Cricket Fix Corruption, Political Patronage and the Need for Reform of the Pakistani Cricket Board (PCB)

Corruption in professional sports carries significant implications beyond the sport itself. Nations, regions and populations attach a great deal of importance to athletic competition and particularly to the notions of honor, integrity and sportsmanship. So recent revelations of match fixing in cricket have shaken the sport to its foundation.

Particularly, evidence of match fixing in Pakistan is forcing the sport to examine its conscience. According to the transcript emerging from an investigation into such events, gambling odds-makers are guilty of an historically persistent pattern of corruption. CEO of the International Cricket Council (ICC) between 2001-2008, Malcolm Speed indicates that "the same bookmakers who were there in the late 90s, who were corrupt then and...

Most prominently in the headlines are recent charges that prominent London cricket agent Mazhar Majeed had been observed on tape by an undercover reporter offering bribes to players in the sums of 150,000(.
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Indications that this had occurred not only stunned the cricket community but also cast a glaring spotlight on the degree of political bias that infests the world of professional sports and especially in Pakistan. Even with glaring evidence against those embroiled in the most recent fixing scandals, formal response has not been forthcoming.

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The likeliest reason for that, the transcript…