THE hearing of former national cricket captain Hansie Cronje’s application to the Pretoria High Court to overturn his life-long ban from activities of the United Cricket Board and its affiliates, will continue on Thursday. Counsel for the UCB, Wim Trengove, SC, is expected to continue his argument in opposition to the application. The UCB imposed the ban in November last year. It came after Cronje admitted to the King Commission of inquiry into cricket matchfixing that he had received about US100 000 from bookmakers and had bribed two of his teammates to underperform in a one-day test against India. Malcolm Wallis, SC, for Cronje, on Wednesday said at the time of the conduct in question, his client was in the employ of the UCB and therefore entitled to a disciplinary hearing in terms of the Labour Relations Act before the ban was imposed. As such a hearing never happened, the decision to ban him was invalid. But Trengove said that when the ban was imposed in November, there was no longer a contractual relationship between the UCB and Cronje. It had no power to call him to such a hearing. He said it was extraordinary that Cronje, ”a self-confessed cheat”, was seeking a court order to force the cricket establishment to associate with him. – Sapa