I want to work in cricket.
Not because it makes me rich, not because I’ll ever play for my country, and not because I think it is a cool job.
I do it because cricket is something that I love.
Since I was a child it has been the one constant in my life. My first overseas trip was for cricket. When I was a kid I slept with a new bat in my dead. My Friday afternoons were all about working out the best fielding positions for the next day. I spent days on end sitting the MCG with no one else watching the vics. The delivery of the cricket gear catalogue was more spiritual than anything else in my life.
Right at the moment I don’t like cricket.
I fucken hate it.
I’m so sick and tired of this shit.
It makes me sick.
This whole thing makes me doubt the game I love, the game I grew up with.
Cricketers should be paid more, but there isn’t a cricketer in this test match who will make less than I will this year. Or last year, or the year before.
But this isn’t just about money. It’s the Fucken nerve, the Fucken spinelessness, the Fucken abuse.
I’m so Fucken angry at these assholes of cunts. Those who set it up, those who benefit from it, and those who do it.
I’m assuming that most people reading this, and the person who wrote it, would play for his country for free. Or at least, what ever a plumber gets.
Some people are just cunts, and they don’t deserve cricket. And cricket sure as shit doesn’t deserve them.
I cannot fully articulate how angry I am right now.
The game I love has never been clean, but this just seems worse.
Probably because it is in a test match.
But it just feels Fucken horrible right now.
Like someone has cheated on me.
I’m not naïve about spot fixing, I’ve written more than a few pieces about it. I know it goes on. But in pointless ICL, IPL or Pro40 games.
This is way Fucken worse.
I’ve never forgiven Hansie Cronje, and I sure as shit wont forgive anyone here either.
No one is guilty yet, that doesn’t make this any better.
I’ve read the transcripts, seen the video and read all the articles. I want it to be fake, but it doesn’t feel fake. It feels wrong, because when i read or watch it, i feel sick in my stomach.
I talked to a friend on the phone, both he and I knew that fixing was around, but this still rocked both of us. I could barely talk, he was breaking down.
We are grown men, men that love and work in cricket. But this just hits you, even if you thought it was a possibility. Even if you thought it could have been happening. To read the details just hurts.
My game, fucked.
Maybe some of the details from NOTW are wrong, but something has happened, I saw those no balls live, I don’t need news channels showing them to me with a photoshopped circles around them. They looked dodgy at the time, we even joked on test match sofa that it was like the no balls that David Saker used to bowl on purpose back in club cricket.
Fuck.
This is just complete shit.
I can’t be bothered with it. There is so much to say, but I’m too Fucken angry, probably even more upset.
Cricket, I love it, but I fucken hate it. Right now.
I feel you’re in. The amount of time I’ve spent watching, through ups and downs. Watched my team play all through the night even though I have an exam the morning. To find out they couldn’t care about the game as much as myself is an absolute pisstake
Don’t know what to think. Have tickets for Lord’s tomorrow – part of me wants to go but part of me doesn’t. I feel numb.
calm down man, i love cricket thats y i m on this website but quit the over drama for god’s sake
The biggest disappointment is Mo Aamer. I have no words for this brainlessness, he could have had it all.
Feel so ashamed to be a Pakistani right now… and to think I was beginning to actually get behind and support these guys. If proven true – time to take them all out of cricket for good.
You could look at Amir as a young kid who has been dragged into making money to support an impoverished family, or as a money-grabbing cheat with his best interests way ahead of the interests of cricket in general. I guess we’ll have to wait for the investigation, but surely his career (as well as Asif, Butt, Akmal and anyone else involved in any of the allegations) is over. What a waste.
Oh and Faran. No over drama here. This story is way big. Think Jrod’s pretty much hit the nail on the head.
Pinky, do you really think his career is over? This isn’t the first time Pakistani players have been involved in match-fixing. Heck one of them has a history of misdemeanors. Asif tested positive for Nandrolone and the board rescinded his ban because their doping regulations were a joke. Ofcourse when the World Cup came around a few months later Asif couldn’t make it because he was injured. How convenient as this time the testing was going to be done under the ICC’s banner.
Anyway, let’s see how this pans out. Don’t be surprised if the players deny being involved and the board slapping them on the wrist. In an ideal world this would help blow the lid off the whole match-fixing cartel which is run by the guy who has ties with various terrorist outfits.
I have never forgiven anybody till date as well. However, I must inform people that this is exactly what happens when someone is unemployed. This is exactly what is happening to all over country. Only Poor, unemployed, uneducated and greedy people are targeted in this.
I say to stop all this we all must stop betting once for all, raid this betting centers which is the root for all this. Can you imagine if they can make this much of money by just that no-ball, that means there must be triple money must have been betted on !! Though it was trap but still just imagine if they demand this much money that means imagine how much betting must have been made on top of this !!
I have never bet in my entire life, I bought only 3 lottery tickets in my life time and I stopped buying it.
Why we humans can’t satisfy ourself and be happy with what we have !! Why !!
I say please don’t destroy my game please don’t anymore because Sports are the only alternative to pointless manipulative wars. Sports and proper education can bring peace once for all.
Stop all this because even good people being affected with this.
Because if you ban pakistan cricket that means you will ban all the people who were making decent living bread-money for their family. So they will be poor. They will be unemployed and you know they will go back to that pool of uneducated poor and unemployed. and Even bigger shit will happen. Shit people are just waiting for those poor sheep to do “halal” them. And promise them heaven and crap.
I say don’t ban them. But this is the perfect opportunity to wipe off PCB and give job to Real Educated people who wants to do well for their country.
I say charge them penalty and then use that money for flood victims. But game must go on.
It must Go on. Game must Survive. Because there is no other option really !!
Pakistan cricket at it again. All these players must be banned for life!
However, I am sure at the most these guys will be banned max for 2 years, before the Pakistan board decides to pardon them.
Right now I’m thinking about all the ways I could torture these bastards.I’m sure jrod with his abundant imagination could help me on this.
Such a terrible waste of talent for such a terrible cause ! I believe the underworld urchins from the streets of Mumbai are better, if this were true. I hope all that is not, but I am afraid all of it is true and more !
Especially sickened by the overdose of India – Sri Lanka Cricket, I was looking at Pakistan – England series as the tonic for my Cricketing brains !
Why? WHY when it looked as if we were witnessing a resurgence of Pakistan Cricket in general and fast bowling of unbridled passion in particular.
WHY ?
I was only kidding about Ponting, I swear on the Queen Mother’s hemorrhoids, dont lock me up in the Tower of London, please …..
Welcome to the real world fucker. This is what Azhar and Cronje and Gavaskar and Malik and Akram and Kapil have given back to the game they so dearly loved.
And Wes, Amir is the true inheritor of Akram’s talents now…
The real scam is Pakis winning the 3rd test – of course without whitey involvement, of course, of course, of course ….
Faran,
You don’t love cricket.
Really.
If you think any of us are overreacting, or being ‘over dramatic’, you don’t love cricket.
If you aren’t shocked and horrified and betrayed by this, you don’t love cricket.
Hahahaha! I’m with Faran. Actually, I’m not, but this ‘the day the music died’ tone is a little ridiculous. The music died long long ago, before Lords, before Essex, before Sydney, before Waugh and Warne and Akram and Azhar and Cronje and Co, and Kapil’s tears, and before a Cricket Australia official told Ross Emerson he was being picked for a Test match so he would no-ball Muralitharan, and even before Marsh and Lille’s bet.
No, the music died long ago, we all just woke up to the silence this morning.
Thank you Shaitaan – it died with Grace – the first cheat and match-fixer.
But we still love it, and still feel fucked over.
The part i really object to are these investigations, that destroy our illusions.
Faran, over drama or not, it was how I felt, and that is how cwb works, I write what I feel.
May be I am naive, but Kapil was really involved? Oh shit!!
You have every reason to be upset. But, let’s wait and watch, am quite sure nothing will come out of it and everything will be back to being disneyfairytale-ish
Its pretty disturbing. I just am hoping that these are fakes (which is very unlikely); and if they’re real (which is very likely), I want PCB to ban the ones involved – and by ban them I mean real ban. I don’t wanna see the involved mates making a comeback to the game six-seven months later.
Not that I am a big fan of Darrel Hair; to me, he was unnecessarily irritating and gave out enough connotations that there was something anti-Asian. Yet, I wonder whether he would be feeling vindicated by this one:
Mazhar claimed: “I used to go out on the pitch to give the players their drinks. Whenever we couldn’t get a wicket I’d have a lump of Vaseline on my hand. Shake their hand. They’d put it on one side of the ball and the ball would suddenly start in-swinging.”
Ban the whole fucking lot of them for life. Yep, everyone in the current pakistan touring team. Better still, refuse to play them, let them rot away in domestic cricket.
I am so sick of it.
Anyone who saw the 2nd Test in Sydney this year would not be surprised at all this. Kamran Akmal’s performance was so substandard that it was beyond belief. MoYo’s captaincy, whilst more believable, was a disgrace. People I spoke to did not believe in the match at all. As usual the commercial interests surrounding the game tried to pretend it was a great Australian victory and brushed the rest under the carpet. But those watching closely new better. The game is becoming a basket case, if indeed it is not already.
Personally the saddest point of this incident is one of the most exciting prospects in test cricket, a young bowler with an abundance of talent, someone that ian chappell would say brings people through the gates, has had his name tarnished and potentially ruined before he even had a chance to show the world that he could become a great. what a waste. Pity the Pakistani cricket fan reeling from the national impact of a natural disaster, then having to wake up to this selfish act. A low day for all fans indeed.
I feel so angry that Broad’s maiden century has been devalued by these cheats. All players proved to be involved should be banned from all forms of cricket – international and domestic – for life, and Pakistan should be banned from internationals for a year.
If that seems harsh on Mohammed Amir, it should serve as a warning to all young cricketers who are pressured into such things by more senior players. “Remember that young fast bowler, could have been the best in the world? What was his name? Never played for Pakistan again after that cheating incident. Do I want to be him, or do I want to play test cricket?”.
I don’t know how I am to support this team ever again. How to when they don’t give a shit for the game they play or the spectators?
I just hate it. You watch a whole match, think that was bloody interesting and then you come to know it was all fixed and fake. It’s terrible.
Finding out about Pakistani match fixing is a bit like when you come to realise that your parents still have sex – even though you knew it was happening, it’s always shocking to see it happen in the flesh!!
Ah well. like the raw emotion displayed on the site. However the game has to go on. Misdeeds of a few idiots (if they are indeed misdeeds) should never overshadow the great game of cricket.
And those questioning the victory of Pakistan in the 3rd Test should know better. Spot fixing can be done. Fixing a 5 day event consisting of max 2500 odd deliveries is a hist even Danny Ocean would find difficult to pull of.
*heist
Match fixing did not influence this match. Spot fixing is not going to change match result, just no ball prediction.
@ Hi
Saying that spot fixing doesn’t affect the match is completely missing the point. It throws everything into question – what else were they up to? Did this affect their mind-set?
The whole test, and in fact, the series, is thrown into question.
Do you get it now? Integrity in this game is necessary. Can you imagine finding out that the team that you fought so hard, and so manfully to beat, was actually cheating? It devalues these efforts completely.
I wonder how Trott and Broad feel about this – I think it must be pretty obvious.
The Pakistan team… with their past and everything that’s going on at home… what on EARTH were they playing at? Who are their role-models?
It’s a disgrace, and I felt sickened, literally and figuratively cheated. Test matches are the pinnacle of this most precious and vulnerable sport, in this day and age of the IPL and football taking over everything.
The quiet, thoughtful game has just been spat in the face but some greedy stupid players.
I completely agree with this article, completely. An utter disgrace.
jrod, cricket needs you. as a pakistani, i can only offer vicarious apologies, however insufficient. chin up, give it a week, back to the keyboard, back to bats and balls…
Hey, there is a silver lining, Dickhead Broad’s century has been completely devalued.
And what wonderful preparation for the Asses. Its got to be Ponting behind it all, can’t you see!!!
Dhananjay,
*off.
You think 100 for 7 and then 350 for 7 was all above board, save for a few no balls? Man!
@jogesh99
Exactly, exactly the point, completely devalues England’s efforts. However you feel about any particular national team, to have such effort called into question is terrible.
I would feel the same as I do now regardless of the team in question. The fact I support England is neither here nor there. I love the game more than any individual or team.
Isn’t that the point of cricket? Your favourite players can be of any nationality. My favourites were the guys with the integrity and strength. The Don, Langer, Walsh, Holding, Waugh even.
Imagine if your favourite players innings was ruled out due to suspicion that the other team was involved in skullduggery. Man alive, I’d be raging.
Urgh, I need to turn the telly off, PC off, and think about something else instead.
@jogesh99 Well there were a lot of close calls.
If you think that 300 plus partnerships when your team is in the shits can only be due to fixing, I got 2 words (well, 1 word and 1 number) for you – Kolkata 2001.
Gutted,I am naive enough to think nothing of two of the no ball’s being a foot over the line
Gutted i love cricket today
Gutted
so we are sad because this has happened in a Test match (at Lord’s that too! sacrilege!!) and not in ICL/IPL ?
So was any betting in IPL confirmed by the ACU? No but WE KNOW it happens..
I particularly liked this article about what spot-fixing is. What really shatters my faith in the game is his comment that the top players are more likely to fix matches than the bottom rung players.
And I worship(ped) Wasim Akram.
Get a grip Dhananjay.
Iain, noble sentiments my friend, but why on earth is Broad your favourite player? We loathe him on this site, almost as much as we detest Watson. Now don’t tell me …
Hey Jogesh. I have a fair grip. Just pointing out that if one part is rotten, the entire body ain’t. One should not take away credit from Trott and, as much as I detest saying it, Broad.
Jrod. Yup.
[...] http://www.cricketwithballs.com/2010/08/29/fuck-off-match-fixers-pakistan/ [...]
And now the Sydney Test too. This just fucken reeks.
[...] which looked eminently possible after the last match Pakistan played. As Jarrod writes in this emotive piece, the feeling is like someone has been cheating on [...]
I reckon at 7 for bugger all, there would have been some exiting odds on an england wine, better on an innings wine- and I wonder if anyone could guess what odds you’d get on that position ending up in Pakistans heaviest defeat- 500/1? 1000/1 ?
Waiting for someone to suggest a suitable punishment here.
Even John Howard would’ve struggled with this one.
Matt, the exciting odds on the England win at 7 for bugger all? Just after Swann was out for his duck 5/2, very quickly down to 2/1 when Broad and Trott put on only 20 of their massive stand between them. Pakistan were around evens to win at that point (remembering we’d pretty much lost a day’s play at this point). Those were the odds on Betfair at the time (not sure about the volumes)
Jeepers, shows just how little I know about betting…
Thanks Gigi