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Around the Wicket - Vol 3.1
I'm going to depart from my Calypso Crisis series real quick. Volume 4 is coming, and will be about the Batting woes of the Windies - but there is a Saga to address - so I give you Around the Wicket - Volume 3.1.As I said, 24 hours ago whilst compiling Vol 4, I got to a sentence or two about serial underperformer Marlon Samuels and this is what I wrote...
"Every time I see him bat, I love his technique, his power, and his demeanour… …Problem is, it never lasts long. There’s been talk for several years that he’s mentally soft, a whiner, and lacks character… …He needs to step up this series for the Windies, and repay the (blind?) faith the selectors have shown in him."
Well - today it’s been announced that Samuels may be banned for a minimum 2 years because of involvement with an illegal bookmaker.
In February 2007, Samuels was caught on tape by Indian police passing on match-related information to an Indian bookie. The Windies were over there for a one-day series. (Funny how the common thread in these sorts of matters is India…) He was found guilty by his own board, so it’s bad news, but the small ray of light for him is that the disciplinary committee has recommended a suspended sentence on account of Samuels' good behaviour. He will be hoping and praying that the WICB decide to go that way.
Now, he’s not the first cricketer to do such a thing, and he won’t be the last. (Not with the IPL going the way it is.) Nor is this the worst sin one can commit in cricket. It’s not as if he underperformed for money. Nobody has accused him of match fixing, or purposely playing below his best, but now… questions might be asked as to why he has never reached his potential. (Samuels was labeled the next Viv Richards at the start of his career)
Anyway, that aside, how stupid can a cricketer be? After the Warne/Waugh saga (for essentially the same thing), the match fixing scandal with Azharuddin, Cronje and Malik etc, for an international cricketer to do such a thing… it’s simply career Russian Roulette. And if he doesn’t get that suspended sentence, it will be a long road back, and he may well find himself having played his last international match at the age of 27.
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Dave I am not sure that it is so cut & dry. The guy is stupid but it was probably an innocent phone call. No doubt he is niave but 2 years - too steep?
Well done Brem'o
Samuels should not have been so bloody stupid, foolish and disrespectful to the game.
Your mobile phone rings,(or your motel phone), if the voice on the other end sounds like a tele marketer, well Ya just hang up dont Ya?
Or if he sounds a bit asian, and he's name is John.!
HANG THE PHONE UP!
And James you dont have innocent phone calls with asian bookmakers.Do you now.!
So Dave,do you think Watson has turned the corner?
He played his best game I have seen the other night
James - I don't think 2 years is steep. It's not a lot of cricket when you look at it.
Roge - I agree, no such thing as an innocent phone call to an Indian bookie. Did he think he would get away with it?
Dunno about Watson - still have doubts over his fitness. Looks like he's playing with confidence again though - which is good.
Just on Samuels again... 29 isn't washed up. It will take a lot of hard work to come back from here though - and he's never struck me as being fond of hard work.
When the story broke (early 2007?), the 'bookie' was a family friend - a 'father figure', who claimed to be a businessman who had the occasional bet. Younis Khan, Umar Gul & Danish Kaneria have just been investigated for having dinner with an Indian 'businessman'.
How are players expected to know who is a 'bookie' and who isn't? Don't associate with any Indian striking up a friendship? Status is often acheived by celebrities a local is seen with.
But - if they are bookies - stay away!
Fancy offering 500-1 in any two horse race...
Even the Washington Generals have never been at those odds!
Tony I agree with you about the tip of the iceberg. There is so much more going on in international cricket than we will ever know.
A mate of mine and I were discussing match fixing in the IPL. We wondered how you would know if a batsman was throwing his wicket away, or a bowler was purposely bowling poorly. It's damn near impossible to tell, because of the nature of the game.