Loose claims in an al-Jazeera documentary have bundled three separate claims of malpractice into one, with some of the information coming from a self-proclaimed crookThe story goes that when the Australian Cricket Board knocked back Kerry Packer in 1976, Packer told them: “there’s a little bit of the whore in all of us, gentlemen, so name your price”. That line came to mind early on in al-Jazeera’s new documentary, Cricket’s Match-Fixers, when its undercover journalist, David Harrison, meets the alleged match‑fixer, Aneel Munawar, for the first time. Harrison asks Munawar if he ever has problems arranging fixes. “Actually,” Munawar tells him, “if you have the money, you will do anything.” Harrison opens up a suitcase full of cash and says:...
The 30th anniversary of England’s all-conquering Ashes tour and the side’s rapid descent into disarray is a reminder of how fast fortunes can change in cricketFor all the sixes and the promises of a brave new dynamic world, England’s Asian expedition has not suggested much progress; nor has it produced many wins. Before Christmas there was victory in the ODIs against Bangladesh followed by a drawn Test series, which produced the most captivating contests of the winter.In India, after an encouraging first Test in Rajkot there were four defeats of increasing inevitability. Then in January England lost the ODI series even though their lowest score in three games was 321 for eight in Kolkota, where they won; this must be...
It is possible to argue England could have won every short‑form game before that final thrashing had they not been undone by a series of improbable eventsTake the positives out of that then. Better to burn out than fade away and England’s cricketers certainly ended their white‑ball tour of India in a shared magnesium flare at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. The insistence on building towards the Champions Trophy in June has been so relentless it was tempting to ask Eoin Morgan afterwards what positives he would be taking, what lessons learnt, skill-sets executed from losing eight wickets for eight runs in 19 balls in Bengaluru – on the bare figures, England’s worst batting collapse in any kind of cricket.Except of course...
Trevor Bayliss wants his bowling unit to improve but their performance at Eden Gardens is something to build on ahead of June’s tournamentThe day before the third and final one-day international Jason Roy told a mixed media gathering at Eden Gardens that England would be “taking the positives” from their two defeats to date, the bare-knuckle bowler-pummelings in Pune and Cuttack. Shortly afterwards, in a flagrant breach of international sports-speak code, Roy was asked by a curious Indian journalist to describe these “positives” he had identified. What were the positives exactly? And could he rank them in any specific order?Roy looked a bit stumped, as well he might given this is perhaps the first time in modern sporting history any...
Tours begin to resemble auditions as several of England’s limited overs tourists have already expressed interest in being offered for sale in February’s IPL auctionDaniel Vettori was driving his car when he found out the results of the first IPL auction, in 2008. Vettori was 29 and in his pomp, a senior cricketer long-established on the New Zealand board’s highest pay grade. Related: Eoin Morgan laments England’s failure to execute plans in India victory Continue reading...