View from South Africa -- A poor April Fool joke, say Springboks
TREVOR CHESTERFIELD

CENTURION (SOUTH AFRICA), APRIL 8: As serious doubts start to emerge about Indian police claims of match-fixing levelled at South Africa's captain Hansie Cronje on the recent tour, relations between the two governments are on the verge of being soured.

Both countries have had a close, harmonious relationship since the overthrow of the Apartheid regime in the early 1990s but this is being tarnished by what is seen by a number of South Africa's top cricket administrators and players as a bungled effort to frame Cronje and three other members of the side. Now the South African Government have stepped in, voicing their concern over the allegations while there is also anger at official level over the lack of protocol used in the so-called exposure of the match-fixing claims. There is a feeling in South Africa that the police have badly bungled the allegations. An official press release issued by the United Cricket Board said 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 (Cronje, Nicky Boje, Pieter Strydom and Herschelle Gibbs).

Aziz Pahad, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, yesterday assured UCBSA managing director Dr Ali Bacher that the Government would 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. Bronwyn Wilkinson, a UCB spokesperson said the ``Board is dismayed that the integrity of South African cricket and its players has been questioned.''

Bacher, managing director of the UCB said, ``We remain adamant that our players have never been party to match-fixing.'' Cronje has declined to comment further on the issue while Kepler Wessels, whose place Cronje filled in late 1994, has come out in strong support of the players. In his weekly column, Wessels said it was time the fight against corruption started ``and in this country'' he commented, ``what is needed is an independent, transparent and conclusive inquiry into the match-fixing allegations with South Africa, India and the International Cricket Council and each conducting their own investigations,'' Wessels said.

``... And this country (South Africa) is where the fightback against corruption in sport should start... Knowing the players the way I do I cannot believe that they would be involved in something like this...,'' Wessels wrote.

Questions are being asked about the veracity of the Indian police's probe and why they only released such hard evidence on Friday, a week after Cronje's side left Sharjah to return home after being involved in a series against Pakistan and India and almost three weeks after the side had left India.

There are also suspicions about the manner in which the investigation was conducted and the tapping of mobile phones and the room telephones of the players. Both, it is being claimed, show a state of paranoia by the Indian police or those involved in what is also seen as a smear campaign. It is understood that while they played the tapes of the ``alleged conversations'' and issued written transcripts of what was said, the style of delivery and grammar of the language used was not that of Cronje's.

In normal conversation, Cronje comes across quite strongly but not as brusquely as made out in the tapes and usage of `yeah' instead of the normal `ja' is one of the areas in question while other bits of conversation do not tie in with his voice presentation. The name Williams, most likely Henry Williams, who was injured in the first game of the limited-overs slogs, was not involved in this particular tie, alleged to be the third of the series and played at Faridabad and which South Africa went on to win.

Another reason why there is a feeling of a ``frame-up'' or that it was a ``hoax in bad taste'' is that it is believed the Indian police responsible for the so-called probe would not release the tapes for private listening. All of which smacks of serious indifference to those who are being charged.

There is a strong feeling that had the story broken on April 1, it would have been likened to a very poor April Fool's joke. Indian police have argued they were acting on a tip-off and used highly sophisticated equipment to tape the conversations. If this is the case, why have they waited so long to lay charges and arrest one businessman, who is said to be involved.

Former South African Test players Craig Matthews and Fanie de Villiers came to the aid the players involved with Matthews saying that players such as Williams and Strydom were far too straight to get involved in anything which had the slightest whiff of a shady deal.

(The author is a veteran South African cricket journalist and also International correspondent for CricInfo)

Copyright © 2000 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.