England Cricket / Frank Gregan / 26 July 2011 /

Frank Gregan is opposed to plans to introduce lie detector tests into cricket's battle against corruption. Meanwhile, is it worth betting against England this summer?

Everyone who has any regard for cricket wants match-fixing to be eradicated. The MCC World Cricket Committee has put forward recommendations in order to enable the sport to clean up its act, most of them based on good old common sense. But one has come right out of the cuckoo's nest, the use of the polygraph, the notorious lie detector.

A member of the MCC's working party, former Aussie skipper Steve Waugh said: "How can we make players more accountable? Personally, I think if you've not done anything wrong, why wouldn't you want to have a lie detector test?"

Let's give this one a bit of thought. How about because the polygraph is about as accurate as a bloke playing darts after eight pints of cider! It's viewed by the scientific community as pseudo-science yet, should a false negative be the result, the player's career and reputation would be in tatters.

It's being touted that the test will be on a totally voluntary basis. That's a cracking way to get the fingers pointing. As soon as a nervous player, terrified of the machine, opts out he'll be considered guilty. The 'voluntary' aspect is ridiculous, it's a case of take the test or we'll assume your guilt. Why just use the polygraph, the ducking stool would be equally as effective. If the player doesn't drown he's guilty, if he does, whoops a daisy - we got that one wrong!

Seriously, I'm not one of the politically correct brigade but somewhere along the line the rights of the player have to be respected. Can you imagine this being suggested in your workplace? "Excuse me, we think that you may have being reading personal emails at work, would you mind going with security, being strapped to a chair, have a light shone in your face and take a teeny weeny little lie detector test?"

It's one of those that when you read the story you immediately check the date to ensure that it's not April 1. It's crackers, but the sad aspect is that this is being considered. It's indicative of the level of corruption in cricket. To have to even consider lie detector tests speaks volumes of the perceived integrity of some of the participants involved in the sport at the very highest level.

If Duncan Fletcher and his management team were asked during a polygraph, "Were your team under-prepared for the first Test?" he would would have to answer "yes" in order to stop the lights flashing and the bells ringing. It was a fantastic Test but the Indians looked as if they needed another week under their belt before getting stuck into the serious stuff and paid the price. They weren't helped by injury and illness but England were superb and thoroughly deserved their win.

The Test Series winner market has reacted accordingly with the hosts now [1.42] to prevail and the visitors [8.0]. A drawn series is [5.0] and, with the Indians likely to improve as the tour progresses, laying England is a very tempting proposition. The counter argument is that England are buzzing, desperate to get their hands on India's number one Test ranking and will go into Friday's Trent Bridge Test full of confidence. It's been a great start to the series and the chances are it's going to get better.

As for the polygraph, if it's implemented in cricket other sports would likely follow and, as is always the case, the mass market would embrace it. The polygraph would become a household item, stored in the cupboard under the stairs along with the food blender, the extension cables and the step ladder.

Imagine the effect that would have on our quality of life. "What time did you get in last night?" "Why are you always staring at my sister?" and the dreaded, "Does my bum look big in this?" would have to be answered truthfully. Now there's a scary thought.

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