakistan Floods Appeal. http://www.dec.org.uk/