14 Monday 13th September, 2010 The Chesterfield Files column in a Sunday paper would fall into Scotland Yard’s move in that direction. All play- ance sheet or even a report of Word from Hamilton, is that (August 22), of the incident that investigations at present”. This is ers’ agents will come under strict their decision making. Now the certain NZC administrators have took place on Monday, August 16. a lot more than SLC are saying, ACSU scrutiny and their books secretary, Nishantha Ranatunga, secretly asked their chief execu- Atapattu went into reasons of the which explains where this matter open for audit and inspection. says the latest ICC media release, tive officer, Dr. Justin Vaughan, team’s culture why such action lies. Why SLC have not come up This is all agents, not just those is in Cape Town where he will be to find a replacement tour if the was against the team’s code. with a similar comment in their in the British Isles, those in Asia viewing that nation’s ‘Mother Pakistan issue with the ICC and Frankly, it further exposed rush to sanitise the images of the (Sri Lanka as well), New Zealand, City’ as it is locally known the on-going probe of player mal- Dilshan’s actions as being those players is a question that needs Australia and where the game is attending an ICC executive meet- practice is not settled by a cer- of someone, who as a senior play- to be asked. played and players have an agent. ing. tain date. er should have known better. Gibson also confirmed how Sponsorships and endorsements What is not on the agenda for “There is a lot of negativity It throws up other issues and surrounding Pakistan cricket at it is hard to respect a player who present,” said one NZC source. deliberately set out to twist the SLC keep issuing statements full of bureaucratic obfuscation . “What is not helping is how PCB laws of the game to suit him and chairman (Butt) says that if the as such, the team. players are not charged, he views BY TREVOR CHESTERFIELD Recall if you will Kumar the ICC suspensions as nothing Sangakkara’s reaction. He regret- more than ‘legal jargon’ and play- t is hard, Yahaluweni, to work ted, during a media briefing on ers will be selected. up any enthusiasm for the August 18, the “incident overall”, More connived “If New Zealand (emigration) Igame at present. adding, “We need to take up the rejects the players for reasons Hard that is for any variety of responsibility as a team and we other than cricket, it could mean reasons, some of them being for need to get back to the right the tour can easily be aban- raison d'être that there are those mindset (ahead of tomorrow's doned,” the source said. “It will in administration in Maitland game). I spoke my mind out to deception be Pakistan who will end up as Place who delude themselves. the team on the whole incident. I losers through the obstinate For one thing, the ugly smirk had a chat with my team manag- behaviour of the PCB.” of the greedy bookies and their er as well. Now it's up to the As it is, New Zealand captain minions involved in match-fixing cricket board to decide.” Daniel Vettori voiced his con- is not going to disappear in a It also explained the captain cerns about Pakistan and the hurry, no matter how often there is not aware of intricacies of all tour later this year after the reve- is an effort to sanitise the image the laws of the game, which per- lations about spot fixing at Lord’s of players and the game on this haps is quite understandable. Yet last month in the fourth Test island from “wrong doing”. in this case, Dilshan did. with England. The ugly stench of match-fix- Well, we know the reaction of “Whenever incidents like ing in whatever shape or form it the board, and while this was (these) recently have come under is presented, is going to be going on the Indian electronic the spotlight then people are around for a long time, until the (TV) media, it created an idiotic going to question every single International Cricket Council storm instead of focusing on game that Pakistan played in," he and its so-called watch dog, the more important events. Then, as said. "The key for cricket is to anti-corruption and security unit anyone who has been even clean it up as quickly as possible, cleans the piles of littered peripherally involved soon dis- so that people don't turn up at the garbage from the floor. And the covers, India have their TV game and think there's some- pile is a large one. shows that generally have little thing going on. Cricket needs to There are also those in Sri interest outside the myopic views be squeaky clean." Lanka Cricket in too much of a of their studios and the pro- There is no guarantee either rush to try and make the public gramme presenter firing off that it would be Sri Lanka to ful- forget unsavoury incidents not questions. This is where it is dis- fill the gap if New Zealand emi- too long ago that make you ques- appointing, instead of adding gration decide to refuse visas to tion the ethics of a player and depth and calm to the debate, certain Pakistan players and offi- the team. Forgotten amid the they shoot from the lip with the cials. If Amir is proven guilty, match-fixing scam revelations is sort of nonsensical verbal dihor- despite his age, why should he be the incident at the Rangiri reah that makes you wonder if allowed back to play? Dambulla International Stadium whoever is firing the questions is Sure there are some good during the triangular tourna- thinking logically and doesn’t Pakistan players but when the ment. This is when Tillakaratne want to hear an honest answer. mobile phones of those Pakistan Dilshan deliberately coerced a Unfortunately, such actions as players involved in the ICC junior member, Suraj Randiv, to telling another player to break WorldT20 event in the West deliver a no-ball in violation of the law, is something that is quite Indies are being examined, and the laws of the game and the ten- repugnant and makes you won- the ICC had placed a notice on ants of fair play. der. This is despite the current such as Salman Butt and Kamran It is why it is so easy to lose SLC stance, which is one of typi- Akmal several months ago, it all respect for the player who was cal bureaucratic obfuscation that makes the whole Pakistan story caught urging the unfortunate you get from government depart- as shabby as Ijaz Butt’s efforts to Randiv to deliver that fateful no ments, which in reality it is. Run hide the critical report on the ball. Forget the reasons Dilshan that is by a government appoint- lapses of the March 3 terrorist encouraged the off-spinner to ed non-elected ad-hoc body of attack, it asks a lot of questions “cheat” by breaking the law. All near faceless people known as of PCB management and admin- he earned was a fine while the the interim committee. istration. unfortunate Randiv copped a fine Nothing has yet been said So far none of the gun-toting and a match suspension. It is about the alleged News of the terrorists of that March 3 inci- shame on Sri Lanka Cricket for World claims how the Pakistan Daniel Vettori . “People are going to question every single game that Pakistan played in. The key for dent last year have been caught. allowing Dilshan to get away Asia Cup match with Sri Lanka cricket is to clean it up as quickly as possible so that people don't turn up at the game and think there's They were allowed to escape with such a light sentence. In was fixed. No denial, no com- something going on” through a connivance of shoddy this case, the punishment did not ment. Here, SLC have adopted the security arrangements on that fit the crime. posture of the three “wise” mon- the bans on the three Pakistan could also be monitored. A clean today’s meeting is the spot-fixing day and nothing has since been At the time, it was suggested keys – hear no evil, see no evil players, Salman Butt, out if the agents could follow if issue, or how this is affecting heard about how Pakistan in these files Dilshan should have and speak no evil. As such, they Mohammad Asif and they fail to meet certain criteria. such tours involving Pakistan authorities are treating the been banned for the rest of the believe in their own swill and Mohammad Amir remain in As for Wayamba’s perform- teams. It is known that New attack. tournament, and this is repeated want others to do the same. place and bookie Mazhar Majeed ance in Port Elizabeth Saturday, Zealand Cricket are quite edgy at This is why it is time again to here without apology. He should When questioned on the sub- is subject to a criminal investiga- no one seriously minded could present over what is now seen as ask a question posed last week. have been banned and forced to ject of the claims of the Asia Cup tion. His status would have to be expect anything different.