Richard Moore: That's just not cricket

There was a time when cricket - and cricketers - were above suspicion when it came to cheating or match fixing.

It was a game for gentlemen and you had to play by the rules, old sport, or not at all. Even more importantly, you had to play by the spirit of the game, hence the branding of dodgy behaviour as "just not cricket!".

For more than a century the worst breach of the spirit of the glorious game was the infamous Ashes' Bodyline series in 1932-33 where England captain Douglas Jardine developed a tactic to beat the majestic Don Bradman.

It wasn't cheating, but it was dodgy.

Decades on, murmurings of illegal activities plagued the new boys of cricket, particularly Pakistan, as big money was being wagered on match results. In Australia, South Africa, England and New Zealand supporters went tsk, tsk, that would never happen with our guys.

That changed dramatically in 2000 when Indian police taped four South African players match fixing. One was the Proteas skipper and Mr Clean, Hansie Cronje.

Our moral superiority vanished overnight.

And New Zealand cricketing great Chris Cairns has been caught up in match-fixing allegations although he is suing his accuser for libel. That case is going on at the moment in London and it is yet another degrading of the gentleman's game.

Yesterday we have new allegations of match fixing, this time involving players from New Zealand, England, West Indies, Pakistan, India and Bangladesh who had agreed to throw international matches.

The Sunday Times said a batsman could earn $84,000 for slow scoring and bowlers $95,000 to concede runs.

No Kiwi names were mentioned although we do know two have been spotlighted.

NZ Cricket says the claims aren't credible.

Well, credible or not, they are a slur on every international player this nation has and must be investigated fully.

Cronje showed that no nation is immune from such corruption and anyone caught should be banned from all forms of the game for life.

Cricket must regain its true spirit.

AS A fully paid up member of Cynics Anonymous and an associate member of Conspiracies Are Really Real, I reckon this legal assault on German-Kiwi Zeppelin Kim Dotcom smacks of a political witchhunt driven by the US.

Powerful American groups want his allegedly illegal downloading business stopped and have pulled out all the stops to have him extradited to face a life behind bars.

Willingly following along are Kiwi authorities who kept Mr Dotcom in jail without bail longer than many convicted crims get for a full sentence.

Anyway, to show that my natural paranoia may have a basis in fact is the story of a US documentary maker who is doing a programme on Mr Dotcom. Donovan Leitch recently flew into Auckland for more interviews and was immediately detained by NZ Customs - because he put Mr Dotcom's address on his arrival card.

The journalist was doing nothing illegal - only going about his job - and yet he is given the ninth degree just because he is going to visit a man who still has yet to be found guilty of anything.

Shame border controllers weren't so thorough in keeping Psa out of the country ... or maybe the bugs didn't list Mr Dotcom's home as being their first place of call.

OUCH! The Auckland Art Gallery seems to have got a little too overwhelmed by celebrity and has poked a giant paint brush into the eyes of its long-time backers.

At a gala evening opening of the Degas to Dali exhibition, the gallery asked its supporters to hand over $75 for the privilege.

They happily did so knowing that each of the 230 tickets would help the coffers of the institution. However, they were less gruntled when they discovered 10 tickets had gone free to celebrities.

The gallery said celebrities were invited because of their ability to connect with the social media audience and publicise the exhibition.

OMG, do people who tweet have the attention span for any understanding of the arts?

richard@richardmoore.com