Match-fixing 101: ICC investigates bizarre UAE T20 clash

IT is easy to ignore headlines about match-fixing in Asian cricket.

We have all heard the stories about top players and administrators in India and Pakistan taking the bookmaker’s shilling.

What we don’t hear as much of are the lower leagues where some cricketers regard illegal bookies almost as a primary source of income.

The International Cricket Council was given a big wake-up call this week when video emerged of some suspicious incidents in a Twenty20 match in the UAE.

‘Suspicious’ may not be the right word; ‘blatant corruption’ might be closer the mark.

The game in question took place in a private tournament called the All Stars T20 Ajman.

Under the microscope are the Dubai Star, who needed 136 runs to defeat the Sharjah Warriors.

The Star managed only 46 – a suspiciously low total in its own right.

But the ICC’s anti-corruption unit was put on red alert when thousands of social media users commented on the bizarre nature of the dismissals.

See for yourself:

This was either the most obvious attempt at match-fixing in the history of sport, or the most feeble attempt at sport in the history of everything.

Those who advocate the latter theory are having a laugh.

It’s like these guys have read a book on how to fix a cricket match and skipped past the chapter that covers craft, subterfuge and concealment.

Letting a ball go when you are three metres down the wicket is something you wouldn’t see in Z-grade park cricket, let alone the professional ranks.

At least now Glenn Maxwell has a genuine rival for the title of worst leave of all time.

Compare the pair: