Sad as it may be the scandals affecting our sport connected to the world of betting have added richly to the lexicon of jokes available over the years. And, as with many such cases when it comes to humor, the fact that they deal with a delicate subject makes them funnier.

Here’s one to get you in the mood; The Pakistani team have issued a statement expressing their shock at the alleged involvement of three Pakistani players in match-fixing. They’ve promised to clean up their act before the 2-1 series defeat to the West Indies next summer.

Or how about the Pakistani international cricketer who refused to take a bribe? And his name? Why itâ€™s â€œAsifâ€ of course!

OK, weâ€™ll go easy on Pakistan now as all that scandal is well and truly behind them and itâ€™s not as if betting on cricket canâ€™t liven up the otherwise dullest of test matches now is it? You can bet on just about anything these days â€“ and with Betfair cricket becomes more exciting â€“ particularly for the real aficionados of the game who understand its subtleties. Thatâ€™s because Betfair is an exchange so you can accept bets as well as make them â€“ acting as the bookmaker as it were. In these cases, someone who really deeply understands the swings of fortune that can occur in a test match can back and lay with Betfair, gradually building their stake up regardless of the outcome if theyâ€™re shrewd enough.

And if bribery really is rife within cricket â€“ then spare a thought for the poor England Twenty20 team Captain Stuart Broad who said after the teamâ€™s poor showing in Bangladesh; â€œI just donâ€™t get it, it was an important game for us so I bribed the umpire, but we still lost!â€

â€œItâ€™s awful isn’t itâ€ said Pakistanâ€™s Twenty20 captain Mohammad Hafeez, â€œit’s getting so bad that you just donâ€™t know who you can trust these days!â€

And finally, while weâ€™re on the subject of unpredictable matches; I’ve been teaching a few hobbits how to play cricket. Bilbo’s not bad at catching, but he can’t really Frodoâ€¦.groan!