Simon Parker column

There is something special about county cricket grounds.

In a past reporting life, I used to go up and down the country covering Hampshire’s fortunes. One of the joys of the job, other than the copious amounts of ice cream, was swapping the office for these far-flung locations.

Some destinations were obviously preferable to others. Windswept Derby, beneath the dual carriageway, was not in my personal top ten.

But others offered you an escape from reality; quintessentially English places where you could leave your troubles at the gate and just soak up the genteel atmosphere within.

Chelmsford in Essex was always a favourite and Hove another – and not just because Sussex away was only 90 minutes down the road.

It was there that I once witnessed a national correspondent crawling out of the press box window and down the flat roof to escape after the door got jammed. And his black Labrador had to do the same ...

But I don’t recognise Hove from the latest match-fixing claims emerging this week. Two former Sussex players have been charged – including Lou Vincent, who has previously had a spell in the Bradford League.

Now it emerges that a one-day game played there in 2011 against Kent was a bit hooky. Vincent allegedly batted too ponderously, the other player in the dock – Naved Arif – was too careless with the new ball.

Nobody else has been implicated but the ICC investigation suggests that outside influences were afoot.

And a dark shadow is cast over a cricketing corner of the south coast and beyond.

Match-fixing, spot-fixing, however you want to describe blatant cheating, has always been held at an arm’s length.

We could reassure ourselves with the idea that it only took place in the sub-continent. It will never happen over here, chaps.

Only now it has – and how are we to know that it doesn’t spread further? The illusion has been shattered.