What we saw in Sri Lanka was confrontational and ugly. Looking for solutions, you begin to feel like some old buffer in a club tie counting ghosts at Lord's. They should know it requires greater character to do the right thing and that cheating is the preferred choice of the weak and spineless. I have detected an eagerness to rejoice in what happened in Sri Lanka and to crow about it. I would simply point out that although cricketers are able to comprehend their responsibility for the ills of their game, you couldn't find a single footballer even capable of understanding the proposition, never mind acting upon it.
Cricket has a long way to fall before it reaches football's level.
At least on a cricket field cheating and disputing decisions are newsworthy whereas they are now accepted as routine, everyday occurrences in football. On the other hand, cricket has nothing to be complacent about. Nor the general public. It is certainly true that the players are the primary guardians of sport, but maybe the more significant truth is that we as a society get the games we deserve.