Cricket believes it’s winning fight against corruption but will anyone really know?

CRICKET believes its winning the fight against match fixing but did it send wrong signal by letting Mohammad Amir back to Test ranks?

Former South African cricket captain Hansie Cronje testifies, in Cape Town, during the King Commission investigating his involvement in cricket match fixing in 2000.

THEY were words of wisdom from Carl Hooper that never left me; “In my eyes, if Hansie Cronje could get touched, anybody could get touched.”

Heartfelt conversations about claims of corruption in cricket over the years have delivered contrasting positions across a gamut of respected cricket figures from Hooper, Barry Richards, Jason Gillespie to Keith Bradshaw.

Cricket’s purity is again questioned seven years on from the Lord’s spot fixing scandal that resulted in jail time for Pakistan trio Mohammad Amir, Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif. A report from London’s The Sun newspaper alleging shady Indian bookmakers had plotted to spot fix the third Ashes Test in Perth refocused cricket on the scourge of corruption.

Test great Gillespie represents your true-blue legend who detests the game he loves and professionals being tainted by unproven claims. Dizzy “can’t fathom” any current player - let alone a World Cup winning Australian all-rounder - being on the take as asserted in The Sun dossier that now sits with the International Cricket Council Anti-Security unit.

South African legend Richards expressed fears five years ago to The Advertiser about illegal betting on domestic matches within Australia. However, the majority of players won’t encounter underworld figures which explains the way debate over match-fixing delivers polarising views.

The body of evidence available to integrity units points to illegal bookmakers targeting captains given their absolute authority to dictate all facets of the game, ball by ball. Bookmakers attempt to seduce leaders of poorer nations with life-changing bounties.

Three international captains including Zimbabwe’s Graeme Cremer and Pakistan’s Sarfraz Ahmed have reported to the ICC approaches by illegal bookmakers to influence games in the last two months. The ICC says it has six “live” investigations into illegal betting. If only that support structure was there for Cronje.

Former West Indies skipper Hooper told this writer in 2013 he wasn’t targetted by bookmakers to spot fix over the course of a 102-Test career but “naive to think it is not going on”. Hooper remains haunted by the 2002 demise of good friend, devout Christian and former South African skipper Cronje.

“I would have bet my mortgage that the bloke I knew, there was just no way he could be involved,” said Hooper of Cronje, banned for life in 2000 for influencing matches in collusion with bookmakers.

The Sun expose revived memories of Bradshaw’s place at ground zero during the Pakistan spot-fixing scandal, revealed by News of the World. It was Bradshaw, as Marylebone Cricket Club secretary, who took the call on August 28, 2010, from London’s deputy police commissioner confirming Pakistan players were under investigation for bowling pre-ordained no-balls in the fourth Test against England.

“It was a shock, hugely stressful, a strange time. We went into lock down mode before the players were questioned,” said Bradshaw, now SACA chief.

The ICC and Cricket Australia are now positioned to fight cricket corruption insists Bradshaw. “There are very strong measures in place to tackle illegal betting and whistle-blowing services,” he said.

Former England skipper Kevin Pietersen believes spot-fixers should be banned for life. Bradshaw remains conflicted, saying: “Amir was a very young lad, prodigious talent. There were penalties imposed and he served his time.”

Amir’s fast tracked return from convicted spot fixer to Test paceman last year risked sending corrosive signals about cricket’s stance against corruption regardless of the best intentions.

Cricket would be irrevocably poisoned if players in The Ashes shook hands at summer’s end with a sinking feeling that opponents were compromised in the game’s cardinal contest.