Ball Fixing Live

No other sting operation or investigation of its kind has managed to nail cricket’s cheats so conclusively.

There are many who resent Rupert Murdoch’s brand of journalism. To some, his News of the World is the most perverse among UK tabloids. But the paper’s latest expose´on match fixing is one of the best investigative stories of the decade. No other sting operation or investigation of its kind has managed to nail cricket’s cheats so conclusively. Here are excerpts from a conversation between bookie Mazhar Majeed and a reporter of the tabloid:

MAJEED: I do feel that I can speak to you about this, okay? Now, yes… there is very big money in it.

REPORTER: There’s still? I know there was, but they clamped down on match fixing I heard.

MAJEED: They’ve toned down match-fixing a lot, yeah. They’ve made it very, very difficult. These guys won’t deal with just anybody. The only reason they’ll deal with me is because they know I’m professional, they’ve known me for years. I’ve been doing it with them, the Pakistani team, for about 2 years. And we’ve made masses and masses of money.

MAJEED: There’s no risk, there’s no signal… these three [no-balls] are definitely happening. They’ve all been organised, okay? So, the first ball of the third over of the innings, yeah. Asif and Amir are going to be bowling. Amir is to bowl the first over (meaning he will also bowl the third), yeah? Okay? Then the tenth, the last ball… sixth ball of the tenth over.

REPORTER: The tenth over, who’s bowling it?

MAJEED: Asif will be bowling it.

[Majeed then explained that the third no-ball would come in the first over that Amir got to deliver to an England right-hander, after one of the opening two left-handers had been dismissed. Just to convince the NOTW team, Majeed telephoned Amir at his hotel. “Are you sleeping, fucker?” he asked crudely. Amir confirmed that’s what he was trying to do. “Okay, sleep,” said Majeed. “We’ve spoken about everything before anyway…”]

About The Author

Open