Once again the cricketing world has been rocked by allegations that several Pakistan players have been involved in match fixing.

It's been alleged that Pakistan bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir were paid to deliberately bowl no balls during the fourth Test against England - on the hallowed grounds of Lords, no less. Several other players are currently being investigated by Scotland Yard, as part of their look into match fixing. This is not the first time Pakistani cricketers have been involved, and I think it's time for the ICC to come down hard on those involved.

It's only right that the players receive lifetime bans from playing in any form of the game. It's the only way to stop this kind of thing from happening again, if that's even possible. It's ruining the game, and is now casting doubt over past games involving Pakistan - i.e January's loss to Australia at the SCG, where Pakistan blew a commanding position to lose to the Aussies.

The Black Caps are set to host Pakistan this summer, but who is really that excited by the prospect of facing a team that is renowned for throwing games? I know I'm not. In fact, I'd rather we had to face another tour from Bangladesh. I honestly never thought I'd say that...

But, any victory over Pakistan is forever going to carry the tag of "was it legit".

If I were the ICC, I would go one step further and issue the Pakistan Cricket Board an ultimatum. Either they sort their stuff out, or face the prospect of being banned from competing in all three forms of the game. It's a little drastic, but it may be the only way to solve the ongoing problem with match fixing. It's probably a good thing I'm not the ICC...

Regardless of what they do, they must set a standard for how they punish cheats in the game, and lifetime bans is the only way to a)deal with the cheats, and b)make other players think twice about accepting money from betting agency's.

This curse on the game has to stop, or it will suffer big tim.

Chris on Twitter

Photo credit - Scott Savage