ethics in sport are virtually gone

Cricket once was a gentlemen's game. Players have to appeal for certain dismissals to be given, no dissent can be shown toward the umpires etc. But yesterday's incident at The Oval showed how much the game had changed. NZ batsman Grant Elliot was flattened by the bowler Ryan Sidebottom, accidentally yes but that is irrelevant, and then run out at the other end. An utter disgrace. Firstly for the players to continue through with the play to remove the bails, but then for the captain Paul Collingwood not to call the batsman back to the crease. If England gained any advantage out of the collision, then they should not have ran the player out. Ethics in sport are gone.

Collingwood admitted he was wrong later, but so what - it was over then and the result could have been decided by this incident (NZ won the match on the final ball).

This ranks with Viv Richards running out Dean Jones off a no-ball (Jones was bowled off a no-ball, didn't hear the call, started his walk to the pavilion and Viv Richards ran him out) and the Greg & Trevor Chappell under-arm incident.

Cricket is one of the last bastions of fairness on the sporting field. It is one of the few sports that can have proper role models for kids. Please don't let it be ruined like other sports all in the name of winning a meaningless match.

Comments

Spot-fixing - you will never, ever be able to stop it

According to this report , IPL tournaments so far have been rife with spot-fixing - that is fixing minor elements of the game - runs in a single over, number of wides bowled etc. The curious part of that article is that the Income Tax department are supposed to have found these crimes. What idiot would be stupid enough to put down 'big wad of cash handed to me by bookie' as a source of income? Backhanders for sportsmen, particularly in a celebrity- and cricket-obsessed culture like India are not rare. They could come from anything like turning up to open someone's new business (not a sponsor, but a 'friend of a friend' arrangement), to being a guest at some devoted fan's dinner party etc. The opportunities are always there, and there will always be people trying to become friends with players and their entourage - that is human nature. This form of match-fixing (and it's not really fixing a match, just a minor element of it) is very hard to prove, but also,

It's all gone Pete Tong at Betfair!

The Christmas Hurdle from Leopardstown, a good Grade 2 race during the holiday period. But now it will go into history as the race which brought Betfair down. Over £21m at odds of 29 available on Voler La Vedette in-running - that's a potential liability of over £500m. You might think that's a bit suspicious, something's fishy, especially with the horse starting at a Betfair SP of 2.96. Well, this wasn't a horse being stopped by a jockey either - the bloody horse won! Look at what was matched at 29. Split that in half and multiply by 28 for the actual liability for the layer(s). (Matched amounts always shown as double the backers' stake, never counts the layers' risk). There's no way a Betfair client would have £600m+ in their account. Maybe £20 or even £50m from the massive syndicates who regard(ed) Betfair as safer than any bank, but not £600m. So the error has to be something technical. However, rumour has it, a helpdesk reply (not gospel, natur

lay the field - my favourite racing strategy

Dabbling with laying the field in-running at various prices today, not just one price, but several in the same race. Got several matched in the previous race at Brighton, then this race came along at Nottingham. Such a long straight at Nottingham makes punters often over-react and think the finish line is closer than it actually is. As you can see by the number of bets matched, there was plenty of volatility in this in-play market. It's rare you'll get a complete wipe-out with one horse getting matched at all levels, but it can happen, so don't give yourself too much risk...

Sport is made for betting

Search This Blog