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| | Thursday, 27 June, 2002, 17:48 GMT 18:48 UK The spectre that will not vanish Condon strived to be 'brutal' and 'frank'
Lord Condon strikes one as someone who occasionally wakes up in the middle of the night petrified that another scandal involving cricket corruption is just around the corner. He is someone who probably reckons he has already had his fair share of bad publicity - he was, after all, infamously revealed to be in charge of "insititutionally racist" police force. And although he seems pretty confident when he says that the international cricket currently being played around the world is free of corruption he does not want to tempt fate too much. Some people out there, still earning an honest - or is that dishonest? - crust from the game, should not be doing so, he feels. And he is keen for people to realise the complexities and sheer scale of cricket betting in Asia.
"What you are looking for is a betting coup," he explains. "Whether it's a bowler who bowls two wides in one over or a batsman who gets to 40 and then gets out for 41 or 42. "The rewards for those who wise to stage a betting coup are immense." However big football becomes, it can never begin to rival the remarkable variety of bets that are available to a cricket punter or layer. Each player's performance can be minutely examined - thereby allowing a gambling opportunity. Condon's employers at the International Cricket Council (ICC) are equally aware that they cannot hope to presume that people will forget about corruption in a hurry. ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed, speaking at the same media briefing where Condon was appearing, is equally wary of what might happen.
"If we lose the faith of the public we have lost a lot," he says. "When people pay their money they deserve to see everyone out their playing at their very best." One area in which the ICC feels they have a big opportunity to make a difference is in hiring the five new security managers. Speed explains their role is strictly limited to preventing corruption. These men are not going to be protective bodyguards in any shape or form. "They will be present at most matches and will essentially act as the eyes and the ears of the anti-corruption unit. "They will work with the teams and become aware of the identity of the bookmakers. If there is anything inappropriate we hope they will report to Lord Condon on what happens. "They are employed by the ICC, not by the individual cricket boards, but they will not do any investigating." Time will tell whether the new-look ICC can really stamp out the cancer of corruption. From now on it will very much be a case of no news being good news. | | See also:  27 Jun 02 | Cricket 08 Jan 02 | Cricket 23 May 01 | Corruption in Cricket 12 Feb 01 | Corruption in Cricket 01 Nov 00 | Corruption in Cricket 23 May 01 | Corruption in Cricket Internet links: The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites Top Cricket stories now: Links to more Cricket stories are at the foot of the page. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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