Soapbox: Cricket no longer needs Pakistan

The allegations of match-fixing levelled against Pakistan in the Lord's Test against England should come as no surprise. Fast bowlers Mohammad Aamer and Mohammad Asif stand accused of deliberately bowling no balls at pre-arranged times on the orders of skipper Salman Butt, with three other players implicated.

That one of the others is Kamran Akmal also should come as no surprise. Anyone who saw his iron-gloved wicketkeeping in last summer's Sydney Test – allowing snicks to smack into his gloves and fall to the turf with barely any reaction – would scarcely raise an eyebrow at the latest claims.

If the Sydney Test wasn't a fix, it gave a pretty good impression of one. Apart from the woeful fielding – most park cricketers would retire if they had fielded as poorly – and the ridiculously defensive fields set when the Australian tail was batting, Pakistan's profligate second innings when chasing a gettable total was highly questionable.

A raft of Pakistan players were suspended or fined after the Australian tour, but all have now found their way back onto the scene in a mockery of the judicial process. If these latest allegations are found to have currency, Pakistan must be suspended from world cricket, which is already battling the stench of corruption in the Indian Premier League. To argue, as some have, that the Pakistanis are somehow forced into accepting bribes because they don't earn as much as players from other countries due to their inability to join the IPL is risible.

After boxing, cricket now stands as the most corrupt sport on earth. Gambling is at the root of that corruption, but nothing will change that, so it's necessary to treat the symptoms rather than the disease. Cricket must now ban for life any player found guilty of match-fixing and suspend from all forms of the game any countries where corruption is entrenched.

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of BigPond Sport.