Time to name the match fixers

Those who have come into contact with the investigating team have spoken of their thoroughness and professionalism, which is now going to be tested to the full.

Short of extracting confessions from the guilty parties it will not be easy, as garnering watertight evidence from such a murky business that will stand up in law will be anything but straightforward.

The problem's origins having now been established, that is now the primary raison d'etre of the unit, and until they do manage to nail the relevant individuals, the stench will not go away.

And if they do not, then the existence of the Condon team and their inquiry will merely prolong the agonies of a saga that has no clear beginning and no clear end.

Lord Condon feels that the worst match-fixing activities are now history, but that there is a hard core of miscreants who are still at it.

'There are indications that some players and others are still acting dishonestly and to the order of the bookies,' he says, citing concerns over the recent New Zealand-Pakistan one-day series and the ICC knockout competition played in Kenya last Autumn where New Zealand emerged as surprise victors.

The juicy details of Mafia involvement include associated dramas of murder and kidnap, and he looks at the derivations of match-fixing, which may stem back to the English county game of the 70s. He also criticises the ICC, which is meeting his unit's considerable globetrotting costs, for their lethargy in dealing with the problem.

Most of the culprits are now either out of office, or on their way out.

There will be recommendations about matters as diverse as player salaries and the use of mobile phones, but it is not necessarily sure that the ICC will fall into line with all the measures it needs to take.

There has already been some frustration on the part of the Federation of International Cricketers' Associations, which seeks to represent the views of current international players - the key figures - in an organised way.

So far they have been denied any official input by the ICC although their chief executive, former Australian spinner Tim May, is in London to try to persuade officials otherwise.

'It has been a real struggle to get any recognition from them,' he said yesterday.

'This is a very important issue and we feel we could be a real help in getting the right messages and education across to our members.' Players from different countries have been particularly concerned by the ICC's farcical Player Declaration Form, the pledge of innocence that was among the responses to the crisis's outbreak last summer.

Its terms were so generalised and its purpose so unclear that many refused to put their names to it, although all England's players were signatories.

It is understood that Condon will recommend that abandonment of the whole idea when his report is released this morning.

The full executive of the ICC will meet in London in the middle of next month to debate his proposals and decide just how they wish to implement them.

The report should certainly help concentrate the mind better than has been the case in the past.