A blog by Â(c)hinaman

Is there now a case for routine and / or random screening of mobile phone records of all international cricket players and team management? It is fairly confirmed that Greg Chappell had sent an SMS an SMS to a Rajan Bala which has now been made public. Is that not leaking confidential news of team selections?

But two years ago in Bulawayo, when Saurav Ganguly confirmed to a press conference that he had been asked to step down, all hell had broken loose. It was said that Ganguly had acted unprofessionally. In the amount of debate it had generated and the blame that was heaped on Ganguly, one question was never raised. How did the journalists become aware of this conversation in the first place? Was it another such SMS that had been sent out to them?

Wasn’t it Greg Chappell who had framed Bennet King, by leaking a false rumour in King’s name after he lost out to King for the West Indies job?
how many more dressing room secrets has he leaked?

I have written earlier about my speculation on the possible changes in cricket related betting with the advent of modern technology.

In an era of so many meaningless ODIs being played every week, what if the team could be chopped and changed, batting order turned upside down at the last minute, and that information could be leaked out to bookies what would stop them offering odds based on inside knowledge?

All that is needed is mobile phones and nifty thumbs. And what better way than SMS, with absolutely no chance of being eavesdropped? No second person needs to be involved, no need to tell players to â??throwâ?(tm) a game, no fixed results, no cash changing hands. Isnâ?(tm)t it very easy, if you think about it?

The more unexpected the final XI, the more bizarre the batting line up, higher the odds would be, more the amount of money raked in from unsuspecting suckers. (What would have been the odds if on the morning of a Test match it was revealed that the captain had been sacked?)

Given the need to build a team fit for WCC 2007, what better excuse than necessary ‘experimentationsâ?(tm); would anyone dare suspect that there were dishonest reasons for it.

What if senior players who were established with definite roles were more difficult to convince and were seen to be a problem? What if one of them was the captain who had built the team and did not want to give in to the experimentation?

What if the easiest solution was to gradually sideline them and replace them by unsuspecting and grateful ‘young legs’ (the perfect guinea pigs for experimentations)
who would yoyo up and down the batting list at a moments notice?

Add to this the Team never disclosed their final XI till the last hour, even to the playing XI. It is said to prevent team strategy from leaking out to the opposition, only the Coach and the Captain knew the team order. What if that team list and batting order was being SMSed out to bookies?

Well, would you then accept a team of oldies for the star event itself? Would you be angry if you realised that all well laid plans had come to nothing? I would.

But if asked, would you call it match fixing?
Of course not, no matches were fixed, were they? It was all legitimate cricket.

Oh yeah?
How many here can put their hand on their heart and say that this is impossible?

match-fixinggreg chappellsaurav gangulyÂ(c)hinaman