Who has been following the test match?

[nibbler]

As title; which of you lot are boring enough to like cricket and have been watching the amazing match going on at the minute?

[MadduckUK]

yes, but with f1 back and Blackpool playing today + Liverpool tomorrow not as much as i could have

[Locke]

Yep, been keeping up to date with all the Sport after the F1 and the Football earlier. I still can't believe how England have managed to turn the match around after they were 105 - 7. The Pakistan team today must have been raging and soo angry hence why they've practically lost already.

Good entertainment though!

[scaryjim]

not 2 hours ago I was sitting in the sports bar at Manchester Pic station waiting for my darling wife and watching Swann and Finn demolish the Pakistan tail.

Remarkable stuff.

I always tend to follow the cricket one way or another - very frustrating that it's no longer on terrestrial telly, and most pubs only bother having the football on once you get into August I'm pretty much stuck with BBC text updates on my phone...

[nibbler]

TMS is the way to go. Without Blowers' insightful commentary on the various pigeons around the ground I would have no idea what was going on.

[santa claus]

What do you make of the bribery scandal? Bad news for this match and cricket as a whole eh?

[nibbler]

There seems to me no way they can be innocent unless the News of the World made it all up. Should all get lifetime bans if it's true tbh. Possibly with the exception of Amir as he's only 18 and might have found it hard to say no to the team.

[roorooroo]

Listened to it (thanks to the BBC I wasn't watching it)..super match and should be interesting what happens next in the latest cricketing scandal.

[fumingorilla8]

Need to take a tough stand with them.

[Steve A]

Life time ban IMO, (if its true) or until they can prove that this wont happen again or didnt happen in the first place, (yeah good luck with that one).

no place for cheating in any sport, and this is pretty much as bad as it gets.

[oolon]

I think throwing no balls, is easier to fix as they do not need to whole team to be in on it just the bowler and possibly the captain (so the right person is in play at the right time).

I agree though, anyone found fixing a game should never be allowed to play again they should also be taken to court by people betting who lost the bet, so they can get there stake money back.

[SeriousSam]

Blanket lifetime bans is NOT the answer, imagine this scenario...

"Your 18 and happily playing for your country but a bit wet behind the ears, then your family loses everything in a massive disaster and your agent says he wil be able to help out if you do him a favour of bowling a no-ball at a particular time"

So the question then becomes - do something that will have no real impact on a test and help your family, or potentially see them all die from disease etc.

Some people should know better, others get manipulated / suckered in... and the punishment should reflect this.

[oolon]

Blanket lifetime bans is NOT the answer, imagine this scenario...

"Your 18 and happily playing for your country but a bit wet behind the ears, then your family loses everything in a massive disaster and your agent says he wil be able to help out if you do him a favour of bowling a no-ball at a particular time"

So the question then becomes - do something that will have no real impact on a test and help your family, or potentially see them all die from disease etc.

Some people should know better, others get manipulated / suckered in... and the punishment should reflect this.

Right... and if steal stock from my company to "feed my family", they should still trust and employ me? NO! they would fire my A** and rightly too. Everything has a risk and a reward, at the moment they are doing it because the risk level is too low (I believe crickers are quite well paid compared to many other livings). Are you saying this is acceptable because he is from Pakistan what happens if an Australian had done it? It would be racist to threat them any differently. Would it have been acceptable if their had not been a flood? Is acceptable for someone to do it if they just happen to come from a "poor" country? Professional sport is all about trust, we trust them to try their hardest, if they don't they need to find a new job.

[Steve A]

I think throwing no balls, is easier to fix as they do not need to whole team to be in on it just the bowler and possibly the captain (so the right person is in play at the right time).

I agree though, anyone found fixing a game should never be allowed to play again they should also be taken to court by people betting who lost the bet, so they can get there stake money back.

Blanket lifetime bans is NOT the answer, imagine this scenario...

"Your 18 and happily playing for your country but a bit wet behind the ears, then your family loses everything in a massive disaster and your agent says he wil be able to help out if you do him a favour of bowling a no-ball at a particular time"

So the question then becomes - do something that will have no real impact on a test and help your family, or potentially see them all die from disease etc.

Some people should know better, others get manipulated / suckered in... and the punishment should reflect this.

Sorry guys but i totally disagree, the cost of cheating should be as severe as it gets, it should make absoltuley no difference how old you are or your reasons for doing it, to blame is age is a total cop out. At 18 you are fully aware of right and wrong so that for me is a total none argument. Maybe the next 18 year old that might take that chance and ruin his whole career will think twice.

The team should also suffer the consequnces, ok maybe not a life time on the team (i do agree that was a little harsh), but at the same time you have to lay down a marker to prevent this type of thing from happening otherwise it will always be a problem.

And if Pakistan dont ban the Guilty players then the ICC should.

the only way to stamp this out is to hand out the maximum penalty, as there is no worse crime in sport than cheating.