Low quality vines of recent IPL incidents:

Russel's stop start delivery

Pollard bat throwing at Starc

Mishra's lol runout

This sort of position that CA are taking reminds me of the old Sir Don days when he was chairman of the board and repeatedly turned down requests from Ian Chappell, the then captain of the test team, for a pay rise on the basis that playing for Australia should be enough of a prestigious honour that you shouldn't be doing it for the money.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/australi...ry/742923.html

I applaud Sammy's decision to retire from test cricket having lost the captaincy.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/westindi...ry/743351.html

Louie louie louie louie

Brendon McCullum was approached by a cricket 'hero' to fix matches

Please god, one time, let the 'hero' be Ponting.

McCullum has always spoken of looking up to Ponting etc.

Any other guesses?

I would be surprised if it was Ponting.

Chris Cairns is my guess.

Me too...

Its crazy just how vehemently in the media he has denied fixing, if he is the guy he obviously strongly believed no one would dob him in

It is all around the same time that allegations were leveled at Cairns (being 2008) but subsequently dismissed. Maybe they might have to re-open these investigations...

Man it will be so sad if it's Cairns, he absolutely was a hero of mine (and pretty much any Kiwi born in the 80s) growing up.

Makes some sense too as I recall he worked or had 'business interests' in Dubai after he retired and that is apparently where they 'washed' their money.

Well if it is proved that Cairns does have a corrupt past, Modi will enjoy getting his $174,000 back from him after Cairns successfully sued him for defamation saying that he was match fixing.

Poor Chris - probably laments not being paid what he thought he deserved after seeing and hearing what the Aussies were getting paid.

Ok so I just looked it up and Cairns had a job as a 'diamond trader' in Dubai after retiring from international cricket. lol

All signs def pointing to him, very sad indeed.

Based on his comments, Cairns seems to have pretty much said it's him. Of course, he denies everything.

Interesting short article: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cri...u-Vincent.html

holy ****

OK, so according to Chris Cairns its not him...



http://tvnz.co.nz/cricket-news/chris...g-hide-5976214

It seems pretty obvious that Cairns is 'Player X', but that Cairns is denying doing the things McCullum and Vincent have said.

It's his word versus theirs, but I don't see any reason for McCullum to make it up so it will be hard to believe anything Cairns says at this point.

Cairns is player named as Player X

Cricket fixing scandal: County player among three to back Lou Vincent as Chris Cairns denies he is 'ringleader'

This isn't a verified account but appears to be Chris Cairns:
"Please change headline @ESPNcricinfo...not rejecting I am Player X...please read the quotes in your story, it's the allegations I reject..."

From AltCricket:
"So, Player X has been named by the NZ Herald. An odd move, considering that Player X has previously successfully sued for libel, and that Player X has NOT been proven guilty.
1. Considering that ACSU are, by definition, a SECURITY UNIT, could they not even keep Cairns' name secure?
2. Brendon McCullum's name has also been leaked, as a whistleblower. This compromises the integrity of the ACSU, and more importantly, breaches witness confidentiality.
3. How bad must Lalit Modi's lawyer have been for him to have LOST a case to prove Cairns was fixing?
4. In 2008, $250,000 was paid into Cairns' account by a Dubai-based diamond dealer. Sounds legit.
5. As I noted in 2008(!), Chris Cairns was questioned by ICL officials about his alleged role in match-fixing. He denied all wrongdoing, and soon was ejected from the tournament for 'failing to disclose a prior injury'(!)
Dinesh Mongia - who Cairns later accused of fixing - was also ejected at the same time, for not revealing Cairns' injury!
At the time, I tried to track down both Cairns and Mongia.
I found out that Cairns was working in Dubai for a diamond dealer, and I pretty much pissed myself laughing for a few weeks."

Damn you Malinga and your impeccable death bowling.

Yeah, why can't you bowl a nice length delivery one time.

Best IPL game of all time?

That last ball by Faulkner was dreadful.

Very interestingly, they had 4 more balls after 14.3 to be able to qualify:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/indian-p...ry/747805.html

In for the lol England