David Leggat: Every poor result will now be suspect

In the wake of the spot-fixing maelstrom swirling around the Pakistan side, one seasoned English writer described the events at Lord's as a tragedy.

It is not. Tragedy is the death, destruction and despair happening to the Pakistani people trying to stay alive amid the devastating flooding in that country.

The no-balls allegedly delivered to order by Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir at Lord's against England late last week are an appalling indictment on players from a nation whom the rest of the cricket world has bent over to help.

The terrorist attack on Sri Lankan players in Lahore in March last year means no national team will be going there for years to come. However, countries have stood in line to offer them a home away from home, most recently playing two tests against Australia in England.

They won one too, and beat England comprehensively in the third test. They can play, and a good case can be mounted that Asif and Amir are now the best new ball pair in the game.

Captain Salman Butt has only been in the job five minutes, the latest to step on to the rapidly-spinning Pakistani leadership merry-go-round. His problem in this is that he decides who bowls at which end, and when.

Having Amir bowl the third over of the England innings is logical. But, what if Asif, deliverer of the last-ball no-ball in the 10th over, had been taken apart in his first three overs.

Butt would have had a problem justifying keeping him on. Which begs a worse question: if the fix was truly in, it must mean at least one other Pakistani bowler was in on the plan.

The evidence against Pakistani players is powerful, if coming from a grubby source. As the International Cricket Council's anti-corruption unit rolls up its sleeves, you wonder at the outcome. Hefty individual bans are in order if evidence is conclusive. Toss Pakistan out for a year? Tough on the innocents and probably not the answer in the long term.

Betting on cricket is nothing new. England's aristocracy of the 18th century liked nothing better than a bent game on which to make money. Cricket is among the easiest games to rig because there are so many elements at play.

Forget trying to fix a result. Why bother when there are piles of cash to be made on illegal gambling over small incidents; bowling a wide or no-ball at a designated moment; batsmen guaranteeing to be out for less than 10; a fielder dropping a catch.

The stink which is already seeping out of this wretched affair is that whenever a team performs unusually poorly, eyes will sharpen on how it happened. Pakistan's capitulation at Sydney last season, when a test win was there for the taking - and after a bizarre series of dropped catches by wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal - is again under investigation.

When New Zealand rolled India for only 88 at Dambulla in an ODI a few days ago, were questions asked? No, but from now on they probably will be.

Uncharacteristic, and legitimate, mistakes will be highlighted.

A good outcome from all this? It is hard to see.

And wait until the first Pakistani no-ball is delivered at Eden Park on Boxing Day.