A brief history of match-fixing

[Lahore_Real_Estate]

* In 1817, match between two English teams was fixed at Lord’s

* English batsman was banned for life after match

By Hussain Kashif

LAHORE: In the history of cricket, the first match was fixed in 1817, around 193 years ago, and the first cricket star was banned for life at that time. On the other hand, British officers resorted to spot fixing in order to win a match against a local team in India in 1893.

Interestingly, the Lord’s Cricket Ground, the best-known cricket playground, was used for the first time for spot fixing in 1817. Subsequently, a professional English player was banned for his involvement in the scandal.

According to historical records seen by Daily Times, William Lambert was a professional first class cricket star in the first two decades of the 19th century, who played from 1801 to 1817. He was the best all-rounder at that time as a right-handed batsman, underarm slow bowler, wicketkeeper and a marvellous fielder. He was born at Burstow, Surrey, England in 1779 and died in Nutfield, Surrey, England in 1851. Ironically, Mazhar Majeed, the main suspect in the Pakistan match-fixing scam, is also a resident of Surrey, England.

Lambert mostly played matches for Surrey, but also played for other clubs, such as Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), which was the main club at that time. He also played many single-wicket matches as well. The MCC was the authority on cricket policy at that time and it determined game rules and imposed bans on players.

Lambart was the first batsman in cricket history to score two centuries in one match at the Lord’s playground. Unfortunately it proved to be the last match of his career. He was banned for life from playing cricket, following allegations of match-fixing in another match, which was played at the same ground earlier.

According to the first-class matches record of Willian Lambert, he scored 3,014 runs with four centuries and 16 fifties. His batting average was 27.65.

Lord Frederick Beauclerk was his (William Lambert) rival in cricket, who played first-class cricket from 1791 to 1825. Frederick lost a match against William who defeated him tactically after throwing wide-balls in 1810. Later, in revenge, Frederick used his influence in the MCC to change the rules and ban wide-balls in 1811.

According to the records, Lord Frederick captained an all-England team in a highly controversial match at the Lord’s, Nottingham in 1817, while William Lambert was heading the Nottingham side.

Match-fixing allegations were levelled by both sides against each other after the match. However, Lord Frederick being influential, produced a witness against Lambert and the MCC then imposed a life-ban on Lambert.

Cricket was considered the game of the gentlemen throughout its history of around 700 years when the game was a great entertainment for the lords of England especially in the Victorian period. However, in the last 30 to 40 years, a number of cricket players have been embroiled in serious match-fixing scandals.

England exported cricket to its colonial territory, India (before partition) in the 19th century and along with it, the tradition of match-fixing also took roots in the subcontinent. In 1893, British players and officials tried to use an Indian player for winning a match between Englishmen and a local team of Champaner, Gujarat.

At that time, there was a great drought in the area. In order to have their taxes written off, the locals approached the British commanding officer, Captain Andrew Russell, who turned them down. Later, he put forth a proposition that the government would not collect taxes for the next three years, if the British team was defeated in a cricket match by the locals, who were not familiar with the game.

The locals accepted the challenge for the sake of their tax-free future. Bhaven, a native of the area, led the local team, which at the start was totally unaware of cricket rules. Fortunately, Captain Andrew’s sister, Lady Elizabeth, helped the Indians by teaching them the rules of the game.

During the match, the British officials were involved in spot-fixing when they trapped a local player, Lakha, and asked him to show his worst performance in order to make his team lose the match.

Lakha, true to his word, dropped many catches during the match apart from adopting other methods to ensure that the locals lost the match.

After a tight contest, the local team somehow managed to defeat the British officers and won the tax reprieve. India has also made a film on the same issue, which received international recognition. That was the actual start of spot or fancy-fixing and the same issue now haunts the Pakistan cricket team.