"What is honour? A word. What is in that word? Honour. What is that honour? Air." -- William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part One, V:1, 1598

A few weeks back, just before the 'Report on Corruption in International Cricket, April 2001' was published the Director of the Anti Corruption Unit (ACU) of the International Cricket Council, Sir Paul Condon had made this suggestion that the records of all players involved in the scam to be deleted. Condon's words did manage to stir a hornet's nest as the media and the leading scorers - statisticians went on a scathing attack on the former Commissioner of Police in London for such a suggestion. A case was made against him for not really being able to understand the game of cricket. He was given a clear task by the ICC; to look into the corruption that was growing like cancer within the game. He was not heading a police investigation by which he could have got arrest warrants issued against all and sundry who has been involved in the crime.

In the last week of May 2000, cricketing legend Sunil Gavaskar said that the International Cricket Council (ICC) should delete all records of any player found guilty and "This is apart from the law of the land which will decide on what punishment should be given to them." Was Gavaskar joking? When people like Gavaskar who has been involved with the game for more than three decades makes a suggestion, it should not be dismissed away as a joke. It would be a joke only when people claim that Gavaskar doesn't understand the game. Condon was put in the dock by the media for he agreed with Gavaskar's views.

Does the suggestion of deleting records hold any water? And, what do we mean by records? Is it the statistics and reference of players on scorecards? A record, for example, is an unsurpassed measurement (e.g. A world record in weightlifting). Before getting into a debate of the merits of deleting records of a player who have been punished for their role in bringing the game to disrepute, a closer study will give us a clear perspective.

Most of the honest players and the administrators do not wish to deface this wonderful game that we all love so much. A few players who worked hand-in-glove with the criminals did manage to mutilate the image of the game. These players should not be honoured of any individual records they created in their playing days. Ben Johnson lost his gold medal as well as his world record as the fastest man in the 100 metres after being caught for doping in the Seoul Olympics. The record doesn't stay, but then we all know for a fact that Johnson ran the distance in 10.79 seconds.

Kapil Dev scored a hundred from just 74 balls against Sri Lanka at Kanpur in 1986-87 and took over the honour of scoring the fastest hundred in Test match cricket by an Indian. Mohammed Azharuddin equaled his feat in 1996-97 against South Africa at Kolkata from the same number of balls faced. According to the record books, Azharuddin shares the record with Kapil Dev.

Hansie Cronje holds the record for the fastest fifty by a South African in One-Day Internationals. Azharuddin holds the record for the fastest hundred by an Indian in ODIs. There must be still more personal glories that these two men and the other indicted players hold on to in the game. Why should Azharuddins and Cronjes be allowed to hold on to any honour in the game? Definitely this is not a silly suggestion, this is something that ICC has to look into with utmost urgency. If and when Azharuddin's records are deleted or taken away, Kapil Dev would hold the record for the fastest Test match hundred by an Indian, he will not have to share the honour with a name that has brought the game to disrepute.

More than the match fixing and betting being a cricket problem, it is a larger social problem with the involvement of mafia and a whole host of criminal elements. People have resigned to the idea that this is a marginal cricket problem, which needs to be dealt by the cricket boards and ICC. From a cricketing point of view Sir Condon's report is commendable indeed but more has to be done to address such a grave issue.

So far nothing worthy have been done to stop people like MK Gupta and the too many Johns from spinning their vicious web to make huge amount of money through betting. If there are loopholes in the law of the land, it has to be addressed to without any further delay. We have paid a heavy price for complacency and cannot afford to keep doing it anymore. If there aren't enough laws to protect us from the presence of criminals, it is the responsibility of the lawmakers of the country to get into the act. We simply cannot afford to blame that too on the effects of colonialism or on the efficiency of a former English cop.

Dealing with the criminals should be left to the professionals. Cricket can definitely deal with issues at a cricketing level. It is about time we had a debate about stripping the individual honours that stand in the name of the tainted players. Gavaskar is the present chairman of the ICC Cricket Committee-Playing. If his suggestion that was made exactly a year ago has not been put through a proper debate to lead to a conclusive action, we are indeed still struggling with our present.

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