Probing the snake-pit of intrigue

Durban (South Africa) - In an era of turmoil at international level the challenge to authority hangs nowhere more heavily than it does now : where boardroom and dressing room disorder has created a suspicious mind and culture of corruption.

And after years of declining to take notice of the variety of odours given off by the kit bags (and not emanating from smelly socks) the decision of the International Cricket Council to actually take notice of the latest sordid escapade indicates a major shift in their thinking.

As the Hansie Cronje case exploded across the headlines wherever the game is played, a shiver of uncertainty swept through corridors of power as the moral issues of accepting money for information that anyone can pick up from the internet or tuning into the television broadcast or even a radio commentary.

No matter how they stumble across the information being passed on, the New Delhi police showed courage to investigate; and backbone to make public their findings. The finished product is as damning as it is revealing. Uncovering this evil-smelling snakepit of intrigue implicated a man looked on as a role model in his country.

The look of anguish on Dr Ali Bacher's face at the crowded media conference on Tuesday afternoon told its own story of a man who had felt betrayed by a younger potentate who had enjoyed special privileges and admitted he "had been dishonest" after a flat denial. On reflection, when listening again to Sunday night's taped conference, Cronje left too much unsaid.

Contrary to popular opinion, the game will still manage to do quite well without the intervention of politics, shady deals, and bookies trying to make a bigger buck out of the game than they should be allowed. Yet those acting as custodians of the sport, the ICC, need to answer charges levelled at their complacency.

In Cronje's case it seems not all the facts are known as the underworld activities of the bookmakers and their "stringers" are further exposed.

Any examination of the record has to be deep and may prove quite frightening. Not too long ago the Board of Control for Cricket in India were unconvincing in their handling of allegations made by Manoj Prabhakar, and further rumours continue to surface.

Yet, since Kerry Packer launched his rebel circus in 1976, the players' own need for more money has, to an extent, been answered. The argument that players are poorly paid and the administrators cream all the profits is not viable.

There was the 1981 episode where Rod Marsh and Dennis Lillee took odds being offered at 500/1 on an England victory: since then the odour has been allowed to ferment; an unhealthy culture that has encouraged corruption rather than attempting to curb it.

There has been a rumour in circulation in India that some South Africans "have been on the take" for some time. The author of this comment, Pradeep Magazine, who wrote a book uncovering graft and corruption in India and published during the last World Cup, is not the sort to make idle chatter about a subject as serious as is this one.

Today we are to hear how the inquiry into the Cronje affair is to be handled: whether it is a government probe, handled by the Ministry of Sport or one run by the UCB with the ICC now climbing aboard after years of mumbling and neglect, and offering some advice of their own.

The ABC, after the belated admission "of guilt" by Shane Warne and Mark Waugh that they took money from Asian bookies to pass on such hot tips as ground, pitch and weather conditions, finally admitted to the cover up. Their fining of Warne and Warne was light-weight compared to what normally is expected from their offices at that building round the corner from the MCG.

What is now starting to count, however, is how the issue of the new-age professionalism on a word-wide basis and the release of player power were powerful interacting forces. The bigger bucks are becoming more important.

If John Arlott was right when he wrote in the mid-1960s that changes in the game reflected changes in society then our recent social blessings indeed have been mixed and badly blemished with "telephone call deals".

This does not mean that those in United Cricket Board, and for that matter, the ICC, PCB, ACB, or BCCI should be allowed to shuffle their moral responsibility and compromise the game because some guys earned a few extra dollars by being asked to hand over information which could have been collected from weather reports or keeping an eye on newspaper reports.

Hopefully the probe into Cronje's affairs will work for the betterment of the sport, unmasking all culprits.