25 March

Not trying to excuse the Australians, who I think are a bunch of boorish, greedy, cheating yobs. But I do remember this, exactly the same or even worse behaviour. Has been going on forever, the games Pakistan threw for bets, Hanse Cronje’s game-rigging - all far worse. Today’s story for me is more about the way cricket has been trashed by self-interest, not about the cheating itself. Notice that betting was the centre of most of the worst cheating, as I think it is today.