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

SA cricketers sign "no match-fixing" declaration

South Africa's cricket players on Friday signed oaths of innocence in match-fixing, and vowed to report any approaches by bookmakers before the team left for Sri Lanka.

The 16-man squad, led by Shaun Pollock, is on its first overseas trip since disgraced former captain Hansie Cronje admitted taking money from bookmakers. It will play three Test matches against Sri Lanka and a triangular one-day series involving Sri Lanka and Pakistan, before leaving for Australia in mid-August for a return one-day series, followed by another one-day series in Singapore with India and New Zealand.

The declaration signed by the 16 players makes it clear that any breach of its provisions could result in a lifetime ban from representative cricket.

It also commits the players to bring any approaches by bookmakers to the immediate attention of the United Cricket Board of South Africa.

Pollock, who replaced Cronje, told a media conference in Johannesburg on Friday that the players had no hesitation in signing the oath.

"We know that the ICC will be coming up with a declaration for us to sign as well. We have no problem with that whatsoever," he said.

The oath, in part, reads:

"I declare that I have never for personal reward intended nor agreed to act in breach of any rules governing cricket or the ethics of cricket.

"I declare that I agree to bring immediately to the attention of the UCB any approaches, suggestions or knowledge relating to the above matters should I become aware of such information."

Earlier, UCB spokeswoman Bronwyn Wilkinson said the cricketers and UCB boss Dr Ali Bacher came up with the idea in the hope of mitigating some of the damage done to the game by the Hansie Cronje scandal.

"The players realised that the public's confidence in cricket is pretty low at the moment," she said.

"They want to make a declaration that they are clean and win back some of the public's confidence."

Two members of the tour side, Pieter Strydom and Nicky Boje, are facing match-fixing charges from the Indian police who believe the cricketers were implicated by Cronje in an alleged conversation with a bookmaker.

Meanwhile, the King Commission's interim report into match-fixing in South African cricket, due to be handed over on Friday, will be delayed to August 11, the commission secretary said on Thursday.

Judge Edwin King was due to deliver the interim report to President Thabo Mbeki on Friday. But commission secretary John Bacon, in a brief statement, said Mbeki had extended the period by which King has to present the report.

"The extension has been necessitated by the volume of work involved in the preparation of the interim report," he said.

Commission prosecutor Sharmila Batohi said that the commission would be greatly assisted in its work if the tapes containing the conversation of sacked skipper Hansie Cronje and Indian bookmaker Sanjay Chawla could be obtained from the Delhi Police.

''We are pursuing the matter through diplomatic channels and hope that we would be able to receive them so that we can complete our work," she said.

After 10 days of hearings, spread over more than three weeks, the commission adjourned on Monday to enable King to prepare his report and for further investigation to be conducted. Hearings are not expected to be resumed until September. King has said he would not be offering firm recommendations in his interim report. He also did not expect to rule on whether disgraced former South African captain Hansie Cronje qualified for indemnity from criminal prosecution, an offer dependent on the judge finding that Cronje told him the "whole truth."

Cronje has admitted to the commission to receiving money from gamblers and bookmakers on five separate occasions between 1996 and 2000.

Agencies