Cricket loathly cricket

So much on the radar today including Max Mosely’s surviving his vote of no confidence over the Nazi Orgy of Shame, poor old Gazza sectioned for his ongoing woes and Sir Alex Ferguson’s in-depth interview which is being trailed all around Sky where he admits his biggest disappointment was not signing the troubled Geordie genius (oh how different it might all have been if that had happened).

However bucking the trend we’re going to write about none of that and instead concentrate on BBC4’s excellent Not Cricket season, which last night told the stories of Hansie ‘hands in your pocket’ Cronje and Basil D’Olivera.

Cronje’s tale, the Captain and The Bookmaker was an interesting doc and if anything only increased our loathing for the South African crook who brought the great game into disrepute because it highlighted even further how he exploited the non-white players under his charge to further his grubby financial ends. Even so, he ended up seeming to be a figure to be pitied rather than hated.

Even more fascinating though were two allegations from Marlon Aronstam the bookie concerned, who reckoned Cronje wasn’t caught by the Indian police, but they were tipped off by powerful Indian bookies because Cronje didn’t deliver the results they asked for.

Of even more concern was the revelation that Cronje had joint bank accounts with some 70 other players from that period of the game and that Aronstam believed that Cronje was essentially scapegoated for the far more numerous international players were on the take. Sure Aronstam could have been sensationalising for effect, but those beady little eyes seemed in deadly earnest.

A more heartening tale was that of Basil ‘Dolly’ D’Olivera, the South African batting genius whose prodigious batting talent eventually helped to ultimately bring down the loathsome apartheid regime. Pure gold helped by the fact that D’Olivera is still alive and able to shed fascinating insight into the contemporary issues and a true reminder that sport can be a powerful force for change in the real world.

If you’re quick you’ll be able to catch them both on the BBC I-Player and add to your Broadband service providers bandwidth woes.