What the hell is going on.......

Phew, I saw your red name on my thread and thought I was in trouble again, I`m a bit hesitant in starting threads now, Dave says to not post immediately I think of one and wait a while and give my idea some thought before posting but if I do that by the time I`ve posted the topic is then old!
I can`t see it as raising flood relief money as it is only hundreds of thousands and wouldn`t even begin to scratch the surface of what they need, I feel it`s just some greedy corrupt git milkin it for all he can and got caught out( deliberate pun )!
We need to start a thread for the Ashes soon so the sledging can begin, but not quite yet, lets get a bit closer to the time and then go for it, gently!

Personally speaking, Aussie, I preferred it when you said what you thought, when you thought it. Sitting around and thinking about it can dilute the emotion, although there's nothing stopping you from adding to existing threads, is there?

Shoot from the hip, I say! ;D

PS Not looking forward to The Ashes as I think we'll be pants with our current batting...

i know what you mean,but these guys make a brilliant living out of cricket,are world famous,surely they have enough famous freinds to do charity events to raise funds,it doesnt wash with me.I dont like the bloody sport as it happens,but many do i know,this is probably the most interesting headline the sport has ever had in my opinion,although its sad this has happened.I am also not naive enough to believe football is totally corruption free either,snooker has had a taste as well,next it will be darts

Can't see how it's been some sort of "secret" any more than I've got a whole in my arse or that my great great grandmother has passed away.

Cricket's not the only sport susceptible to corrupt practice and the REAL culprit is the ridiculous legalisation of betting practices that stand to benefit so hugely from it. i.e. spread betting. Stop that and you take away much of the oxygen for the beast of corruption.

I heard comment during the Edgbaston Test that there was hardly a Pakistani supporter there who even bothered to go along and watch their national team.................in a city with such a huge Pakistani community as Birmingham that says it all about the integrity of those cheating bastards destroying a game that is a religion in their country and amongst the diaspora of Pakistanis around the world ~ shame on them!

But you see that's just the sort of unfair generalisation and cynicism that all the true and good professionals just do not deserve.

Think how gut wrenching it is for someone (in any sport) who has achieved something truly great to have people thinking to themselves "I wonder.................?"
Does the particularly more corrupt Pakistani game reflect that they have a particularly more corrupt society is probably a more specific point we should be addressing and also, why the hell is this country providing a "home" for their national side to play in because they can't keep their own society in order when they turn around and behave like this yet again?

Well that would be incorrect as I suggested whether we should consider whether the conduct of their cricketers reflected the very real and widespread problem of corruption within their own country.

Are you aware that virtually every election held in that country since the initial ones of 1953 which were described at the time as "a farce, mockery and fraud upon the electorate"; the losers have accused the winners of cheating and rigging the elections.

The current President, Asif Ali Zardari; has been widely referrred to as "Mr Ten Per Cent" from the rake offs his wife Benazir Bhutto demanded for him whilst she herself was president in the 1990s ~ any contract that was awarded by her governmnet was under suspicion of integrating a hefty back hand clause for the family.

At the end of last year an amnesty that gave protection against corruption investigations to over 8,000 Pakistani politicians was lifted in the greater interest of suspician that this widespread corruption was fuelling feelings of resentment within the population and hence providing a more ambivalent attitude towards The Taliban.

That is what I was referring to when I mentioned a very real and widespread problem within Pakistan.