Opinion: It's time to get on fast track

Jared Smith

WELL, anyone want to bet what the topic of discussion should be this week?

The ICC investigation of world cricket's latest match-fixing scandal, and New Zealand players' role in it, has created what can only be described as a geological oddity.

This is the first time a slow-moving glacier has caused destruction over a short term.

The glacial speed at which the ICC is moving - as made clear by the fact the revelations of the alleged conversations between Black Caps skipper Brendon McCullum and "Player X" regarding spot fixing took place six years ago - led directly to the latest kerfuffle to shake the public faith this week with more leaked documents from somewhere inside the increasingly beleaguered ICC Anti-Corruption and Security Unit.

ICC's chief executive David Richardson says the focus now is to "urgently investigate" how these testimonies and documents found their way to the media. Yes, there needs to be a time for that.

But as that excellent Oliver Stone conspiracy movie JFK postulated when Kevin Costner's character met his own "Mr X", "The how and the who is just scenery for the public ... prevents them from asking the most important question - why?"

Maybe it's because they come from a sporting code whose crown-jewel game - test matches - take five days to reach a result, but the world's governing cricket authorities have never been known to move with swiftness on matters that damage or even evolve the status quo.

The flourishing of Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket "circus" of the 1970s and the 2007 founding of the rebel Indian Cricket League, where accusations of fixing were rife, are proof of what happens when said bodies did not appreciate the current climate of economic realities or player dissatisfaction.

The ACSU is known to be a small unit and after all this time without significant findings as to how the fixing operation works - and, yes, it is a deep-rooted operation with a lot of thumbprints on it - the leaks have obviously come from sources who are thoroughly fed up.

These are individuals who want to get some runs on the board, who needed a "win", even if that was only through the accused making appearances in the kangaroo court room of media and public opinion.

It is akin to the drug-enforcement officer taking a low-level dealer off the street corner so his superiors can see they are making a "dent", while higher up the well-connected supplier continues to ply his trade with impunity.

For the integrity of the game, it's time to get on the fast track.

"Player X" may be gifted New Zealand allrounder Chris Cairns - who went on the PR offensive in 2013 protesting his innocence, and has yet to be interviewed by the ACSU. While I am loath to verbally hang the player I went to Nelson's Trafalgar Park to watch play for Canterbury against Central Districts, it is time to start a full judicial process because that is what Cairns deserves.

The ICC must give ACSU every immediate resource to complete this investigation and present evidence so Cairns and others can have their day in court, either for exoneration or proper punishment their crimes would warrant.

As British lawyer James Wilson pointed out this week, thanks to these leaks it is unlikely Cairns can get a fair shake now either way.

Until that time, with every major match, a jaded sporting public will have one reaction in the back of their minds when they see a delivery slip a metre wide or a "generous" full toss get swatted over the ropes.

"Oh, I guess the fix is in."