4th test controversy and Betfair

Daily Result: £1053.12

Wow. What a 24 hours. Never seen anything quite like it. Controversial cricket, the game bought into disasterous disrepute, meltdown on Betfair, huge wins and losses - and the repurcussions of it all are still to be felt.

Leaving aside the rights and wrongs of the cheating issue for later I believe where we're at now is correct. Pakistan failed to take the pitch for play. Not once but twice. They forfeited the game. They lose. Rules are rules. They're clear. And even the Pakistan Cricket Board isn't contesting the ICC ruling. Which means the Betfair payout (and the rest of the betting industry) is correct. Betfair's own rules state they pay out on the "official" result. The official result is an England win. Case closed.

As for Inzi being charged with bringing the game into disrepute. Spot on. I like Inzi. But surely noone can seriously contest that he hasn't damaged the reputation of cricket? Even the press in Pakistan, though outraged about the cheating allegations, is not supportive of the action Inzi took at the Oval. I mean come on - for the first time ever in the history of the game a test match has been forfeited. It was chaos. And very embarrassing for the game. Refusing to take to the pitch, despite an ultimatum to do so, was not the right way to deal with the situtaion. I expect him to receive a fine and either an 8 match ODI ban, or a 4 match test ban. It could be a very sad end to a fantastic career. Zidane all over again.

The ICC? Despite a farcical lack of communication at the crucial time yesterday they eventually woke up and did the right thing. You have to back your own. And they have. Billy Doctrove and Darrell Hair were the ICC officials on the pitch. They interpreted the laws of the game correctly. They gave Pakistan every chance to take to the pitch again. When Pakistan failed to show up for a second time they followed the laws of the game, interpreted it as a forfeit by Pakistan and awarded the match to England. For the ICC not to stand by this straight forward ruling would have been disasterous not only for its own authority but the future of the game. Imagine what kind of precedent it would have set if they hadn't have backed up the umpires.

So, to the issue of cheating and Darrell Hair. Well firstly, this Hair witchhunt is totally unwarranted until the facts are known. I accept he was the driving force in the ball tampering decision. But there were two umpires on the pitch. It is a joint decision. Sure, Hair has history with Pakistan. He also does with Sri Lanka. I find allegations of racism against him unsavoury. Rather, I think he's a strong willed guy that is willing to make tough decisions. Many wouldn't. But whether it's calling Murali for chucking (and let's face it, this led to a change in the laws of the game to accomodate arm bend), or accusing Pakistan of ball tampering, you have to give him credit for standing there and making the call. Hair is not stupid. He knows what kind of implications these decisions will have. And he is not taking them lightly. If he thinks the laws of the game are being broken we should applaud him for having the bottle to stand there, make the decision and take the inevitable flak.

Which leads to the crunch question. Was the ball tampered with? Well, I don't have clue. No idea. How can I? What I do know is that 26 Sky cameras failed to spot anything. And the Pakistani team are vociferous in their denials. However, in a short period of play (from memory 13 overs - without a six, which some claim caused any change in the ball condition), Hair obviously believes he noticed a marked change in the condition of the ball. He consulted Doctrove, Doctrove agreed, and the shit hit the proverbial fan.

Now we don't know what made Hair and Doctrove believe this. And I sincerely hope that in time evidence will be offered. Maybe Hair saw something that we don't know about it but will go in an official report to the ICC? I don't know. But for the sake of the game, and the umpires, I sincerely hope it wasn't just a belief that the ball had been tampered with. This in itself would be enough to take the action the umpires did. But accusing a team of cheating is not a pleasant business. Pakistan had every right to be outraged if innocent. Until we know the facts, hear the explanations and see the ball for ourselves, it's a little pointless to speculate further. Unfortunately I believe there will be no evidence, apart from the state of the ball - and all the arguments about how that could have happened, and this will rumble on. Either way, if neither umpire saw any tampering you have to say that, with the knowledge of what such a decision would entail, the umpires must have been pretty bloody sure something unusual had happened to the ball. Even if they reached the wrong conclusion about what it was.

So finally us punters. There's no doubt people have won and lost big on this. Huge. I've read of catastrophic £30k+ losses, bankrolls being wiped out and losers saying they're finished. I know these people don't want sympathy but they were unlucky that circumstances unravelled as they did.

At the same time I have to ask myself what the hell people are doing risking eveything on one result? It's not even as if England were that big a price. There's no such thing as buying money in betting. Bank of Federer? Bollocks. Murray made a withdrawal. 1.01's. Bullshit. £500k was matched on Clijsters at 1.01 in her match with Dubois last week before she retired hurt. Or what about when Australia were 1.01 in a recent ODI with South Africa before the Saffers had even batted? And then lost. Or 1000 shots (999/1) winning in reality tv markets after something unexpected happens? Regular readers will know I'm a great believer in small consistent profits. Put everything on the line and sooner or later, no matter how unlikely, you'll get turned over. It's unfortunate but true. And that's why when people think they're buying money they should stop to consider why people are opposing them. They're not always the mugs the money "buyers" think they are.

And as for me? Well, I dipped in and out of the test each day. Couldn't do it all so left myself all green at the end of each day. Was so tempted to lay the draw big at the start of the match but ended up in a terrible position trying to quickly trade in and out and got caught with a hefty draw back as England started to collapse.

By the time everything kicked off yesterday I was around £300-£500 green any result. When I realised Pakistan weren't coming out for the first time I had a small bet on England in the belief a forfeit would give the game to England. To be honest I didn't know. And so wish I had! It was speculative and the odds fell a little and then went right out again. But when Pakistan failed to turn up the second time I'd managed to check the laws and wanted to back England more. By then the price had collapsed and so I laid off at sub evens and for an all green book of between £800+ and £1k+ believing that was a better move than a sub evens back in a volatile situation. Unfortunately the market was then suspended denying us all what would have been an absolutely fantastic trading frenzy.

Of course, I'm happy with my £1k. It's another hefty contribution to the wedding funds. And I'll settle for it. But at the same time I realise that I could have made up to £30k on this match, though £10k is the more realisitc figure. I had my finger hovering over a much larger back of England when I made my speculative bet but just didn't do it. The point is I wasn't 100% sure of the rules at first. And, true to form, kept my risk to a minimum. No big liabilities. Small consistent wins. With so much uncertainty I simply decided to keep my green pretty level and, on suspension, had the decision taken away from me. Next time though I'll have my own copy of the icc rules and regulations to hand! This little £2.50 beauty could be worth more than it's weight in gold next time controversy hits the game!!

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