When desi Nasser Hussain becomes a `betrayer'
Anjali Mody

London, July 30: It was a warm, sunny, perfect-for-cricket day. In the distance the London Eye shimmered, the Kennington Gas Works towered over the Oval cricket ground and to complete the picture, an advertising balloon floated into view promoting EuroBet, an online bookmaker and lottery company. On the ground, the Asia XI took on The Rest of the World XI to raise money for former British PM, John Major's project to redevelop The Oval.

The match was organised late last year, long before the Hansie Cronje confession peeled the mask off international cricket and the players, administrators and the omnipresent bookies. And, to the trained eye, the Asia XI looked more like the who's who of investigators' watch list: Wasim Akram, Mohammed Azharuddin, Ajay Jadeja, Nayan Mongia and Nikhil Chopra.

But cricket fans, especially of the British Asian variety, are clearly undiscriminating in their adoration of desi cricketing gods. Indian and Pakistani flags waved in unison and a Wembley-Southall version of the Mexican wave greeted one after one desi player. The booing was reserved for England's Nasser Hussein who does not have a whiff of corruption about him, but is seen as a `betrayer' as half desi playing for the opposite side.

With indifferent fans, any embarrassment that Surrey and John Major may have felt at the involvement of players sullied by allegations of match-fixing was carefully concealed. What was tax fraud or criminal activity in another country compared with a good day of cricket at The Oval, especially since the majority of the cricket press could be relied upon to report the match as if nothing strange was going on in the other-worldly realm that it inhabits.

Anyone who hopes that cricket will eventually be `cleaned up' is either an incurable idealist or improbably stupid. If Saturday at The Oval was anything to go by, the world of cricket is actively forgetting and determinedly pretending that all's well, and will end well if they keep playing. Surrey plans to make Saturday's game an annual event.

Alec Stewart, having just beaten the Asian XI said, with no hint of irony, that both sides were driven by belief that ``any game you play, you play to win.'' Sitting next to him, rival captain Akram (a man the Qayoom report said was not fit to be the captain of Pakistan) nodded in agreement. This sums up the problem with cricket.

Scoreboard

Rest of the World XI: Neil Johnson c Mongia b Srinath 7, Alec Stewart c Mongia b Akram 5, Nasser Hussain c Kumble b Chopra 45, Nathan Astle b Saqlain 51, Graham Thorpe c Azharuddin b Chopra 6, Stuart Law st Mongia b Saqlain 25, Chris Cairns c Akram b Saqlain 18, Ben Hollioake not out 23, Heath Streak c Azharuddin b Saqlain 17, Allan Mullally not out 0; Extras: (lb19, nb3) 22; Total (for 8 wickets in 50 overs) 219
Fall of wickets: 1-16, 2-16, 3-113, 4-125, 5-127, 6-172, 7-182, 8-218.

Bowling: Akram 10-1-33-1, Srinath 10-2-30-1, Kumble 7-0-31-0, Prasad 5-0-24-0, Saqlain 10-0-45-4, Chopra 8-0-37-2.

Asia XI: Saeed Anwar c Cairns b Walsh 16, Aravinda de Silva c&b Cairns 35, Mohammed Azharuddin c Stewart b Streak 33, Ajay Jadeja run out 29, Nayan Mongia c Hollioake b Johnson 11, Wasim Akram b Mullally 15, Nikhil Chopra c&b Cairns 30, Anil Kumble b Mullally 19, Saqlain Mushtaq b Mullally 1, Javagal Srinath not out 3, Venkatesh Prasad b Cairns 1, Extras: (lb7, w1, nb3) 11; Total: (all out in 48.5 overs) 204.
Fall of wickets: 1-50, 2-73, 3-107, 4-123, 5-139, 6-161, 7-198, 8-200, 9-201

Bowling: Walsh 10-2-29-1, Streak 10-1-51-1, Mullally 9-1-41-3, Cairns 9.5-1-29-3, Hollioake 3-0-19-0, Johnson 7-0-28-1.

Copyright © 2000 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.