Dilhara Fernando has shown integrity – now the media must follow suit

Paul Collingwood, England's one-day captain, made no secret last week of the difficulty of "blagging on your mates" if you began to wonder whether one of your team-mates might be caught up in the shady world of illegal betting. "It's very hard to say whether you would blag on someone, but I would like to think I would take every decision in the best interests of the game of cricket," he said. Dilhara Fernando did pass on his doubts. He is the sort of hero cricket needs. But elements of the Sri Lanka media, either through incompetence or because they are trapped in a narrow, nationalistic world, are tearing him apart. Fernando, A Sri Lanka fast bowler, was uncomfortable about some shady characters who had begun to gather around the team. That was pretty much as far as it went. He is a cricketer not a crime investigator, but rather than stay silent he passed on his discomfort to his captain, Kumar Sangakkara, just as the ICC's anti-corruption unit had asked him to do. It is a huge personal challenge to express such misgivings when you have no knowledge whatsoever whether or not your team-mates might have the sort of involvement with illegal bookmakers that could put the honesty of the game at risk. The potential damage to team morale is considerable. Fernando's reward for his integrity has been to endure wild and baseless allegations from a Sri Lankan newspaper which has reported that he himself has been investigated by the ICC's anti-corruption unit for the past two years. The difference between reporting and being reported, seems to have escaped them. If there is a message, it is not just that cricket must rid itself of the corruption that exists in the darkest corners of the game, it is that irresponsible journalism is in danger of destroying the culture of voluntary self-policing that is at the heart of the Anti-Corruption Unit's strategy. There is every reason to believe Sri Lanka Cricket's statement, which said: "Dilhara Fernando voluntarily reported a suspicious approach to the team management and it was immediately referred to the ICC who in turned carried out a regulation interview with Dilhara. "The interviewing of players after the reporting of suspicious approaches is standard practice and the above-mentioned cricketer followed the correct protocol. The ACU then followed their normal protocol and launched an investigation. No further information has been provided to us with regard to this incident or player that necessitates any action or raises any concern." Sangakkara is now a captain trying to hold together Sri Lanka's unity ahead of their tour of Australia. It has been a difficult task. His closest cricketing friend, Mahela Jayawardene, is back as vice captain and he will be grateful for that. Sri Lanka needs its next generation of leaders to match their maturity and integrity. Those players are not yet easily identifiable. Sangakkara insisted to CNN-IBN today: "We have no reason to suspect any of our players of being involved in match-fixing. But the ICC has always encouraged players to report any suspicious behaviour, whether it is a direct approach, off-hand conversation or a photo with someone. The ICC should continue to encourage players." Sangakkara says that "a media backlash or any other backlash should not given much importance," but he knows that a media backlash, when it is unjust, will cause untold damage. The ACU routinely trots out that it can make no comment on any investigation that might be taking place. If it defends a player such as Fernando, a supplier of information, any subsequent silence on another player would be taken as an indicator of guilt. So it says nothing and an innocent player is hung out to dry. The fact is that the ACU is pressing players to report doubts at a lower level than active suspicion. Anything vaguely suspicious, anything unusual, anything you just don't feel good about it, they say, let us know. We are talking about grey areas. But the media wants guilty or not guilty. It wants the next story and it wants it now. Fernando behaved with honesty and responsibility. The media needs to ensure it follows suit.