LEFT ARM OVER
NEIL MANTHORP: Betting syndicates are just one shadow cast over Cricket SA’s T20 Global League
Cricket SA will hope that anti-corruption units and investigators will be sufficient to suppress the sordid side of the betting business, writes Neil Manthorp
It can be made the hard way or in a variety of easy ways, but however it is done, there is an awful lot of money to be made in cricket. Sadly for the players, only the very elite get to see much of it. "Easy" does not necessarily mean "above board". The most popular way to make obscene amounts of cash from cricket in recent decades has been to own a stake in a high-profile cricket team and bet on its results. Inside information and special instructions to certain team members have made some owners, part-owners and their associates exceptionally wealthy. That only a few teams and players have been caught in the Bangladesh Premier League is evidence, not of the lack of betting irregularities, but of how difficult it is to catch the perpetrators. The romantic and naive among cricket lovers enjoyed the foundation of the Masters Premier League in the United Arab Emirates in 2016 for the opportunities it gave to retired cricketers and because it allowed viewers to indulge in (mostly disap...
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