Three Days is a long time in a week of spot fixing politics

Another few days in the Spot Fixing saga, and there are still more questions than answers.  And, as salacious as the NZ angle is, we should not lose sight of the bigger picture.

It now appears that the leaking of the confidential testimonies to the media were not made by the ICC Integrity committee as such, but by a member nation. Any supposition around which nation that might be?

As an aside, can you think of any precedent of a confidential testimony in a corruption case being leaked in full to the media?  These people really make up the rules as they go along.

We also know a lot more about spot fixing itself; apart from those reports that continue to interchange it with match fixing as if that was a minor detail.

Bat handles will now take centre-stage in trying to analyse what’s going on.  But, with the Vincent evidence that will now be gone.  Cheats all round the world are one step ahead.  And cricket, with all its fidgeting and superstitions, will come up with options with ease.

As an aside II; imagine if the suspicions around Rafael Nadal shifted to spot fixing.  With all those idiosyncrasies, how would you ever know when he was up to something?

But what a job facing the ICC Integrity unit; even ignoring the malicious leaks.  This week alone there have nee close to 20 televised T20 matches across India and England.  How on earth can you keep track of them?  Looking at scorecards alone reveals nothing when it comes to things like three over spreads.

Meanwhile, back in New Zealand, we have been a little bit introspective.  Iain O’Brien’s piece in last week’s Telegraph created a stir.  Ex-team-mates of Vincent stuck up for him; saying O’Brien should have shown more solidarity.  A few points on that.

1. Iain O’Brien actually tried to get Vincent to break the cycle.  Which was a little bit more than what it
   appears any of his so-called friends did.
2. He has been publicly banging on about, and explaining how the whole Spot Fixing thing works for three years or so now.
3. Lou Vincent.  Team solidarity.  Really?
4. This “Never dob in a team-mate whatever” mentality is pretty key to why this is allowed to fester.
5. If you are going to accuse O’Brien of making comments “simply to further his media career” then that’s probably best coming from someone who does not front The Block or appear on reality cooking shows,

Anyway, petty rivalries aside, there are far more interesting aspects to that article.

It is a mess, and New Zealand are only bit-part players in it really.  A bit like hobbits in the original Lord of the Rings films.

Time for a familiar photo.