Today saw the trial of three of the world’s top cricketers accused of exposing their sport to “rampant corruption” at Southwark crown court in central London. They deny charges of conspiracy to cheat and accept corrupt payments over a test match at Lords. A tabloid newspaper alleges they took bribes to bowl deliberate no bowls.

The apparent cost of a no ball is £10,000, or £400,000 for one in a 20/20 match and £1 million for one in a test match [one would think it would have significantly higher considering how much money there is in betting sports these days]. These three men are the first cricketers to face criminal corruption in this country and their charges have been branded a betrayal of cricket itself.

We should not be so quick to judge. In a volatile and unstable third world country, where political corruption is rife, war is ordinary and opportunity is rare, money is hard to come by for most of the population lives in poverty. It is a country of polar opposites. Even at the very top level, world class cricketers do not even get paid a tenth of what footballers earn, especially when they come from a third world country, with no money to invest in its poverty ridden healthcare or welfare system let alone sport. Alas this is not about how much players get paid. It is not a question of integrity or even of sport, it is about the branding of a country.

Whilst I myself believe it is the job of a journalist to investigate, ask questions and expose wrong doing so those who are guilty can be held accountable, lately it seems as if the media has taken the stance of ‘guilty until proven innocent’, completely opposing one of the key principles of our governing law and therefore a fundamental pillar of a democratic society. We have already seen with the case of Amanda Knox how wrong the world’s media can get it.

The media seems to be branding and investigating only the players of one country when the problem lies not just with these three men or within cricket in Pakistan, it is a problem worldwide. Prosecutor Aftab Jafferjee himself stated ‘It is a depressing tale of rampant corruption at the heart of international cricket.’ The official report into corruption in cricket is expected to reveal that the beginnings of the problem first began in England three decades ago before spreading into a sinister worldwide network which include allegations of murder and kidnap. There have in the past been Indian players, who have been caught up in corruption, yet there have not been any prosecutions. I am not at all suggesting that if these men are guilty of what they are accused they should be let off simply because others weren’t prosecuted, they should indeed be punished for letting down their country first and foremost, all I am saying is that, there needs to be the same fair and equal system for all and maybe the media needs to be careful in how it portrays every story.

I will also not see the reputation of a cricket team, a sport and a country tarnished by the acts of a few. I wear the badge of my country’s cricket team with honour, proudly on my wrist as a symbol of my dedication and my heritage [and that of my grandparents]. It is not just a sport and these are not just cricketers from a cricket team. These are the hearts and hopes of a nation. After all, football is not a sport of saints and neither is any other.