Go for the bigger fish
What happens next could finally rid the game of the spectre of corruption and prove that the International Cricket Council really are capable of running the world game strongly and efficiently, writes Nasser Hussain in the Daily Mail .
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
What happens next could finally rid the game of the spectre of corruption and prove that the International Cricket Council really are capable of running the world game strongly and efficiently, writes Nasser Hussain in the Daily Mail.
If Salman Butt, captain of the Pakistan team, and Mohammad Asif, who is an experienced bowler and no stranger to brushes with authority, are found guilty they must be banned for life, no question. But the jury must remain out on Mohammad Aamer because we don’t know what pressure he was under, if he is indeed guilty, and we don’t know if an alleged deliberate no ball was his first and only offence.
If it was a first offence maybe we need to be lenient, but if there have been other alleged misdemeanours then the game needs to be very tough with him, too. He is old enough to know right from wrong.
What they did looks like a crime against cricket. And if there is no firm response from the Anti-Corruption and Security Unit, we might as well disband it, writes Geoff Boycott in the Telegraph.
The evidence looks so bad that, whatever the police make of this case, the ACSU will be under pressure to take strong action. Within the disciplinary hearings, the burden of proof might as well be reversed: it is up to the players to prove themselves innocent.
In cricistan.com, Abdul Habib separates the facts from the fiction surrounding Yasir Hameed's video released by the NOTW. As any Urdu speaker would testify, Hameed's words have been distorted in an attempt to sell newspapers, he writes.
George Binoy is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo