Spot-fixing cricket's greatest crisis: Richard Hadlee

Christchurch (New Zealand), Nov 20: As corruption in cricket continues to come under scrutiny in India, legendary New Zealand cricketer Richard Hadlee says spot-fixing is the "greatest crisis" the game faces and it needs to be dealt with severe penalties. The iconic sportsman, 63, was quite forthcoming when asked about his views on controversies related to spot-fixing and match-fixing, which are dogging the sport. "A very general comment on that would be that it's the greatest crisis of cricket at the moment," he said. What could be done to curb the menace? "If this sort of thing is going on, it needs to be stamped out. And for people who have proved to be involved in these things, the penalties need to be severe as a deterrent. "All the players actually have to actually sign a contract that if there's anything suspicious or if they've had anyone approach them, they have to report it. And once it's reported, things get investigated. People are going to jail, but penalties need to be severe, and if it's jail or suspensions or whatever, then subject to each individual case, players are going to be made an example of," he said. His comment comes just days after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) decided against sacking tainted Indian Premier League (IPL) boss Sundar Raman, whose name has come up in the Justice Mukul Mudgal report submitted to the Supreme Court in connection with the spot-fixing scandal during the 2013 edition of the Twenty20 tournament.