Cronje's cronies fate to be decided today

Cronje's cronies fate to be decided today

Johannesburg, August 27: Three South African cricketers implicated in the Hansie Cronje match-fixing scandal will know their fate on Tuesday, the United Cricket Board of South Africa (UCBSA) on Monday said.

It said tribunal convenor Mervyn King recently made it clear that the message South Africa had to get across to its players and the rest of the cricketing world had to be clear and positive.

SAPA said Gibbs and Williams, at best, could be facing a minimum of a year out of the game.

For opening batsman Gibbs, who turned 26 early this year, a year's absence would not be all that serious, but for Williams, already 33, it could spell the end of his career.

For Strydom, who has admitted to talking about placing a small bet on a Test against England, however, the future looks brighter and it is believed that he will escape with a severe cautioning, the agency said.

The three players appeared before a UCB disciplinary committee on August 19.

Gibbs and Williams pleaded guilty to match-fixing while Strydom maintained his innocence.

A lawyer for Gibbs and Williams called for a suspended sentence for his clients, arguing that they had not carried out a plan to throw a One-Day match against India in March and were heavily influenced by Cronje.

But UCBSA representative Brendan Manca asked for a harsher sentence saying that the commission should not lose sight of the seriousness of the charges against the cricketers.

Tribunal panelist Michael Kuper had agreed that a total suspended sentence ``would not be a signal''.