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Cronje Breaks Silence
Cronje breaks silence, Journalist alleges hoax
By Jermaine Craig of The Star newspaper, Johannesburg
April 7
Doubts are already emerging about the match-fixing allegations leveled against Hansie Cronje and other members of the Proteas national cricket team.
A senior South African cricket journalist said last night he had heard the tape of an alleged conversation between Cronje and an Indian bookmaker and strongly doubted its validity, believing the entire issue was a hoax.
Indian police yesterday levelled charges of match-fixing against South African captain Cronje, Herschelle Gibbs, Pieter Strydom and Nicky Boje, as well as two Indians.
An Indian man was arrested yesterday and another, based in London, was being sought by Interpol.
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 was a hoax,’ Chesterfield said.
He said he had tried to ask questions about the tape but was told by the interviewer: ‘You are not here to ask questions - we ask you the questions.’
In a statement released last night, United Cricket Board of South Africa managing director Dr Ali Bacher said he had spoken to all four players named in the reports from India.
‘South African captain Hansie Cronje is a man of enormous integrity and honesty. He and his teammates Nicky Boje, Herschelle Gibbs and Pieter Strydom are emphatic that there is no substance to allegations that they were involved in match-fixing during the one-day international series in India. The UCBSA believes them.’
He added that his board and the players had not had any contact from police in India and had learnt about the allegations through media reports.
Cronje said: ‘I have been informed by the UCB of the statements that have been made in the media and I am stunned.
‘The allegations are completely without substance. I have been privileged to play for South Africa since 1992 and I want to assure every South African that I have made 100 percent effort to win every match I have played in. It has been an honour to play for South Africa and I would never do anything to let my country down.’
Former captain Kepler Wessels said last night he too doubted the validity of the allegations and felt the issue had arisen only because South Africa had won the Test series.
He added that an independent, transparent inquiry into the match-fixing allegations was needed, with South Africa, India and the International Cricket Council each conducting their own investigations.
‘Should the allegations prove to have some substance - and let me say that, knowing the players the way I do, I cannot believe that they would be involved in something like this - then severe punitive measures must be taken. Should the investigations prove them innocent, then their names must be publicly cleared so that they can go on with their careers.’
He went on to say he had been interviewed by a journalist from a Delhi newspaper, who said Indian police had been tipped off about the alleged match-fixing and were focusing particularly on the third one-day game in Faridabad, where, according to a transcript of the tape, Gibbs was meant to have made fewer than 20 runs. He made 19, but South Africa went on to win.
According to the transcript, Cronje was alleged to have said the players were already involved in fixing the first one-day international in Cochin and were angry because they had not received their money.
Boje and Strydom did not play in the first match, in which Gibbs made 111, with Cronje making 19 not out. India ended up winning the tense opening match by three wickets with just two balls to spare.
The transcript also says Cronje had approached ‘Williams’ - although Henry Williams played in only the first match, taking no wickets for 40 runs in nine overs, and the last of the series, where he damaged his shoulder in only his second over.
Reactions from SA
Ex-captain and current selector Kepler Wessels: If the information is from a respectable source then its worth taking note. If there is any truth in the allegations then it demands serious investigation. An investigation which should be devoid of any UCB member in that. I'll be very-very surprised if this turns out to be true.
Hansie is a pronounced Christian and any such thing is barred and heinous. It really escapes me why should he do that. He's done well in the game. And by that I mean he has made enough money out of it. If there is any truth in this then the concerned players should be severely punished so that it serves a lesson for the rest.
I think the ICC needs to sort this out. There is no way they can just sit back and let things drift. And in this particular case all three the UCB, Indian cricket Board and the ICC need to got to the core. The whole subject is bouncing with regularity. Under no circumstances this should be swept under the carpet.
Ex-South Africa coach, Bob Woolmer: It is rubbish. I know Hansie for a long time. He can never be a part of any such thing. I'll be very-very surprised if that turns out to be true. He is an ideal definition of what you call a gentleman cricketer.
Vice-captain of South Africa, Shaun Pollock: I have no reason to believe that this is true. I don't think Hansie will do any such thing.
United Cricket Board South Africa (UCBSA), Managing Director Dr. Ali Bacher: There is no truth in this. It is all rubbish. I know Hansie for a long time now. I'll be shocked if there is any truth in this.
OTHERS:
Ex-India captain, Dilip Vengsarkar: If there is any truth in this then all the players involved should be banned for life.
Malcolm Speed, CE, Australian Cricket Board,: ‘That's the first I've heard of this. I can't comment on it. But the Australian team will go to South Africa as planned for the three one-day matches.
Independent Inquiry
Ex-South African captain Kepler Wessels has called for an independent inquiry after match fixing charges were brought by Indian police against his successor Hansie Cronje and team mates Nicky Boje, Herschelle Gibbs and Pieter Strydom.
The charges relate to the recent one-day series won 3-2 by India. ‘These are serious allegations and if there is evidence we should have an independent inquiry into the matter and by that I mean an investigation not involving anyone from the United Cricket Board of South Africa (UCBSA),’Wessels said on Friday. He added: ‘I'd be astonished if it had happened in this instance, but this thing is rife in cricket and the biggest mistake we could make would be to try and sweep it under the carpet without an investigation. ‘
Earlier, Delhi's Joint Commissioner of Police K.K. Paul said the four cricketers had been charged over the one-day series which was played in March. Paul told a news conference that police had registered a first information report on Thursday against the quartet and three Indian businessmen. One of the businessmen had been arrested and had appeared in court earlier on Friday when he was remanded in custody for two days. The UCB said in a statement it was ‘certain that no South African cricket player has ever been involved in match-fixing.’ It added: ‘UCB managing director Ali Bacher has spoken to Cronje who is adamant that the allegations contained in press reports in India are completely untrue. Cronje is known for his unquestionable integrity and honesty.’
ABSOLUTE NONSENSE
Ray McCauley, an evangelist who is close to the South African team and a personal friend of Cronje, said, ‘It's absolute nonsense. I know Hansie well and his integrity is beyond reproach. ‘Gibbs's father Herman Gibbs said there was nothing new about the controversy: ‘It's common for cricketers to be approached by bookmakers all the time on the subcontinent, but I don't know whether that happened in this instance. ‘The four players were unavailable for comment.South African coach Graham Ford told Reuters the charges had come as a total surprise to everybody. ‘Not for one moment can I believe it's true,’he said.Three of the four players - Strydom is not in the squad - are due to appear in a one-day match on Sunday in preparation for a one-day series against Australia which starts in Durban next Wednesday.
Gambling In Cricket
By Qamar Ahmed
Gambling, betting and match-fixing is not a new phenomena in sports. In 1919, eight members of the Chicago White Socks had rocked the baseball scene in America by allegedly fixing the result of the World Series. Known as Black Socks because of it, they were acquitted of the criminal charges by the trial jury but were banned for life by the baseball authorities.
Three Sheffield Wednesday players of the sixties in British football, David Lane, Tony Kay and Peter Swan were all sent to prison on charges of conspiracy to defraud, and were also suspended by the Football association in the most publicised match-fixing controversy in English football.
Last year in a similar case, three footballers, Bruce Grobbelaar, a Zimbabwean, John Fashanu and Hans Segers accused of match-fixing scandal in French football. Marseilles, one of the top clubs of French League after winning the 1993 European Cup by beating AC Milan were stripped of the French title when it was revealed they had fixed the final league game of the French title when it was revealed they had fixed the final league game of the French league against Valenciennes to make sure that they took the honours. Marseilles was not only stripped of the title but were also relegated, the club president and a top-notch politician was imprisoned for their role in the affair.
The game of cricket has its own old history of bribery, match-fixing and gambling. In fact cricket in the 17th and 18th century flourished because it was one sport in which people could put a wager and bet on the outcome of the matches. The bookies therefore hung around the officials and players and reports of that era suggest that some of the results of the matches were influenced by the bookies. The Rev Lord Frederick Beauclerk was then a leading figure in English cricket during the Napoleonic War. He was a gambler and also boasted about it. But it was his influence though which ended match-fixing in English cricket.
In 1817 the bookies were banned and booted out by the MCC and till 1973 it was illegal to bet on cricket on any cricket ground. Now it is all official and every cricket ground has its own section occupied by the bookmakers and one can put a wager on anything. From the winning and losing of the toss to partnership runs and time of declaration. The bookies have also the services of former England cricketers like Godfrey Evans, Chris Cowdrey and Graham Cowdrey to advice them. Similar is the case in countries like Australia, South Africa and New Zealand.However, it is illegal to bet on the game in our part of the world, even in India where one can put only on horse racing. The reason why we now hear all these stories of match-fixing and bribery, some of which may be true but so far unproven. It is not a secret however that the bookmakers do try and lure the participants of the game for a quick buck. A lot of rumours that hang around now are hearsay and title-tattle.
Allegations against the players are mostly made by those who lose money and by those players who are on the verge of being pushed out or those who have some kind of axe to grind against their colleagues. Allegations against Salim Malik, Wasim Akram, Ijaz Ahmed, Mushtaq Ahmed and others has its own sad connotations. Mark Waugh and Shane Warne's admittance of accepting money from the Indian bookies for giving information about the pitch and weather itself stinks of double standard.
In full knowledge of their own admission of accepting money from the bookies and being fined for it by their cricket board they had accused Salim Malik of offering them money to play badly for which they have lost all the credibility. The world has condemned them and they will be damned for rest of their lives. Had they not accepted money for their services to the Indian bookmaker, the whole thing should have been taken as an act naively and innocence. The mere fact that they had accepted money to do that smells foul.
John Woodcock, the doyen of the English press, has summed up the Waugh and Warne's revelation succinctly in the 'The Times,' Waugh and Warne were incredibly naive, extraordinarily brainless, undoubtedly shifty, shamelessly mercenary and seemingly corruptible.'
'It is sad, sordid and debilitating business, which lays the Australian Board and the players involved open to the almost inevitable charge of hypocrisy, regarding the bribery and match-fixing scandal in Pakistan', says Woodcock.
It seems strange to me that a bookie himself admitted in the court of law in Pakistan that he paid money to so players and yet remains free having violated the laws of Pakistan that gambling is illegal. I suppose he should be the first to be charged. Another searching question, of course, is why is it that when the players had submitted their confidential report of their assets, it was made public and got into the newspapers. Who did that? Who ever has done that providing details of the players assets to the press had done a huge disservice to the game and its players, exposing them to the danger of being victims of the crooks that hang around.
If that had happened in England, the people responsible for doing that would have been challenged by the professional players association and taken to the court of law. I am also shocked that statements were given to the press by the officials involved after a witness has recorded his statement in camera. Is anyone there to look into these searching questions?
Grudges against their colleagues and allegations by suspects in their own right, is not evidence enough to punish a suspect. I suppose step should now be taken in that direction by announcing an amnesty to all those who have been accused in Pakistan of bribery controversy with a warning that in future they will have to bear the consequences if found out. To date not one has been found out at least in Pakistan.
(From the archives of The Dawn,
Pakistan)
Match-Fixing History
1997: Former Indian Test all-rounder Manoj Prabhakar alleges he was offered about $100,000 by a teammate to lose a match to Pakistan during the Singer Cup in Sri Lanka in 1994. He does not name the player.
1998: Australians Shane Warne and Mark Waugh admit taking money from an Indian bookmaker in 1994 to provide information about pitch and weather conditions in Sri Lanka.
1995: Salim Malik is accused by Mark Waugh and Shane Warne of offering them money to throw matches during Australia's 1994 tour of Pakistan
|
| Triangular Series in Sharjah, March 2000 FULL COVERAGE HERE. PLZ NJOY!!! |
| Date | vs | Venue |
|---|---|---|
| March 22 | India v South Africa | Sharjah |
| March 23 | India v Pakistan | Sharjah |
| March 24 | Pakistan v South Africa | Sharjah |
| March 26 | India v Pakistan | Sharjah |
| March 27 | India v South Africa | Sharjah |
| March 28 | Pakistan v South Africa | Sharjah |
| March 31 | Final | Sharjah |
|
RESULTS | |
Mar. 28: Pakistan beats South Africa by 67 runs Mar. 27: South Africa beats India by 6 wickets Mar. 26: Pakistan beats India by 98 runs Mar. 24: South Africa beats Pakistan by 3 wickets Mar. 23: India beats Pakistan by 5 wickets Mar. 22: South Africa beats India by 10 wickets | |
 |
PAKISTAN: Moin Khan (Captain), Inzamam-ul-Haq (Vice-Captain), Shahid Afridi, Mohammed Naveed, Wajhatullah Wasti, Younis Khan, Yousuf Youhanna, Wasim Akram, Shoaib Akhtar, Waqar Younis, Mohammed Akram, Abdur Razzak, Imran Nazir, Arshad Khan, Shoaib Malik.
INDIA: Saurav Ganguly (Captain), Rahul Dravid (Vice-Captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Mohammed Azharuddin, Ajay Jadeja, Robin Singh, Sunil Joshi, Nikhil Chopra, Javagal Srinath, Saba Karim (wk), Ajit Agarkar, Mohammed Kaif, Anil Kumble, S. Sriram, Venkatesh Prasad.
SOUTH AFRICA: Hansie Cronje (Captain), Herschelle Gibbs, Gary Kirsten, Jacques Kallis, Pieter Strydom, Dale Benkenstein, Lance Klusener, Shaun Pollock, Mark Boucher, Neil McKenzie, Nicky Boje, Steve Elqorthy, Derek Crookes, Mornantau Hayward, Henry Williams, Makhaya Ntini, Goolam Rajah, Grahm Ford, Craig Smith, Corrie van Zyl.
PAK WON BY 16 RUNS IN THE FINAL
AWARDZ
MAN OF THE MATCH - WAQR YOUNIS
MAN OF THE SERIES-WAQR YOUNIS
FASTEST FIFTY -MARK BOUCHER
KIPTLY SIXERS - HANSIE CRONJE
HIGHEST RUN TAKER - INZANAM-UL-HAQUE
BEST FIELDER- CROOKES
SUCH AN KI BAAT HA ALL SPONSORS FROM INDIA PUT PAKISTAN TOOK THE TROPHY WHAT BAD LUCK INDIA HAS.
ARTICLES
| Why are we mum at the allegations against Michael Jordan of Indian cricket? |
by B R Nair
The
whole of India should have resounded with anger and outrage when I S Bindra
dragged Kapil
Dev's name into the match-fixing saga involving Manoj Prabhakar during the
1994 Singer Cup series.
It was not just a question of a former cricket administrator using the opportunity and exposure provided by a foreign television to drag a sporting idol's name to dust. It was a question of an Indian bringing down another of his countryman for some ulterior motive, without bothering about the consequences.
Bindra, a former president of the Board of Control of Cricket in India, should have been the target of hate mail from furious cricket fans, venting their ire at their all-time favourite cricketer's name being dragged into something as sordid as match-fixing.
Cities like Calcutta where Kapil is a legend for the emotional Bengalis who take to the streets at every opportunity, should have seen protest marches organised to protest against the ex-BCCI chief's utterance.
Enough Cricket!! Heading towards other
Games!!!
Cricketers, past and present, who have played alongside the great all-rounder, should have come out in open support of Kapil in his hour of darkness. Instead of a movement building up in support of a champion who strikes a chord in every Indian's heart, there is a disturbing silence.
As if people have become suspicious of every cricketer in the wake of Hansie Cronje's scandalous relationship with bookies. As if the cricket fans across the length and breadth of this cricket-crazy country feel that every player is deemed guilty till proved innocent, leaving Kapil the task of defending himself.
It is a strange situation wherein the very foundation on which Indian cricket's success was built, remember Kapil's Devils lifting the 1983 World Cup, is on the verge of crumbling. The former India captain, whose legendary feats with the bat and ball inspired a generation of youngsters to take up the game, is now facing a finger of suspicion pointed at him.
Bindra rightly describes Kapil as the Michael Jordan of Indian cricket. There is no better way to describe his contribution to the game in this land. However, unlike Jordan who has managed to steer clear of controversies and maintain his legendary status in American basketball, one of India's cricketing legends and the current national team coach, is now forced to clear his name, using any avenue possible.
Kapil may be wondering why 'his India' is behaving so strangely. What he has forgotten is that 'his India' has changed. It will need more than theatrics or tears on television to convince his fans of his honesty. What they are looking for is the truth. Nothing less with do.
|
CBI inquiry a slap on
Board's face |
by R Prasad
The arrogant officials of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) have at last been forced to eat the humble pie by the government which has ordered a CBI inquiry into the match-fixing scandal which has caught the attention of the nation for the better part of April.
After the 20-day long drama over the scandal which, at times, assumed even soap-operatic dimensions with a lot of melodrama thrown-in in the form of the battle of words between bigwigs of the Board, Jagmohan Dalmiya - the International Cricket Council supremo - and his one-time buddy and its former chief Inderjit Singh Bindra, the matter has finally been taken out of the bungling body's hands by the government.
Sports Minister Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa would never have imagined himself to be the focus of all eyes when he assumed charge of the Sporst Ministry in the coalition cabinet at the centre.
From a nondescript man he has overnight jumped into a well-known face and figure thanks to the match-fixing scandal involving South African skipper Hansie Cronje and is obviously relishing his role at present and the attendant publicity he is getting in the media - TV, print and internet. His meeting with the Board officials and players on April 27 at New Delhi's National Stadium laid the groundwork for the government to launch a CBI inquiry.
The Board's satraps as well as ICC chief Dalmiya have expectedly chosen to welcome the step taken by the government, but inwardly they must all be apprehensive of the turn the case has taken of late.
For this present scenario, they have to blame themselves squarely for the manner in which they tried to sweep everything under the carpet over the last three years.
Ever since Manoj Prabhakar made the sensational disclosure that he was offered Rs 25 lakh by a teammate during the 1994 Singer Cup series in Sri Lanka to under-perform, all that the Board has done or seen to be doing has been to try and bury every allegation, however big it was, beneath the mire, little realising that they may pop out at a most inopportune time and threaten their happiness in the future as has happened now.
The Justice Chandrachud commission that the Board had set up to probe into the charges by Prabhakar in the weekly news magazine in 1997 and the report it submitted absolving the Indian players of having any hand in match-fixing have now been forced to be disowned by the Board itself by the latest turn of events.
How else can the current stand by the Board officials welcoming another probe, this time by a properly endowed legal body, be explained ? All along the Board's stand whenever a distasteful exposure in a magazine or newspaper had come up post-Chandrachud commission report was to take refuge under the 94-page document and say that we have already done an inhouse enquiry and that's it - like it or lump it.
But the latest scandal, which broke out with the Delhi police stumbling on the Cronje-bookie nexus while tapping the phones of some underworld extortion gangs, has truly been the eyeopener for the government and the parliamentarians resulting in the CBI being ordered into the picture. The Board officials, all along, were smug in the belief that since they do not go to the government with a begging bowl like so many other sports federations, they can dictate terms to the latter.
Two years ago, the stand-off between the Board and the Indian Olympic Association over the composition of the team for the Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games gave the Board officials a whiff of what to expect when a body, with a lot of political clout like the IOA has,puts its mind to create a problem.
The Board had to finally bow down to the IOA's demands to send master blaster Sachin Tendulkar to Malaysia and split the team into two - one to Malaysia and the other, led by Mohd Azharuddin, to Toronto for the annual Sahara Cup series against Pakistan with disastrous consequences at both places.
That time the Board officials refused to admit that they were forced to bit the dust and this time around too they are putting on a brave front by welcoming the government move which has forced a CBI inquiry down their unwilling throats.
Leaving this aside, the ICC's executive board is to meet in London at the beginning of May to discuss the entire scandal arising out of the Cronje confession.
Whether anything comes out of it or not, or whether the meeting turns out to be slanging match between the white and Asian full members of the ICC, is worth watching.
All in all more tamasha seems to be in store for the cricket fan though they are all off-the-field ones.
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