OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Saturday 12.15pm.
THE South African government is set to intervene on behalf of South Africa’s cricket captain Hansie Cronje and three other players, Herschelle Gibbs, Pieter Strydom and Nicky Boje who were charged with match-fixing by Indian police.
“The South African government is to contact the Indian government to convey the country’s concerns about the match-fixing allegations levelled against four South African cricketers,” the United Cricket Board of South Africa said in a statement on Saturday.
“Aziz Pahad, the deputy minister of foreign affairs, has assured UCB managing director Ali Bacher the government will seek an explanation for reports that South African players’ telephones were tapped while they were on an official cricket tour in India.
“The government is also to ask for an explanation regarding the process by which the allegations against the four players were made public. No Indian official has yet contacted the UCB, the players concerned or South African officials in India or in South Africa,” the statement adds.
Meanwhile, South African cricket officials on Saturday rallied behind Cronje over the charges of match fixing, with newspapers claiming he was framed.
Graham Ford, coach of the South African cricket team, said Indian police were “overhasty” in filing charges against Cronje and teammates Herschelle Gibbs, Nicky Boje and Pieter Strydom for allegedly fixing matches in a one-day series last month which India won 3-2.
“We were never approached by any gambling syndicate,” Ford said in a statement. “The whole story is a storm in a teacup. I am sure that when further details are available, the innocence of Hansie and the others will be fully proved.
“The whole thing is surely nothing more than a misunderstanding.”
A senior South African cricket journalist said he heard the tape of the alleged conversation between Cronje and an Indian bookmaker and strongly doubted its validity, believing the entire issue was a hoax.
Trevor Chesterfield, a journalist for Pretoria News, said that while waiting to be interviewed by the Star radio station in Delhi, he heard the tape alleged to be between Cronje and a bookmaker, Sanjiv Chowla, being played on air.
“My impression was that both voices were of Asian origin. The voice that was supposed to be Hansie’s did not have a South African accent. It was definitely not Hansie’s voice. And my conclusion was that the whole thing is a hoax.”
“Was Hansie framed?” asks the frontpage headline in the Saturday Star newspaper.
Former captain Kepler Wessels said he, too, doubts the allegations and feels the issue arose only because South Africa won the Test series in India.
He called for an independent inquiry into the allegations, however, saying they are “too serious” simply to be dismissed.
Bob Woolmer, the former South African coach, said: “My initial thoughts are that this is a bad April Fool’s joke. I am convinced that Hansie Cronje is not guilty and that he would not even contemplate such actions.
These allegations are absolute garbage.
He is not the type of person to get involved in anything like this.” — AFP