Clean-up campaigns putting cricket’s corrupt on the backfoot, says Roebuck

SYDNEY - The Kerala High Court’s recent ruling that cricket administration officials are public servants and are liable to be investigated by the vigilance department should be see as a significant leap forward in the sport feels noted columnist Peter Roebuck.

In a syndicated column for the Sydney Morning Herald, Roebuck says that in the past Indian courts have shown a readiness to step in to prevent cricket administrators from fanning corrupt practices.

“That thought alone will help to keep them on their toes. It will also force them to publish accounts. Boards tend to forget that the game belongs to the public. Not long ago a Cricket Australia official remarked that they had every right to control all proprietary interests in ‘our game”. He had to be reminded that it was actually Australia’s game, yours and mine. Cricket officials are servants not masters. Honesty is the least that can be expected from them. If they cannot abide by those standards, let them join the honest thieves.

He also praises the fact that the Indian Premier League (IPL) has been called to account.

Lalit Modi, a maverick, made the mistake of offending India’s finance minister, Pranab Mukherjee, and was ejected by the BCCI.

He credits N. Srinivasan, the BCCI secretary, for the IPL clean-up, but adds that he is not beyond reproach.

He praises the fact that past players like Anil Kumble are finally being given their due.

Eventually India will get its own players’ association.

Significantly, the only countries without them are India, Pakistan and Zimbabwe. Mind you, the West Indian version has gone feral.

“Despite the imperfections, and not always of its own accord, cricketing power is starting to confront its own corruption. Long may it last,” Roebuck concludes. (ANI)