GQ Blog- Time for a real fix

Yes, the match-fixing scandal has tainted cricket. Fans will start questioning a strange run-out, a dropped catch at a crucial moment and many may even stop watching for a while. But there is a silver lining that could be a huge positive for the game.

Throughout the past week cricket journalists who go on tours have been saying that rumors of fixing have been rampant for years. Every now and then even an ordinary fan hears that his friend knows someone who had good reason to believe a particular match was fixed. Most fans don’t want to believe that fixing is still part of the game, but recent evidence has made their worst fears come true.

Here is the opportunity.

We have caught some players, arrested a fixer and the news media is interviewing bookies who claim they’ve rigged matches. If I were the ICC anti-corruption team I would be licking my chops. Here is a chance to clean this mess up once and for all.

The ICC needs to put all their resources behind the investigation and start asking the right questions. Interrogate the players and the bookies that the news channels managed to find so easily. Who else is involved?

Of course, every sport has had scandals. Baseball is still reeling from the news that some of the game’s legends were found to be using performance-enhancing drugs. Instead of taking the easy way out and avoiding confrontation, the US Government and Major League Baseball went all out to find the guilty parties. The ICC must do the same.

Every war has collateral damage. The unraveling of a major fixing ring, assuming there is one, will shatter fans, further taint the game and perhaps cut audiences for the time being. But the chance to clean the game up is too good to pass up: the ICC must blow the case wide open and let the chips fall where they may.

Match fixing is not only a disappointment; it’s painful for fans. But it’s time to stop grieving over the tragedy and look at it as an opportunity.

This blog was published at www.gqindia.com http://www.gqindia.com/content/time-real-fix