Hansie: A decade on

ALI Bacher, the former managing director of the United Cricket Board, who was at the forefront when Hansie Cronje admitted his guilt, this week told how match-fixing and betting crept into the gentleman's game.

Bacher said that in the 1990s there was much casual talk of match fixing, which was not really seriously addressed by the International Cricket Council, as no one could provide proof that it was happening. "I brought it up during ICC meetings in 1996 and 1999, but the conversation did not last long nor was it recorded in the minutes. But I still remember Sir Clyde Walcott, who was president of the ICC in 1996, saying, 'where there's smoke there's fire'.

"I also remember being reprimanded after a meeting for having brought it up at least more than once in the public domain."

The former South African captain also admitted that there was a proliferation of one-day internationals around the world - at times teams would play between 30 and 40 one-day matches a year and it wouldn't matter if they lost two or three away from home.

"It would not make a difference, nor would the public or administrators question these sudden losses," he said. The malpractice then moved on to spread betting - where the likes of Shane Warne and Mark Waugh were implicated.

"Players were young at the time and very naive, but the important fact was that they were not getting paid a lot of money for their services," Bacher said.

"Hence match-fixing and involvement with bookies was prevalent at the time, but in a different format, as spread-betting required one to forecast the following: Who would bowl the first ball? Who would face the first ball? Who would hit the first six or boundary? And so it went on and on."

However, when the Cronje issue hit the headlines, it shattered the whole country. Bacher couldn't believe his South African captain could be involved in such matters, which would not only ruin his squeaky-clean reputation, but his spotless career as an international cricketer.

"I was shattered. I asked Hansie if the allegations were true and he denied it. It made me wonder why the Indian police would make such an accusation. Initially, I backed him to the hilt and if later I was proven wrong, so be it," Bacher said.

Indeed, he was to be proven wrong.

Four days after the accusation was made by the New Delhi Police, Cronje, a devout, born-again Christian, revealed the truth. Bacher was at a game reserve with Malcolm Speed, chief executive of the Australian Cricket Board, the late Percy Sonn, president of the UCB, and Dennis Rogers, president of ACB, at the time. In the wee hours of the morning he received a call from Cronje via Goolam Rajah, manager of the South African team, who were in Durban preparing for the Australia one-day international against Australia.

Cronje was immediately relieved of the captaincy. He left the team base at the Elangeni Hotel and went looking for peace of mind with his church elders before meeting with Sports Minister Ngconde Balfour to make a statement.

"In the late 1990s," Bacher explained, "we went to a meeting of the ICC in New Zealand - Ray White was there as well (he was president of the UCB ) - where these serious issues affecting the game were discussed. And the delegates at the meeting then formulated guidelines which were accepted by the ICC.

"All we did in South Africa was to implement the rules of the governing body. We were accused of double standards as Shane Warne and Mark Waugh received $7000(about R51 000) fines and Hansie was banned for life."

Bacher said during his travels he found an ally in Pakistan's Majid Khan, whom he believed to be reliable and a person of impeccable integrity. "I asked him if I could use information he had given me to use in my testimony before the King Commission and he said: 'yes, absolutely'. For that he was lambasted in the Pakistani media and in their cricket circles," Bacher said.

He added that international cricket over the years had been put through some severe tests - the Bodyline series, the Kerry Packer revolution in the 1970s and match-fixing in the 1990s - which in different ways undermined the credibility of the game. Hence there had to be a commission of inquiry into the Cronje affair in conjunction with the South African government.

Bacher said: "The credibility of the game was at stake - sponsors, cricket lovers and television rights owners needed answers. The game took a big dent, but fortunately we were able to (survive) the crisis."

He said he had a viewpoint that Cronje wanted to get out of international cricket to free himself from the bookies, but did not know how. "He had signed for Glamorgan in the English County Championship without prior consultation with the board. We took up the issue with Glamorgan and got him out of the contract, but the questions remained unanswered: why he did this? Was it because the bookies were blackmailing him?" asked Bacher.

Six months before the 2003 World Cup in South Africa, Bacher received a visit from Sir Paul Condon, the former head of Scotland Yard, who had become the head of Anti-Corruption of the ICC, who told him that in the unit's opinion and according to their investigations what Bacher had said at the King Commission was "absolutely correct".

- An Anti-Corruption Security Unit was set up

- No player or management member is allowed the use of a cellphone in the change room or on the day of a match.

- Players are not allowed to share accommodation at hotels. This enables security to monitor incoming and outgoing telephone calls to one player