Chris Waters: Ideal opportunity to show what price for cheating should be

The price of freedom.

A two-day hearing today and tomorrow will determine what sentences are to be imposed on the players, who were yesterday found guilty at Southwark Crown Court of conspiracy to cheat and conspiracy to accept corrupt payments after plotting to bowl deliberate no-balls during last summer’s Lord’s Test.

The maximum sentence for cheating is two years in jail and an unlimited fine, while accepting corrupt payments carries a sentence of up to seven years imprisonment and an unlimited fine.

At a time when no one can be sure just how widespread is the problem of corruption in cricket, such jail terms would be a strong deterrent to anyone inclined to walk down the same path of shame.

Personally, I hope the judge throws the book at the three Pakistan players.

For cricket has already proved itself incapable of dealing with match-fixing in its various forms, with life bans commuted to next-to-nothing suspensions and little coherent strategy of how to tackle the problem.

In the absence of an effective world governing body, cricket is surely reliant on the courts to help get a grip, which is why the next act in this sorry saga will be so important.

For if youngsters are made to realise they will lose their liberty for cheating their country, their supporters and the game of cricket, they may, just may, think twice about committing such offences.

Let’s face it, nothing the International Cricket Council does is ever likely to make them think again.

That the ICC did not slap life bans on Butt, Asif and Amir after finding them guilty of wrongdoing prior to the criminal hearing tells you everything you need to know about the ICC.

In short, it is a toothless tiger – reliant, in this particular case, on the News Of The World to expose a web of corruption it was unable to unearth itself.

Indeed, had it not been for the newspaper, Messrs Butt, Asif and Amir would probably still be laughing all the way to the bank.

Of course, the ICC faces a devilishly difficult task.

They cannot simply wave a magic wand and eradicate the problem in the blink of an eye.

But it has definitely not made a good enough attempt to get a grip of the issue.

And it simply cannot be right that it takes a newspaper to root out wrongdoing it should be capable of rooting out itself, a humiliating lesson to be learned from this case.

Now the ICC simply has to act, simply has to prioritise this issue as a matter of urgency.

There needs to be a greater determination to tackle the problem and a determination for life bans to be imposed on anyone found guilty of any corruption.

After conducting its own inquiry, the ICC banned Butt for 10 years (five of them suspended), Asif for seven years (two suspended) and Amir for five years.

That was laughably lenient and – for what they had been found guilty of – simply not good enough.

In the wake of yesterday’s verdict, many pundits called it “a great day for cricket”.

I am not so sure.

Granted, it was great in the sense that three cheats were exposed and that professional sportsmen were reminded once again they are not above the law.

But the overwhelming emotion was surely one of sadness – one of deep, depressing, stomach-churning sadness.