Weak, spineless, ineffective. The list of words could go on. Yesterday’s announcement that the three Pakistani cricketers involved in last summer’s spot-fixing scandal have been found guilty came as no surprise and nor did the news that each has been banned for their actions. But the length of  terms  handed down to Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir are quite extraordinarily lean and only go further to prove how incapable the International Cricket Council has become at running the world game.

This case represented an opportunity for the ICC to send out a strong message to everyone involved in cricket: anyone taking money to perform differently in a game will be caught out, and will be severely punished. Instead, the door has been left ajar for players of the future to risk a few years of their career when a zero-tolerance approach would have made it quite clear that fixing of any level will not stand.

One of the three tribunal judges appointed by the ICC, Sharad Rao, defended the length of bans by saying that “this was spot-fixing not match-fixing and it did not affect the outcome of any game”. Wrong. Whether it be one ball or the result of a game, it deceives those paying to watch. It makes a mockery of team mates and others that have spent all of their lives training, playing and dedicating themselves to being the best. It brings shame on the country they are representing and it brings shame on a sport that has always competed against football for the world’s attention.

The ICC could have put cricket through the dry cleaners this week, but instead opted for a two-minute hand wash. The tainted trio will be out of the game for a number of years; cricket may have missed the chance to ensure that fixing serves a life ban of its own.

The News of the World’s revelations yesterday about “spot fixing” are devastating for cricket, and couldn’t really have come at worse time. Further opportunities to get people enjoying cricket this summer – especially after England’s poor showing in the football World Cup – slipped through the fingers of the game’s organisers eyeing up money. The novelty of Twenty20 cricket has been ruined by the ECB’s desire to cash-in on its popularity and similarly an overkill on test matches and one day internationals have left grounds three-quarters full instead of packed out.

And all at a time where the national team is playing some of its best cricket.

News yesterday of Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif bowling no-balls, allegedly on the orders of fixer Mazhar Majeed, tears up any interest many people have in the game. Any thought that what happened at Lord’s last week was pre-planned – even if it is only three no-balls – shreds the game apart and further undermines the sport.

Despite allegations and lifetime bans since Hansie Cronje’s match-fixing revelations over a decade ago, cricket was just starting to get over the thought that match-fixing was a part of the game. With people’s trust now subsiding, especially with the allegations surrounding the Pakistani cricket team, it would be completely ridiculous to press ahead with the upcoming one-day international series.

That both international cricket boards want to continue playing this week, no doubt thinking about the financial loss if it doesn’t. The decent thing would be to postpone the series, get to the root of the spot-fixing allegations and restore the integrity in what is being played. Incredibly, the players at the centre of the allegations are set to be a part of the series. What a mockery of the sport it will be when just a week after the sport is dragged through the dirt, the ICC, ECB and PCB will continue as if nothing has happened.

Cricket needs to stop, group together and clobber any hint of corruption. Failure to do so, and the sport will be remembered more for Hansie Cronje than WG Grace and Sir Don Bradman.

The summer of cricket starts here. After a quiet series against the West Indies last month, England will begin their Twenty20 World Cup campaign later this evening. At long last the country will see the main shows this summer – the Twenty20 World Cup and the Ashes. The Windies were not even a warm-up act – such a description is all too flattering – after players arrived late because of IPL commitments, captain Chris Gayle drew the dagger into Andrew Strauss and test cricket and England comprehensively won both test and one-day series. Add into the mix poor attendances, an injury to big draw Andrew Flintoff and the scandal surrounding Sir Allen Stanford and English cricket is walking around with a hangover. Relief is at hand though – if England can comfortably beat Holland tonight, and Pakistan on Sunday then who knows what might happen. The best thing about the 20 over form of the game is that it brings teams closer together on a performance level – England are rightly long outsiders to win over the next few weeks, but do not rule it out.

News that Graham Ford has pulled out of the running for England cricket manager is another example of the English Cricket Board’s shambolic and disasterous working methods. Ford is one of the world’s best coaches, transforming Kent’s one-day record from first-round knockout certainties to finalists, coaching South Africa to the 1999 World Cup final under Bob Woolmer and is one of the few men given a shining endorsement from hard-to-please Kevin Pietersen. But the ECB’s laissez-faire attitude towards picking a new coach has ended the South African’s interest in the job.

“I thought it would be sorted out a lot quicker than it has been,” Ford said to the Guardian last week. With the Ashes only 99 days away, what on earth are England’s cricket bosses waiting around for? England have won only two games this winter, one with the help of a mathematical cock-up by West Indies coach John Dyson, and are limping towards this summer’s Ashes showdown without a permanent head coach. Perhaps limping is an understatement, more crawling with a ball and chain attached. The ECB are the key holders to this obstacle – a world-leading coach, given as much time possible to get the players working well again, is needed and this delay is not helping matters.

First terrestrial television is cut away from cricket, second Sir [sic] Allen Stanford flies into the ECB’s back pocket and now we wait on a new head coach. It is no wonder why nobody wants the job.

Very few teams come away from a tour to New Zealand with a series win, but England go into tonight’s final test with the possibility of doing just that. The Kiwis are missing a batch of players and so it’s time for England to pounce and come away victorious.

I appeared to praise Amjad Khan a little too much last week to the point where, in a bid to live up to my pre-match hype, he sent down plenty of no-balls and had a fairly mediocre test debut. Despite this he was still worth the risk and certainly worth picking over Steve Harmison, but charging in on day two he did not look ready enough for the pressure. Perhaps that’s something that will come with experience. Interesting, however, to see that the England selectors picked him for yesterday’s Twenty20 International defeat; perhaps they are willing to give him the benefit of a bag o’ nerves beginning and more time to prove himself.

Sport is unpredictable and in my haste, I banked on Khan. My opinion, wrong as it turned out, was based on looking at his past form in addition to the number of times I had seen him play and the situation England faced before the fifth test. Compare that to Giles Clarke and others at the English Cricket Board who banked on Sir Allen Stanford, ignored his past (Stanford Group’s input in Antigua, an island without money-laundering laws) and took an unnecessary risk on the English game. It appears unlikely Mr Clarke will be apologising for his error.

Later today, England’s beleaguered squad enter the last chance saloon. A last chance to salvage a draw from an uninspiring test series. A last chance to impress the next team manager, with South African Graeme Ford the new favourite. But more importantly, a last chance to convince Australia that they are serious about reclaiming the Ashes. What a contrast from five years ago where England’s Ashes-winning attack – Matthew Hoggard, Steve Harmison, Simon Jones, Andrew Flintoff and Ashley Giles – ripped through the West Indies twice at the Queen’s Park Oval, Trinidad, on the way to a seven-wicket victory. Only two of the famous five remain: Flintoff, resting his hip some 5,000 miles away, and Harmison who probably wishes he was equally as distant after another disappointing tour. Harmison is unlikely to get another chance in Trinidad, despite his 6-61 there five years ago, which leaves England begging for a match-winning bowler. Untried he may be, but Amjad Khan could be England’s answer.

Born in Copenhagan, Amjad was Denmark’s youngest ever player at 17-years- old, but having gained British citizenship in 2006, he joins Kevin Pietersen and Kent team mate Geraint Jones in claiming a British passport and becoming an English cricketer through law. Had it not been for a serious cruciate knee ligament injury in 2007, he may well have played a bigger role for England. Approaching a fast-bowler’s best years at the age of 28, and with over 200 first-class wickets, his inexperience in international cricket should not distract the selectors from choosing him for the fifth test match of this series. His pace could prove to be the cymbal needed in England’s, until now, mediocre drum kit. Although the pitches haven’t given the reward they’ve deserved, England’s bowlers have at times lacked rhythm needed. The result: they haven’t yet bowled the West Indies twice on this tour.

Amjad’s action is different – crumpled-up in the last yard of his approach to the crease, followed by a short pause before an uncoiling of the upper body parts that help produce decent pace – almost in a Simon Jones mould. Like Jones, he also has the ability to reverse-swing the ball, handy where the wicket and outfield are bone dry. His abilities compare to Harmison, who is still out of sorts, and Sidebottom, who has been struggling for fitness and bowling under 80 miles per hour. With Flintoff injured, Khan is England’s most unique bowler. Clocked at 93 miles per hour before his injury, he must be a part of a five-man England attack. Anything short and England won’t win.

This leaves a difficult selection dilemma at the top of the order. A five-man attack means a batsman has to miss out, and it’s no easy task deciding who should make way. Ravi Bopara, fresh from a big hundred in the last test, or Owais Shah, deserving of a long spell in the team having carried more drinks to the players than Ian Botham in his heyday. It would be unfair on Shah to leave him out so soon, but similarly runs out-weigh who should morally play. Shah would have felt hard done by after being snubbed following his debut 88 in Mumbai three years ago and the same rule applies here – Bopara’s quick-fire 104 in Barbados should earn him a place.

But the debate over which batsman should play is irrelevant if England cannot take 20 wickets. A five-prong attack will at least give England the chance to regain some respectability from a difficult tour, and dampen down the pre-series Australian put-downs. A weak showing and expect a difficult summer.

Today’s announcement – that Michael Vaughan has been given a central contract for the coming year – only continues to highlight the farcical confines surrounding the current England squad. Vaughan, much like opener Andrew Strauss, has consistently failed to deliver over the last 12 months yet is still rewarded with an England contract.

And it’s not as if there aren’t any alternatives in country cricket, not least Joe Denly who continues to impress in all forms of the game, and even within the England squad itself. Ravi Bopara and Owais Shah will have to make do with a 12 month increment deal as the selectors stick by 33-year-old Vaughan, who has only scored 29 runs in three innings for Yorkshire.

It doesn’t stop there, either. The one-day squad for the upcoming India tour and the Stanford tournament includes Alistair Cook, who wouldn’t be in there if it weren’t for him being in the test team. The ECB hope the possible cash incentives next month will stop dreams of playing in the IPL, but let’s hope the players make the decision. After all, the ECB look incapable of deciding what will benefit English cricket in the future.

Floodlit cricket – something that seems almost ancient in the modern game what with pink balls, Twenty20 and the influx Sir Allen Stanford’s cash cabinet – appears to be another thing the authorities cannot get right. Last night’s 40-over game between Kent and Leicestershire was abandoned because four floodlight pylons couldn’t be erected high enough in the windy weather, leaving players and fans understandably angry and frustrated.

Thousands trekked to the St Lawrence Ground for Kent’s only floodlit game of this season despite the presence of Sky and the temptation to avoid the autumnal weather. But instead of lights, cameras and action the crowd were treated to a farce – come 8.30 the only action at the ground was in the Sky studio, perched 15 foot up and suffering no ill-effects from the blustery conditions.

Leicestershire reached 23-2 in reply to Kent’s 40-over total of 226-7 before the natural light faded, and the players walked off. The umpires left the carrot dangling, revealing play might be possible if the wind was to die down and many ended up giving up. But this should have been sorted earlier.

Cricket is an entertainment business. The players are there to earn their wages by entertaining the crowds, who pay to be entertained but too often now we see this simple notion ignored by the powers that be. Instead of simply starting the game earlier, or agreeing to a shortened game (say 25 overs per side), the game petered out to a no result. Do the fans get reimbursed for their troubles?

Sky has a little too much influence on our cricket – starting earlier would have caused problems with their television schedule, and so this simple solution couldn’t be used. Floodlit cricket has been in this country long enough for any problems to be sorted – with only two years before the English Premier League’s inauguration, let’s hope the organisation of this important tournament will be a little less chaotic.

The much-hyped Indian Premier League made its debut to television screens worldwide today, but it was Brendon McCullum who provided the real fireworks. In a breath-taking display of sweeping, paddling and blugeoning, McCullum gave the IPL organiser’s the kind of performance they, the advertisters, broadcasters and supporters – billions of dollars worth – have paid to see.

In-between a dazzling open ceremony and and an anti-climactic second innings, McCullum produced a new Twenty20 world record, hitting 158 and carrying his bat in the process. The bowling attack wasn’t light however – Zaheer Kahn, Jacques Kallis and Australian Ashley Noffke provided the ammunition, but McCullum dispatched each with array of leg-side glances, including a fine paddle that only dipped below three feet past the boundary rope. His innings of 10 fours and 13 sixes shadowed anything any other player had to offer, with only team-mate Ricky Ponting reaching 20.

McCullum aside, the game was largely uneventful and the organisers still have a lot to provide the fans. With such a one-sided contest (Kolkata won by a healthy 140 runs, a number considered a decent total in some games) the IPL will hope for closer encounters to follow, but with a number of stars sidelined through injury (including Sachin Tendulkar), enticing matches may not be quick in coming.