IN legal terms, it was just another case at Southwark Crown Court. But in a wider sporting sense, hopefully it will come to be regarded as a pivotal point in the fight against organised global corruption.

When Mr Justice Cooke handed out prison sentences to the three Pakistan cricketers convicted of conspiracy to cheat and conspiracy to accept corrupt payments yesterday, he did not just ensure that justice was served.

He also delivered a strong, unequivocal statement to any sportsman or woman who is considering accepting money to cheat in their chosen pursuit. 'If you are caught, you will be tried, and if you are found guilty, you face imprisonment'. No degree of sporting sanction can have as powerful an effect as that.

Salman Butt, a former Pakistan captain, will serve a minimum of one year and three months in custody, having been sentenced to double that term yesterday morning.

Just think about that for a moment. An iconic national figure, feted in his homeland, jailed for 15 months for, in cricketing terms at least, a relatively trivial offence committed in an overseas land.

Butt didn't throw a game, didn't even throw away his wicket. He simply arranged for two of his bowlers, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir, to bowl a series of pre-arranged no-balls in last summer's Test match against England at Lord's.

For that, he faces imprisonment, as well as a lifetime suspension from all forms of cricket. His wife, Gul Hassan, gave birth to a baby boy just one hour before he was found guilty. He will now miss the first year of his son's life.

A harsh response? Certainly. But also a justified one. Butt, Asif and Amir, along with UK-based sports agent Mazhar Majeed, who also received a hefty sentence yesterday, did not just defraud the bookmakers and punters who were making and accepting bets on last August's action.

They also besmirched the good name of cricket, casting a cloud of doubt over anyone associated with the sport.

To a certain degree, all sport requires a degree of trust. Whether player, official or spectator, we have to believe in what is unfolding before our eyes. If we do not, then the whole thing becomes redundant, hence the terrible damage that has been inflicted on cycling and athletics in recent years because of the impact of widespread doping.

Integrity has to exist, otherwise sport becomes pointless, relegated to the role of spurious entertainment normally filled by the scripted plot lines of American wrestling.

When cheating occurs, even via something as seemingly trivial as the bowling of no-balls, everyone suffers. It becomes a drip-drip effect. Get away with a few no-balls, try getting yourself out on purpose. Get away with that, why not approach a few of your team-mates and agree to lose the game?

The fear is that such practices are already common place, not just in cricket, with its abundant opportunities for low-level corruption, but also in a variety of other sports that have exposed themselves to the Asian market, which has a particularly wretched record when it comes to the effects of unregulated gambling.

Most global sporting bodies are aware of the threat, but few possesses the funds to be able to do anything about it. Even in a sport as established and wealthy as cricket, the annual budget for the ICC's anti-corruption unit is a fraction of the sum gambled on even the most low-profile of One-Day Internationals.

The sporting world does not possess the weaponry to make corrupt practices unappealing, but the legal world does, and that is why yesterday's events in a London courtroom were welcomed by sporting authorities all over the world.

Corruption is not just unsporting, it is also illegal, and no more matter where it occurs, the full force of the law is available to those seeking to prosecute.

Faced with a three-game ban, many people will be prepared to risk the threat of capture against the financial reward of cheating. Faced with a 15-month prison term, it is to be hoped that most will think again.

**

NEWCASTLE United boast the best defensive record in the Premier League. They also boast a back four containing three English defenders. So with the chance to experiment in two Wembley friendlies coming up, you would have thought Fabio Capello would have made a point of watching at least one of the club's matches.

Sadly not. True to his previous form, the England manager has failed to watch a single Newcastle game this season, just as he has also refused to travel north to watch Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.

Perhaps Steven Taylor is not quite good enough for international level? Maybe Jack Colback will never play well enough to win a full England cap? Either way, it is surely incumbent on the England manager to find out for himself.

**

BARRING an incredible turn of events, Paul Hanagan will be crowned champion flat jockey for the second season in succession tomorrow. It is a remarkable achievement for the northerner, whose primary association is with Malton trainer Richard Fahey, but it is also one that is causing feathers to fly.

Hanagan, you see, doesn't win many of racing's top prizes, most of which are contested on the major racecourses of the south. He has never won a Classic and has failed to claim a single Group One contest this season.

Instead, he has recorded 164 wins, eight more than nearest rival Silvester De Souza, and coaxed a succession of horses to victory on the unglamorous tracks of the north.

Some feel he is an unworthy champion. They would prefer a rankings system similar to golf or tennis, where one win in a major race is worth ten wins in less valuable contests.

That would be wrong. Northern racing does not attract the same sponsorship or profile as its counterpart in the south, but it is every bit as important to those involved in it and Hanagan has championed it superbly in the last two seasons. He deserves every accolade that comes his way.