Thinking about it, that doesn't surprise me Mike. Which is partly why this is so shocking, cricket is a national obsession in some countries (India, Pakistan...) and a major sport in others, like mine or Australia. Other than the countries that play it, it doesn't attract much attention, there have been scandals such as the odd doping offence, or match-fixing, but it really does take something awful for the whole world to sit up and take notice of cricket.
For me cricket existed outside the real dirty end of professional sports, even of life. The intrusions of match fixing or doping allegations were just that, intrusions and were generally treated as such. When Pakistan and the umpire Darryl Hair had their spat last summer it seemed so unworthy and petty, like it wasn't a part of cricket. This is like a loss of innocence, but that might just be me. Bit sad on my part perhaps.
