Ten years after this was broadcast, three Pakistani Test cricketers were in English prisons for taking bribes in a betting scam at the Lords Test match. Also in jail for match fixing was Essex fast bowler Mervyn Westfield. Cricket has a fundamental credibility problem; can you really believe in what you are seeing?
This documentary (panorama) was screened BEFORE Hansie Cronje's unfortunate plane crash and death. At the time, far more was expected to come out, as Ian Botham says. The beeb later made a documentary called Not Cricket 2, but in that later programme, stories had been changed, and Cronje was made out to be a lone fixer. As this original shows, the corruption went far deeper. What was Dave Richardson doing EVEN CONSIDERING a bribe? - although he must be commended for his honesty -- he told the truth! Why did Marlon Aronstam later change his evidence? (In this programme Aronstam clearly states he paid Cronje $53,000. In the later whitewash Not Cricket 2, Aronstam denies paying Cronje at all.) Who got at him? What more did Bob Woolmer know? It's clear that match fixing goes far beyond just Pakistan or Hansie Cronje.
Many thanks to the beeb. They certainly then had the expertise and the balls to make programmes like this.