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Hercule Poirot comes to Pakistan cricket

Roshan Paul

Once again, our rivals from across the border have made an intriguing decision in their attempt to control match fixing in cricket. Total-Cricket reports that the Pakistan Cricket Board has decided to employ an "agent" that will "keep an eye on the activities of their players off the field during tours." This agent's first assignment is likely to be Pakistan's visit to Singapore.

The salient features of the report are:

* The sleuth will stay in the same hotel as the players and keep a tab on their "activities". i.e. where they go, who they meet etc.

* He will travel incognito. Only the PCB chairman will know his identity and he will report directly and be accountable only to the chairman.

* Such an appointment is in line with the recommendations of Justice Qayyum, who led the investigations into match fixing in Pakistan.

* A clause in the players' contracts makes them vulnerable to punishment "on the basis of circumstantial evidence". They can be fined or banned if they are seen "socializing" with persons of "suspected characters."

My initial reaction was, Go Pakistan! I was impressed that the PCB was going to these extreme lengths while our own cricket board was planning on letting Kapil and Azhar keep their jobs. This is indeed a positive, aggressive move. But I wonder if it may prove to be counterproductive?

Firstly, this is clearly schoolboy treatment to an extreme measure. The PCB is effectively saying to their players "we don't trust you and are putting a watchdog on your trail who will tattle to us at every opportunity." It reminds me of a teacher I once had in the sixth standard. In order to maintain discipline among an unruly bunch of eleven-year-olds, he announced that he had appointed a "secret monitor" who would tell him which boys were the most rowdy. Needless to say we didn't appreciate this.

Setting our own spies on the teacher, we quickly discovered the sneak's identity and using our brand of what political scientists call "coercive diplomacy", we ended his 007 days. Easy enough. My point is this: if eleven-year-olds can resent such a show of faithlessness, what on earth will grown men be thinking? Surely the Pakistani players will resent this and who knows how it will affect their performance.

As for the bit about being penalised on circumstantial evidence, that would make me see red. What are Moin Khan and co. thinking?

On a more sinister level, it suggests that there is much more to the Qayyum Report than meets the eye. Salim Malik and Ata-ur-Rehman were banned for life but their international careers were practically over by then anyway. Wasim Akram will not lead his country again. Big deal!

Are there other players, crucial ones that cannot be dropped, who are not above suspicion? An extreme move like this seems to indicate that such is the case. Basically, the PCB is not yet wholly convinced that its players are free from the betting vise.

On a practical level, if the PCB really intends to watch its players carefully, is only one man enough? Suppose two or three players leave the team hotel in different directions, which one will he follow? An intrepid 'match fixer' could easily throw someone off the scent through any number of diversions.

Thus, one wonders how useful such a ploy would be. Not only will it create resentment and foster an atmosphere of mistrust within the team, its potency has got to be questionable.

Nevertheless, credit must be given where it is due and that Pakistan is taking no chances regarding match fixing is commendable. A crisis such as this is unprecedented in the history of the game and it is only natural that people are unsure as to how it can be solved.

This may be a flawed attempt but it is an attempt. Like with almost every discovery ever made, it will be trial-and-error methods such as this one that will eventually unearth the way to go about ridding the game we all love of its devils.