M A I N   N E W S

SA player admits charge

CAPE TOWN, June 8 (AP) — Herschelle Gibbs said today he and bowler Henry Williams agreed to accept $ 15,000 each to play badly during a one-day match in India, an admission that further deepened the match-fixing scandal sweeping the sport.

Gibbs told a commission of inquiry investigating cricket corruption that former South African captain Hansie Cronje approached him before a one-day international in March and said he could have the money if he scored less than 20 runs in the match.

“I said ‘yes,”’ Gibbs said. He needed the money to support his recently divorced mother, he said.

However, the batsman said he had reneged on the agreement and went on to score more than 70 runs in the match and was never paid.

The Delhi police in April accused Cronje, Gibbs, and team-mates Nicky Boje and Pieter Strydom of fixing matches during the tour of the subcontinent.

Gibbs, 26, said he previously had lied about his involvement in the scandal.

“I was obviously scared and protecting Hansie,” he said. “It’s never too late to come clean. I’m not proud of what I did. I’d apologise.”

Gibbs testified that Cronje also approached Williams and offered him $ 15,000 if more than 50 runs were scored off his bowling. Williams also accepted, he said.

Gibbs testified that he had heard Cronje offered money to three other players — Strydom, Jacques Kallis and Mark Boucher — but Gibbs did not reveal whether they accepted.

The testimony contradicts Cronje’s assertions that he was never involved in match-fixing, that he never approached any players about altering their performances and that he had only taken money in exchange for match information.

The commission also was read a letter written by Cronje on April 11, in which he admitted to taking money from a bookmaker.

“I am now willing to go to India and take my punishment like a man,” Cronje wrote. “I want to thank the Indian police and whoever tipped them off for saving my life.”

In the letter, Cronje, who is expected to testify later in the inquiry, also says no other players were involved in the scandal.

Earlier today, Mr Rory Steyn, a one-time bodyguard of former president nelson mandela and a security consultant for the United Cricket Board, told the commission that Cronje broke down in tears as he admitted to accepting money from a bookmaker for match information.

Mr Steyn said Cronje, who had previously denied all wrongdoing, called him to his hotel room in Durban at 2 a.m. On April 11 to make the confession that sent shock waves through the sport.

“He said something to the effect that you probably would have guessed that I have not been totally honest and some of what has been appearing in the media is true. I’d like to come clean,” Mr Steyn said. “I got the distinct impression that he thought I was still a serving police officer and he was handing himself in.”

“He must have broken down in tears on two or three occasions,” he added.

Mr Steyn recounted how Cronje told him how he was approached in January by a man called Hamid Cassim, who was always “around the South African team.”

Mr Cassim asked Cronje whether he was prepared to provide match information and gave him a bag of money saying: “Here’s something for you in case you change your mind,” Mr Steyn said.

Cronje has not appeared during the first two days of the investigation.

Cronje has admitted accepting the money in exchange for match information during a January-February triangular series with England and Zimbabwe. Cronje said he did not immediately count the cash, but thought it was between $ 10,000 and $ 15,000. The amount later turned out to be $ 8,200.

Mr Steyn said Cronje subsequently left for the tour of India, where Mr Cassim and a man called Sanjay had harassed him to influence matches — at times phoning him up to 20 times a day.

“He said he was lying to them or stringing them along when he named other players,” Mr Steyn said.