A tabloid in its pomp

IT WAS the Fake Sheikh’s finest hour. On November 1st two members of Pakistan’s national cricket team were convicted in a British criminal court of fixing episodes of an international match, against England in 2010, for money. They had been exposed in a sting by the pseudonymous Arab, Mazher Mahmood, a star reporter for the now-defunct tabloid newspaper, the News of the World.Posing as the Indian head of a Singapore-based betting syndicate, Mr Mahmood had filmed a British associate of the players pocketing £150,000 ($240,000) in marked notes in return for a promise to arrange match-fixing. As proof of his influence, he predicted the timing of two illegal deliveries, or “no-balls�, to be delivered by the Pakistanis’ two best bowlers, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir, in the forthcoming game. The odds of being able to do this successfully, unaided, were 1.5m to one. Yet the no-balls transpired, with Mr Amir, then 18 years old and one of the sport’s brightest talents, overstepping by a huge distance. Bundles of the notes were later...