Lord Paul Condon: What he said, really meant and definitely did not

Lord Paul Condon Has ‘Separate’ Plans For T20

What he said:

"You can either say T20 is such a crazy form of the game, you quarantine it.”

Lord Paul Condon, former head of the ICC’s anti-corruption unit, believes that the T20 format has engendered the growth of corruption in the sport.

Speaking to The Cricketer magazine, Condon said:

Probably the greatest trigger point (in the rise of corruption) was the explosion of T20.

The ‘anything goes’ party atmosphere allowed some really bad people back into the game. Some of the notorious fixers from early years started to re-emerge on the circuit in India, Pakistan, South Africa, Australia and the UK.

It almost legitimised the bad guys being back around cricket again, and fixers were even seen in promoters’ boxes and at matches. What up to then had been pretty tight and regulated, suddenly became a free-for-all.

Condon believes that players  felt that as long as they were not throwing a game, it was alright to spot-fix.

Condon said:

"I think the temptation was to do a little fix here and a little fix there and still win the match – and they were not seeing it as criminal."

In another interview to the London Evening Standard, the former Metropolitan police commissioner said:

I remember saying (at an ICC board meeting in 2008) you’ve got two choices.

You can either say T20 is such a crazy form of the game, you quarantine it. If current Test players go into that, they can’t come back to Test. But that would never work.

You’ve got to have a fit and proper regime, as you would with gambling, and a proper anti-corruption endeavour to monitor tournaments.

However, there was a lot of anger from the Indian representatives who said I had no right to suggest that. They felt I was challenging the legitimacy of the Indian Premier League.

Lord Condon urged present-day cricketers to aid the fight against corruption.

Condon said:

"In recent years, there’s been very little whistle-blowing from current players."

What Lord Condon really meant:

“I’m all for segregation—cricket-wise.”

What Lord Condon definitely didn’t:

“Would we need the ACU if not for T20?”