THE unpalatable truth is that the ICC can do very little to stop spot-fixing in international cricket. This has been apparent ever since Hansie Cronje, captain of South Africa, was exposed as a greedy cheat in 2000.

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Cronje showed remorse, perhaps genuine, though he was probably more upset at being caught. He was forced to own up to spot-fixing as the result of compromising cellphone conversations with underworld characters recorded by Indian police, and he never admitted anything that was not put to him at the King Inquiry. He was proud to insist that he never threw an actual match, though he did entertain the idea in the presence of an incredulous dressing room.

Yet some people in South Africa were satisfied that Cronje had made "a mistake" and that he should be forgiven and allowed back into the game. Apologists, presumably those who did not understand sport, even remembered him as a saintly figure who carried the sins of others. In short, his misdemeanors had been a blip.

The ICC can ban mobile phones from dressing rooms and keep peripheral people at a distance during match days. That helps, but the bottom line is that a sector of society sees fixing incidents in a mere game as none too serious. Compared with murder and violence, it isn't serious, even though the consequences are far-reaching. Tainted sport is undermined as a meaningful event, and that is all. That is very very damaging for sports followers, but the courts would have a hard job proving that no-balls and dropped catches are deliberate.

The possible charges against Mazhar Majeed would be for defrauding bookmakers and not for ruining professional cricket. Even the players under a cloud -- Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Asif and the captain Salman Butt after allegedly arranging no-balls at certain points in the match -- will not face a prison term.

The best defence against the fixers is for the players themselves to report any approaches immediately, as already required. That is what the home boards expect of all those with international aspirations. Players are told that co-operating with fixers over something 'harmless' such as the weather or a wide would leave them open to blackmail and far deeper involvement.

Pakistan players have become more vulnerable than ever. There has been so little income after terrorist activity ruled out international home matches. Relatively low pay leaves all of them open to the temptation of great wealth.

There was a rumour circulating after the 1999 World Cup in England that an England seam bowler was offered a few thousand for starting with a wide, which could be a normal occurrence. How many readers of this column could honestly say they would not bowl one wide early in a match with, say, £10,000 on offer?

The following year the Cronje story broke. Several Pakistan and India players were 'at it' and were exposed by circumstantial evidence that nevertheless did not withstand legal testing on appeal. Once a senior group in a team acquire the taste of corruption their influence becomes very powerful and invasive.

THE former England hero Phil DeFreitas has the same vibes about the Ashes that he had all those years ago when the coveted urn was last won in Australia.

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DeFreitas was only 20 when he was selected for his first England tour in 1986/87, joining a force that was written off as having no chance against the Australians. But contrary to expectations, Mike Gatting's side won the series 2-1, a success that has not been emulated since.

DeFreitas, now cricket coach at Oakham School, suffered with the rest of England's cricket followers when series after series in Australia went pear-shaped, but this year could be different, with Andy Flower playing an important part as coach. "I get the same vibes, the same feeling that we'll go over there with a fair chance of winning," DeFreitas said at Wormsley on Sunday. "It's easy to say that, and playing for the Ashes in Australia is totally different. I know that Ricky Ponting will be up for it, the Australians will be up for it and it certainly won't be easy. It'll be tough, but I do fancy England to win it."

JUST as Worcestershire are wondering how they can pay for their £15 million hotel and development plans at New Road their chief executive resigns and the captain stands down.

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Mark Newton ended his tenure as chief executive this week after 10 years, to be replaced by his assistant and former player David Leatherdale, and Vikram Solanki handed on the captaincy to Daryl Mitchell as a disappointing season in Division Two was drawing to a close.

After the financial disaster caused by the deep flooding in 2007, Worcestershire continued to suffer. Losses in 2009 stacked up to £118,439 after a £350,000 profit in 2008 that followed the £693,000 loss in the 'Atlantis' summer. Each year county clubs receive a pay-out of about £1.3 million from the ECB. Mediocre results on the field last year did not help the atmosphere at Worcester. At the start of 2009 the club invested heavily in a squad of 20 contracted players, including 10 with international experience at full, Lions or Under-19 level.

The chairman Martyn Price disclosed at last winter's annual meeting that for the first time cricket expenditure rose above the £2 million mark, and Championship relegation in 2009 was an unexpected blow. "We all felt the squad would be strong enough to compete in the Championship and challenge for one-day titles," he said. "Unfortunately it was not to be, and as the season progressed it was clear that a change of direction was required as some senior players chose not to extend or see through existing contracts and others were released."

Apparently players were not easy to attract for a county with no indoor training facilities on site. And the club might be regarded as a cricketing backwater -- all too literally during the flooding that ruined 2007 and affected 2008. The coach Steve Rhodes was landed with an unenviable task, though he had money to spend after a clear-out of players saved the club £491,000 in salaries, with £214,000 re-invested for 2010.

The scheme to build a 120-room Premier Inn hotel as part of a ground redevelopment met with opposition from conservation groups who complained that the bland design did not suit the environment at a ground renowned for its beauty and cathedral view. The plans were amended -- for example, one storey was wiped off -- and Worcester City Council gave the go-ahead, but the Worcester Civic Society, English Heritage, the Inland Waterways Association and the city’s advisory body on conservation areas remained doubtful. The hotel, they said, looked too "modern" and "simplistic" and out of keeping with the surroundings. The council’s own conservation officer admitted the design was "one-dimensional" and needed "more animation".

In a letter to the Worcester News , the chairman of Worcester Civic Society’s development committee, Richard Lockett, described the designs as "characterless". He wrote: "Budget constraints should not be allowed to dominate on a site where only highest-quality design is acceptable".

The city planner John Wrightson rejected the criticisms, saying that the use of "quality materials and a contemporary design" would preserve and enhance the character of the riverside. The proposed new hotel should rise above the flood plain in time for the start of the 2011 season, assuming financial deals are completed. The first phase of new building, the £2 million Graeme Hick pavilion, opened in May 2009 and has been well received.

It was a tough 10 years for Newton, and the challenge will be no easier for Leatherdale, though Rhodes' position as coach looks more secure with his former team-mate in charge.

CHARLIE SAYS: The New Road frontage, as planned, looks ordinary at best, but this area of the ground has always been less than imposing. An iconic building would presumably not fit the budget. A great shame.

THE English international umpire Ian Gould is Italy-bound this week to officiate in the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division Four, the pathway to World Cup qualification for minor countries.

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The tournament starts in Bologna on Saturday, with Gould adding experience to the umpiring panel and David Jukes acting as referee. Tension can boil over in these events, and the Division Five tournament in Nepal was scarred by serious crowd trouble. The United States and Nepal were promoted and compete in Division Four alongside Italy, Cayman Islands, Argentina and Tanzania on Aug 14-21.

Two sides will be promoted as they push towards inclusion in the ICC World Cup 2015. The Division Three tournament is to be held in Hong Kong in January 2011.

Commenting on the upcoming tournament Steve Massiah, the American captain, said: "We have good knowledge of Nepal, who we played against in February, and also Cayman Islands and Argentina, whom we have regularly played, including as recently as May in ICC Americas Division One and we beat them on both occasions. The other two teams we don’t know so well, but I’m confident we’re prepared and ready to continue moving up the World Cricket League ladder."

This will be the first global ICC event to be hosted in Italy. Matches will be played at three venues in the Bologna area at Pianoro, Medicina and Bologna.

WCL Division Four schedule

Aug 14: United States v Nepal (Pianoro); Italy v Cayman Islands (Medicina); Tanzania v Argentina (Bologna)

Aug 15: Italy v Nepal (Pianoro); Argentina v Cayman Islands (Medicina); United States v Tanzania (Bologna)

Aug 16: Rest/Reserve Day

Aug 17: Italy v Argentina (Pianoro); Nepal v Tanzania (Medicina); United States v Cayman Islands (Bologna)

Aug 18: Cayman Islands v Tanzania (Pianoro); Italy v United States (Medicina); Nepal v Argentina (Bologna)

Aug 19: Rest/Reserve Day

Aug 20: United States v Argentina (Pianoro); Cayman Islands v Nepal (Medicina); Tanzania v Italy (Bologna)

Aug 21: Final (Pianoro); third/fourth play-off (Medicina); fifth/sixth play-off (Bologna)

ARGENTINA: Esteban MacDermott (capt), Grant Dugmore, Agustin Casime, Alejandro Ferguson, Pablo Ferguson, Donald Forrester, Tomas Francis, Carlos Gibson, Diego Lord, Lucas Paterlini, Matias Paterlini, Pablo Ryan, Gary Savage, Martin Siri.

CAYMAN ISLANDS: Saheed Mohamed (capt), Pearson Best, Ryan Bovell, Kervin Ebanks, Paul Chin, Marlon Byran, Ricardo Roach, Jaylon Linton, Abali Hoilett, Conroy Wright, Alassandra Morris, Kevin Bazil, Ramon Sealy, Ronald Ebanks.

ITALY: Alessandro Bonora (capt), Roshendra Suroshan Abewickrama, Din Alaud, Dilan Shameera Fernando Arsakulasuriya, Damien Crowley, Gayashan Ranga de Silva Munasinghe, Thushara Achintha Kurukulasuriya, Damian Muthunamagonnage Fernando, Andrew Northcoste, Nicholas Northcote, Hayden Patrizi dell’Agnello, Peter Petricola, Michael Raso, Stanly Hemantha Samaraweera Kankanamge.

NEPAL: Paras Kadka (capt), Gyanendra Malla, Shakti Gauchan, Sharad Vesawkar, Mahesh Kumar Chhetri, Anil Kumar Mandal, Amrit Battarai, Basant Regmi, Binod Kumar Das, Sanjam Regmi, Rahul Kumar Vishwakarma, Mahaboob Alam, Manjeet Shrestha, Pradeep Airee.

TANZANIA: Hamzi Abdallah (capt), Abhik Patwa, Hasnain Damji, Khalil Rehemtulla, Seif Khalifa, Riziki Kiseto, Kassim Nassoro, Issa Kikasi, Enjo Kiongozi, Shaheed Danani, Rashidi Amiri, Benson Mwita, Harsh Ramaiya, Ally Kimote.

UNITED STATES: Steve Massiah (capt), Muhammad Asad Ghous, Steven Taylor, Rashard Marshall, Sushil Nadkarni, Timroy Allen, Orlando Baker, Carl Wright, Aditya Thyagarajan, Adrian Gordon, Lennox Cush, Khawaja Usman Shuja, Kevin Darlington, Nasir Javed.

THE daughter of Chris Adams is due to make her debut for an ECB Development XI in the ICC Europe Women’s World Cup qualifying championships in Scotland on Aug 9-11.

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The tall Georgia Adams, 16, from Brighton College, and 15 year-old Alice MacLeod, at Wellington College, are in the squad to play against Holland at Stirling County CC on Monday. Like her father, the former Sussex and England batsman, Georgia is a powerful batsman and useful bowler.

These two girls have benefited from the growing trend of female cricketers maturing in boys' school teams, and the Berkshire co-ed Wellington, formerly a traditional boys only establishment, has a former England woman international as deputy head, Lucy Pearson.

Georgia was awarded the Clare Connor Scholarship at Brighton and has represented the school's boys second team this year after recovering from an ankle injury during the England Juniors tour of South Africa last Easter.

The ECB side is captained by Joanne Cook, a Bedfordshire University student from Romford. Senior squads from Ireland, Scotland and Holland will be participating at Stirling County CC, with two of these three teams progressing to the final qualifying event in Bangladesh next year. The ECB XI, competing for the high-level experience, was selected from the England Academy and the ECB Under-17 girls' development squad under the guidance of Paul Shaw, ECB high performance manager, and Mark Lane, England Women’s head coach.

Commenting on the selected squad, Shaw said: ‘This is a great opportunity for these young, high potential players from across the country to gain valuable experience of performing at international level. This competition provides the players with the opportunity to apply the skills they have acquired and developed within training sessions with their counties."

ECB Development Squad

Joanne Cook, (capt), Essex

Izzy Westbury (vice capt), Somerset

Georgia Adams, Sussex

Amara Carr (wk), Devon

Deanna Cooper, Kent

Catherine Dalton, Essex

Kathryn Doherty, Yorkshire

Alex Hartley, Lancashire

Beth Langston, Essex

Beth MacGregor, Essex

Alice MacLeod, Berkshire

Lucy Maxwell, Warwickshire

Hannah Phelps, Sussex

Fran Wilson, Somerset

Schedule at Stirling County CC

Mon, Aug 9: Scotland v Ireland, Holland v ECB Development XI.

Tues, Aug 10: ECB Development XI v Ireland, Scotland v Holland.

Wed, Aug 11: Ireland v Holland, Scotland v ECB Development XI.

THE retirement of Muttiah Muralitharan from Test cricket marks the departure of one of the giants of the game, a player who made a difference. He is a man with a generous spirit and a love for cricket. And he is not a chucker.

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From personal experience I KNOW Murali has never been a chucker as so many people believe. Shane Warne felt Murali's action was legal, though he was worried that children would copy him and adopt throwing actions. This fear was well founded, and many children, mostly Asians, had to have hideous styles remodelled. That is an unwelcome legacy of this great bowler.

The difference between Murali and the rest of the world has been an arm deformity. The Sri Lankan cannot straighten his arms beyond about 30 degrees. Added to that he has supple wrists and a ton of off-spin talent.  Warne said in an interview with the Melbourne newspaper Herald Sun : "Murali's action has been passed by scientific tests. I always thought it was probably legitimate." It was understandable that Murali was no-balled at the highest level as eyes are easily deceived, but he knew himself he did not throw.

Exasperated, Murali once strapped his right arm into a rigid casing like a plaster cast in July 2004 and bowled to me in the nets at Shenley Park in Hertfordshire to prove his point. So, with his arm immobilised, how could Murali possibly throw his off-spinners and the doosra? The answer is: He couldn't.

The spinners fizzed and the doosra nipped away.  He achieved turn through a vigorous shoulder turn, fast arm and significant wrist action. I watched him from two feet away at the bowler's stumps and faced him at the other end. As always, he could not bowl a quicker ball unless he ran up faster. An ability to fire in something quicker from 'nowhere' is one symptom of a chucker, but Murali could not. That is because he was not a chucker, however much he looked like one.

There is a valid argumant that Murali and any bowler with a kinked action should never have been allowed to bowl whether analysed legal or not. Dubious actions -- the permitted flexion becomes visible at 15 degrees, the ICC limit -- are bad for cricket, but that is another debate.

Warne had a great deal of affection for his Sri Lankan opponent. "Murali simply loved bowling - he loved a challenge and was fantastic for the game," he said. "Sometimes he would pick my brain about different things and, although we always tried to outdo each other, we always got on well."

Muralitharan has one Test left to increase his tally of 792 wickets. Warne retired with 708 wickets. And unlike Murali he didn't have to bowl against Australia...

An afternoon with Muralitharan:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/2382168/Murali-puts-the-record-straight.html

THE former Hampshire captain Mark Nicholas, now better known as a television commentator, believes it would be *no shame" if some counties lost their first class status. He is a man who cares deeply about the game, but his words have been penned for the Magic Wand School of Thinking, an institution that serves no real purpose

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Writing in the July issue of The Wisden Cricketer magazine, Nicholas believes that the battle among counties for financial survival is self-serving and damaging the game's resources. "It would be no shame for some counties to relinquish their first class status. Derbyshire, Northamptonshire, Gloucestershire and Worcestershire – to name four of six or seven – exist for no obviously justifiable reason."

Nicholas continues: "County clubs should be centres of excellence, but too many are not, employing mediocre cricketers from elsewhere. They stumble along the breadline, sustained by money from Sky. The argument made on their behalf by the chairman of the ECB, Giles Clarke, is equally self-serving."

A Nicholas blueprint would see six counties removed to leave a 12-team competition playing a season of 11 four-day Championship matches, a 50-over league/cup competition and a Twenty20 competition with semi-finals and a final.

Based on a series of radical alliances and mergers Nicholas puts forward the idea of a new Premier League structure. "Imagine nine Test-match grounds in eight major cities creating a Premiership of Durham, Leeds, Manchester, Nottingham, Birmingham, London North and South, Southampton, Cardiff. Add three from Bristol, Brighton, Canterbury and Chelmsford and eureka, 12 – job done."

Unfortunately this is not a practicable solution, so that Nicholas's thoughts can never be anything but hot air. The words 'self-serving' implies criticism that is remarkably dismissive, and he would have been better off trying to think up something that can be done and which might work. Starting from scratch is not really an option.

The number of counties, 18, is the same ratio per head of population to cricketing states in Australia. Sport in the United Kingdom should be able to support this number, and with the advent of 20-overs cricket the ECB might well be able to reduce hand-out funding in the foreseeable future.

While it is true there are not enough players of the right calibre for a full-time professional circuit, there is no disgrace in signing up has-beens or foreigners to make up the numbers, provided this is not expensive. After all Surrey have hit lean times with few home-grown players in the first team, but no one would suggest they should become extinct.

Rather than reduce the number of counties, amalgamation with minor counties might be a more logical way forward, reducing administrative costs. Where feasible for travel, indoor schools and professional coaching staff could be shared. Gloucestershire -- goodness knows why Mark Nicholas thinks that this important county should disappear -- could amalgamate with Wiltshire and even Oxfordshire.

To some extent Middlesex have already formed a natural alliance with Hertfordshire by relocating their training base from Lord's to Radlett, which has the advantage of widening their player cachment with a logical pathway after age group cricket. Seemingly an obvious choice for the cut, Derbyshire, could join with Staffordshire, tapping into Birmingham resources. Perhaps Somerset could join up with Devon. All this would mean the ECB could create a sensible cost-effective second tier out of the existing Second XI and Minor Counties competitions. This is a more pressing problem than 'too many' professional counties.

There is a strong argument that Twenty20 cricket should be fought between amalgamations in order to utilise the major grounds more often for greater revenue. The smaller counties should gain extra revenue from this, but this is another debate.

REVOLVER cricket, a soft ball training game started in Queensland this year, has been received well in England so far since its introduction in May. It delivers what the inventors claim -- that all players are involved all the time, which does not happen in orthodox formats.

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A coach from Stanmore CC in Middlesex described Revolver as an "egalitarian" game, because all players, even the weaker ones, make important contributions. One of the flaws of orthodox cricket is that a batsman might face only a few balls, even in the Ken Barrington pairs, and might not even reach the crease at all.

In existing formats such as Kwik Cricket,the strongest players tend to dominate at the expense of the less able. This causes frustration (and anger sometimes), and periods of boredom discourage young players from the age of about 10 to about 15. Revolver solves this problem.

Revolver is interesting and ingenious because it is real cricket with a competitive edge. The idea of splitting 15 players into three teams is the key. Every batsman faces 12 balls, no more and no less, and the game is rigorously logged on a special scoresheet. Numbered coloured bibs are required and the game works best with revolving stumps and a dead soft ball such as Incredi-ball.

Revolver has been trialled by Charlie Randall at Radlett CC, the Hertfordshire club, and at Stanmore. Anyone interested in seeing this game in action is welcome to contact charlierandallcricket.com for a demonstration. This is one of the most potent developments in club cricket for a long time. If you think this must be an exaggeration, you would believe it after seeing the children enjoy a competitive Revolver game.

Graham Pulsford, a watching Radlett parent, noted that the movement in an under-10 Revolver game kept the boys on their toes. "All were involved and it seemed to hold their interest. That is very unusual at this age," he said. "Last week in a more orthodox game half the boys were lying around on the ground looking bored. Usually at the end of training the boys start rushing off when they see others starting to leave, but the boys playing Revolver didn't seem to notice."

Mark Shashoua, parent watching the same game, said: "The tracking on the scoresheet is amazing. At this age they're facing a large amount of deliveries. Otherwise they usually face much fewer. It's very good."

Arif Rahman, assistant coach at Radlett and a parent, commented: "It's quite interesting the way the game is set up. Everyone gets a fair go at bowling, batting and fielding, and I could see that the children enjoyed the game. The only thing is to get used to it."

Pulsford added: "With Revolver, however good or bad you are, you get a go at bowling and batting -- and the players know that. One young boy was virtually shunned last week in a normal game because he wasn't very good at all. He was very reluctant to play Revolver at the start. Now he says he wants to play next week. It's remarkable."

www.revolvercricket.com

www.radlettcc.com

THAT superb retired West Indies left-hander Brian Lara is due to return to big cricket when he plays for the MCC against Pakistan in a Twenty20 warm-up game at Lord's on June 27.

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Lara, making his MCC debut for the club's first 20-overs game, and Sourav Ganguly, these days captain of Kolkata Night Riders in the IPL, are two well-known names preparing for a contest that should attract a large Sunday crowd. The Pakistanis, making their first appearance on their summer tour of England, will be led by Shahid Afridi, returning to the Home of Cricket for the first time since his match-winning performance at the ICC World Twenty20 Final in 2009.

The MCC fixture at Lord’s will be the only Twenty20 match played by the Pakistanis in London this season. Also confirmed to play are Chaminda Vaas, the Sri Lanka opening bowler, Ian Harvey, the Australian limited-overs specialist, Aiden Blizzard, the hard-hitting Victorian batsman, and Glenn Querl, a current MCC Young Cricketer who is impressing for the Unicorns in domestic cricket.

Tickets for the MCC v Pakistanis game are on sale now, priced £20 for adults and £5 for Under 16s. They can be bought from www.lords.org/tickets or by calling the MCC Ticket Office on 020 7432 1000.

OXFAM stands to gain thousands of pounds from the proceeds of the first four editions of Wisden almanacks on offer at Bonhams book sale in Oxford on June 29.

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The books have been put up for sale with the auctioneers on behalf of the charity, and the first edition alone, published in 1864 by the cricketer John Wisden, could raise about £4,000. The three subsequent annual editions have usually attracted lesser bids, but all four carry the title The Cricketer’s Almanack before the name was changed in 1869 to Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack , still familiar to this day.

Wisden has been published without interruption since 1864, even during the two world wars. This makes it the world’s longest running sports reference book as well as the most famous. "In all that time," Bonhams say, "it has only had 18 editors and has carried articles by all the great names in cricket writing." Including Charlie Randall.

In contrast to recent editions, with their 1,500 or so pages, the first edition had only 112 pages and contained non-cricketing information such as the winners of the Oaks and the dates of the battles of the English Civil War. The Bonhams book specialist at Oxford, David Walker, said: "It’s a thrill to be able to offer such wonderful, historic books especially in such a good cause."

Full sets of the almanack attract big money. An unbroken set from the first year 1864 to 1984 was auctioned at Bonhams in London in November 2009 for £90,000, well above the expected price. Though this was not a full set up to the year of sale, the books were handsomely bound and offered in fine condition as the top lot.

A proper full set was sold at auction by Graham Budd at Sotheby's for £120,000 in 2006. The following year a price of £144,000 was apparently achieved at auction, the highest on record. Certainly early gaps can be expensive to fill. For example the year 1896 is notoriously rare, once fetching £24,160 in 2007 as an original hardback with surface wear.