Unsung Villains?

Reading Gideon Haigh's "Game for Anything", a collection of his writings over the years, brought home a point that I sometimes wondered about in the context of the match fixing scandal, but never really put much thought into. Those allegedly or self-confessedly involved have been rightly vilified and the repentant ones have mostly been forgiven. Scorn was heaped upon the players who actually did the misdeeds and the administrators of the game who were mostly mute and/or deaf spectators (no administrator was alleged to have been involved, which is a rare instance in cricket where the bureaucrats have come away with credit). But what of those among the players who chose to carry on as if nothing was amiss, even as hell was freezing over? The only exceptions being Rashid Latif, and, to a lesser extent, Basit Ali. Somehow, those who actually were almost co-conspirators by not speaking out were looked at as heroes in the aftermath. It's only fair that the game has moved on, but after the next scandal erupts, sainthood should not be granted just for being a bystander. - NK