Corrupt Cricketer May Go To Jail

What a sad world we live in. I have just been reading about Mervyn Westfield who has been described as a corrupt cricketer who may go to jail for his part in a match fixing allegation.

If he is guilty then I hope he gets what he deserves.

If he is innocent …………… well in my mind where there is smoke there is usually some kind of fire! If he is innocent though let's hope he can put this behind him and get on with life.

(Update - Mervyn Westfield has been found guilty of being a "corrupt cricketer" and will be sentenced on February 10th, 2012)

What I fail to understand with these guys is that to get to the point where you are involved in match fixing I would think that you have to be a fairly talented and capable player. In today's world that means having a contract that pays you to do what you love doing - playing your favorite sport.

Hell man my biggest expense in life is playing golf - imagine how happy Larry would be if he was paid to play golf!

So what turns a guy like Mervyn Westfield into a corrupt cricketer?

Is it drugs, gambling habits, women (I do empathize there as they are rather delightful creatures!), greed?

Some of the corruption in cricket has been (or so it is alleged) through threats and intimidation from gangsters on players and their family's lives. Sadly this is pretty tough to root out and stop.

But back to Mervyn...

The thing that get's me most about this is that, in cricket, you have team mates that rely on you and yet the corrupt cricketer, the Mervyn Westfields of the world, don't give a damn about their team mates.

If you can't trust your team mates who can you trust?

Now I alluded to golf earlier on and there is a game that is still very much played by gentlemen and ladies. Sure golf has rules - but these rules are applied by the players themselves, often in circumstances that are not scrutinized or would never otherwise come to light. It is the player that calls the rules on himself.

Can you imagine my corrupt cricketer friend Mervyn Westfield playing golf?

Would you ever believe him if he got a birdie, a hole in one or even supposedly found his ball in deep rough? Hell no - you would always be a bit suspicious. Well I would.

But I guess corrupt cricketers like our friend Mervyn probably don't play golf. At least I hope he doesn't because we do not need the likes of him corrupting our sport.

Cricket used to be a gentleman's game and I am old enough to remember the days when batsmen used to walk if they had nicked (not sure if that is the correct spelling or if that means 'stolen") it. Any batsman knows when his bat comes into contact with the ball. Sadly this shifted to the onus being on the umpire to make the decision. A tough call when there is so much else he needs to be looking at.

As a result of this shift away from honesty technology now plays a bigger part in cricket with the Decision Review System and a variety of other technical aids to assist umpires.

And yet with all this technology, in place specifically to avoid cheating and mistakes, the corruption in cricket continues with corrupt cricketers and gamblers finding ways to use the technology to further their own evil ways.

Let us hope that golf remains the king of sports and never plummets to the depths where we have to have an umpire hovering over each and every shot because of a corrupt few.