NEWS
SCHEDULES
COLUMNS
PREVIOUS TOURS
OTHER SPORTS
STATISTICS
INTERVIEWS
SLIDE SHOW
ARCHIVES

Hansie Cronje's statement before the Judge Edwin King Commission

I, the undersigned, Wessel Johannes Cronje, do hereby state that:

1. I have been a full-time professional cricketer since 1988. I was a member of the South African cricket side from 1992 until the 11th of April 2000. I captained the South African team from the third test of the Australian series in 1994 until the 11th of April 2000. I played in a total of 68 test matches, 53 of which as captain. I also represented South Africa in 188 one-day internationals, 138 of those as captain. Ninety-nine of the one-day internationals under my captaincy were victories.

2. It is time for me to try to repay a part of the enormous debt which I owe to cricket and to try to repair some of the damage which I have caused the game, South Africa, my family and teammates, and the cricketing public.

3. My initial denials of involvement made publicly and to the UCB, were untruthful; my letter of the 11th April was also untruthful in a number of respects; and so too was the subsequent press statement issued on my instructions. I misled the United Cricket Board of South Africa and members of the South African government and those who tried to defend me. I also withheld facts from my legal representatives. I was not honest and I apologise unreservedly,

4. I have also decided to sever my connections with the game and I will not again play cricket at representative level.

5. Words cannot begin to describe the shame, humiliation and pain I feel, in the knowledge that I have afflicted this on others. To my wife, family, and team-mates, in particular, I apologise.

6. The greatest honour which can be bestowed upon any cricketer is to lead his country's national side. I have failed in my moral and professional duties. Hopefully, I can contribute some small measure of redress by placing before the commission the information which follows in this statement. Until now I have not named or implicated any other person, and I fear that the revelations in this statement create serious implications for my personal safety. I have already received death threats.

7. I wish to disclose all the information I have and, in the emotional state in which I find myself, have dredged my memory as best I can in order to place the facts before this commission.

8. Since the first revelations made in the Indian press and, in particular, the morning of 11 April of this year, I have known that my days as a cricketer are over. There were, however others -- namely Herschelle Gibbs, Pieter Strydom and Henry Williams -- who have their playing careers before them and whose futures have been imperilled by my inexcusable actions. Foolishly, I tried to suppress disclosure of their involvement and, in doing so, encouraged Herschelle Gibbs and Henry Williams to conceal their role. I hoped to save them from their predicament in which I had placed them: instead I compromised them and worsened their position. It would be a tragedy if any of these players were to be lost to South African cricket because of my wrongdoing. I beg the Commission and the cricketing authorities not to deprive the game of their talents and beg the UCB to reinstate both Herschelle and Henry to the National Squad. Herschelle lied to the UCB, his employer, at my request. Herschelle, forgive me.

9. I will attempt to deal with the matters which form the subject of this Commission's terms of reference in chronological order and not in the order in which they appear in the terms of reference. Before doing so, however, I would like to deal with an approach I received to influence the result of the first One-Day international against Pakistan in the Mandela Trophy in January 1995. Pay Symcox mistakenly said, in his evidence before the Commission, that this occurred in 1997.

1995: THE MANDELA CUP

10. Shortly before the first One-Day international final against Pakistan in the Mandela Cup in Cape Town in January 1995 I was approached by an Indian or Pakistani man, who described himself only as "John" (I believe he may be the individual of the same name who was referred to by Shane Warne and Mark Waugh during their hearings before the Australian Cricket Board). He offered an amount, I think about US10000.00 for the team to throw the game. I subsequently discussed this with Pat Symcos. We agreed we should not even put it to the team, and that was the end of the matter. I did not approach any other players. In the event, we won that match.

11. I recall that when I walked onto the field for the match, I was asked by Salim Malik whether I had spoken to John. It was evident to me that he knew about the approach I had received. I felt ashamed and embarrassed and, wishing to avoid even talking about the matter, merely nodded.

12. Before the second One-Day final in Johannesburg I was again contacted by John who asked if anything could be done in respect of the second game. I told him I was not interested. We also won that game. I never spoke to him again.

13. I subsequently heard rumours that Pakistani players had been involved in match-fixing during the Mandela Cup, and in Zimbabwe in 1995. South Africa had not been.

TERM OF REFERENCE A3: THE SOUTH AFRICAN TOUR TO INDIA IN 1996

14. During our tour in Pakistan in 1994, Kepler Wessels told me that he knew of offers which had been made to Australian cricketers, I do not know whom, to lose a test match in Karachi.

15. At some stage during the 1996 Indian tour -- I cannot recall when --I was also approached by someone known to me as "Sunil." he had befriended some members of the team earlier that year during the Sharjah Cup. Sunil asked me if I was interested in fixing matches. I said I was not. No offers or financial proposals were received from him.

16. On the evening of the third day of the third test against India at Kanpur I received a call from Mohamed Azharuddin, who was friendly with a number of South African players. He called me to a room in the hotel and introduced me to Mukesh Gupta ("MK"). Azharuddin then departed and left us alone in the room. MK asked if we would give wickets away on the last day of that test to ensure that we lost. He asked me to speak to the other players and gave me approximately US30000 in cash to do so. I led him to believe that I would. This seemed an easy way to make money but I had no intention of doing anything. I did not speak to any of the other players and did nothing to influence the match. In the event, however, we lost the test. I had effectively received money for doing nothing and I rationalised to myself that this was somehow acceptable because I had not actually done anything.

17. Before the final One-Day international MK asked me to speak to the players about throwing the game, which I agreed to do. By that stage we were exhausted, it was the end of a long and arduous tour, and a number of key players were suffering from injuries. MK asked me to convey an offer of US200000 to the team to throw the match. It was a long time ago and I cannot recall the exact sequence of events, but as far as I can recall, it was as follows:

17.1 I spoke to some of the players beforehand, advising that a team meeting would be called to consider the offer.

17.2 A team meeting was held the evening before the match, attended by all the players in the squad. I conveyed the offer to the team, which rejected it. I recall, in particular, that Andrew Hudson, Daryll Cullinan and Derrick Crookes spoke out strongly against it. It was agreed that the decision had to be unanimous or not at all.

17.3 After the meeting a few players remained and we chatted about the matter. We were curious to see whether the offer could be increased. I telephoned MK and told him the team was not interested but asked whether he was prepared to increase his offer to US300000. He replied that this was too much but that he would increase it to US250000.

17.4 The next morning before the match, there was a very brief meeting at which it was confirmed that the offer was rejected> When Mr Woolmer, the coach, heard about the offer and he was very angry about it. He was later quoted in the media about this offer and its rejection.

18 . I then telephoned MK and told him that the offer was rejected. No money passed hands. I did however tell him that the team was sub-standard because of the number of injured players. I received no benefit or offer of payment for this information.

19. I had no further dealing with MK, John or any other bookmakers or punters on that tour. However, when India toured South Africa at the end of 1996, early 1997, MK came to South Africa. He was in Durban for the first test and in Cape Town for the Second Test. I am still not sure whether MK is a bookmaker or punter. I believe, however, that he was one of the bookmakers, referred to in Dr Bacher's statement, who were in the presidential Suite.

19.1 I was asked by MK to provide information in respect of the first and second tests, on which I understood he wished to place bets. I understood that MK would pay me an (unspecified) amount if he won anything. The amount would depend on his winnings.

19.2 In respect of the first test, I supplied him with the team selections and a daily forecast.

19.3 In respect of the second test, I was only asked to tell him when at what score we would declare. I did this. After the second test MK transferred a sum of about US50000 into my NBS Savings Account (Bloemfontein Account No 2250054526)

19.4 South Africa won both the first and second tests in this series and the third test was drawn. None of these results were fixed or manipulated.

19.5 MK had asked me to speak to the players about losing the third test and promised to pay me US300000 if I did so, but I refused.

20. After the 96/97 Indian tour to South Africa, MK contacted me on a few occasions. He requested information (I think this was during the Quadrangular One Day International Series in Pakistan involving South Africa, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and the West Indies). I refused. I cannot recall speaking to MK again.

21. I do not recall any further contact with or from bookmakers or punters until the 5th test against England at Centurion Park earlier this year.

The testimony continues