South Africa cricket match fixing refers to

match fixing In organized sports, match fixing (also known as game fixing, race fixing, throwing, rigging, hippodroming, or more generally sports fixing) is the act of playing or officiating a contest with the intention of achieving a predetermined result, v ...

performed by several players of the

South African cricket team The South Africa men's national cricket team, also known as the Proteas, represents South Africa in men's international cricket and is administered by Cricket South Africa. South Africa is a full member of the International Cricket Council. T ...

, during their tour to India in the year 2000. The team was led by

Hansie Cronje Wessel Johannes Cronje (25 September 1969 – 1 June 2002) was a South African international cricketer and captain of the South Africa national cricket team in the 1990s. A right-handed all-rounder, as captain Cronje led his team to victory in 2 ...

Timeline

On 7 April 2000,

Delhi police The Delhi Police (DP) is the law enforcement agency for the National Capital Territory of Delhi. Delhi Police falls under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. In 2024, the sanctioned strength of Delhi Police w ...

Crime Branch officer Ishwar Singh Redhu revealed they had a recording of a conversation between Cronje and Sanjay Chawla, a representative of an Indian betting syndicate, over match-fixing allegations. Three other players,

Herschelle Gibbs Herschelle Herman Gibbs (born 23 February 1974) is a South African cricket coach and former cricketer, who played all formats of the game for fourteen years. A right-handed batsman,who mostly opened the batting, Gibbs became the first player to ...

Nicky Boje Nico Boje ( ; born 20 March 1973) is a South African former cricketer who played in 43 Tests, 115 One Day Internationals and single Twenty20 International for South Africa. Boje was a member of the South Africa team that won the 1998 ICC KnockO ...

, and

Pieter Strydom Pieter Coenraad Strydom (born 10 June 1969) is a former cricketer. He played two Test matches and ten One Day Internationals for South Africa in 2000 until he was caught up in the South Africa cricket match fixing, but he was acquitted of those ...

, were also implicated. On 8 April 2000, the

United Cricket Board of South Africa Cricket South Africa aka CSA is the governing body for both professional and amateur cricket in South Africa. In 1991, the separate South African Cricket Union and the South African Cricket Board merged to form the United Cricket Board of South ...

denied their players were involved in match-fixing. Cronje said "the allegations are completely without substance". However, on 11 April Cronje was sacked as captain after confessing to

Ali Bacher Aron "Ali" Bacher (born 24 May 1942) is a former South African Test cricket captain and an administrator of the United Cricket Board of South Africa. Personal life Bacher was born in May 1942 in Roodepoort to Lithuanian-Jewish parents who had m ...

that he had not been "entirely honest". He admitted accepting between $10,000 to $15,000 from a London-based

bookmaker A bookmaker, bookie, or turf accountant is an organization or a person that accepts and pays out bets on sporting and other events at agreed-upon odds In probability theory, odds provide a measure of the probability of a particular outco ...

for 'forecasting' results, not

, during the recent one day series in India. In May 2000, the South African president

Thabo Mbeki Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki (; born 18 June 1942) is a South African politician who served as the 2nd democratic president of South Africa from 14 June 1999 to 24 September 2008, when he resigned at the request of his party, the African National Cong ...

appointed a Commission of Inquiry into Cricket Match Fixing and Related Matters, with judge Edwin King as chairperson. On 7 June, the King Commission began. The following day, Gibbs revealed that Cronje had offered him $15,000 to score less than 20 runs in the 5th ODI at Nagpur. He also admitted another offer of $15,000 to

Henry Williams Henry Williams may refer to: Politicians * Henry Williams (activist) (born 2000), chief of staff of the Mike Gravel 2020 presidential campaign * Henry Williams (MP for Northamptonshire) (died 1558), member of parliament (MP) for Northamptonshire ...

to concede more than 50 runs in that same match. Gibbs scored 74 off 53 balls and Williams injured his shoulder and couldn't complete his second over, so neither received the $15,000. Off-spinner

Derek Crookes Derek Norman Crookes (born 5 March 1969) is a former South African cricketer who played 32 One Day Internationals for South Africa between 1994 and 2000. In domestic cricket he played for Natal, Gauteng, Easterns and the Highveld Lions. Crooke ...

, who was also a witness, admitted being surprised to open the bowling at Nagpur. On 15 June, Cronje released a statement that revealed all his contact with bookmakers. In 1996 during the third Test in Kanpur, he was introduced to Mukesh Gupta by

Mohammad Azharuddin Mohammad Azharuddin (born 8 February 1963) is an Indian politician and a former cricketer who also served as the Indian national cricket team's captain. He was a right-handed middle order batter and an occasional medium fast bowler. He playe ...

. Gupta gave Cronje $30,000 to persuade the South Africans to lose wickets on the last day to lose the match. South Africa were 127/5 chasing 460, Cronje was already out and spoke to no other players. "I had received money for doing nothing." During the return tour, Cronje received $50,000 from Gupta for team information. In the 2000 Centurion Test, Marlon Aronstam contacted him offering R500,000 (approximately £50,000 at the time) for the charity of his choice together with a gift if Cronje declared and made a game of it. He also admitted asking Pieter Strydom to place a R50 bet on South Africa to win for him. After the match Aronstam visited Cronje, giving him two amounts of money (R30,000 and R20,000) together with a leather jacket. The promised R500,000 did not materialise. Before the one-day series, Cronje received repeated calls from "Sanjay" asking him to fix a match. Cronje gave him the names of Gibbs, Strydom and Boje to try to get rid of him. Cronje was offered $140,000 for the fifth ODI if Gibbs scored under 20, Williams went for more than 50 and South Africa scored around 270. On 28 August, Gibbs and Williams were suspended from international cricket for six months. Gibbs was fined R60,000 and Williams R10,000. Strydom received no punishment. On 11 October, Cronje was banned from playing or coaching cricket for life. He challenged his life ban in September 2001 but on 17 October 2001, his application was dismissed. Cronje was killed in a private plane accident in 2002. Subsequent reporting on Cronje's involvement in match-fixing revealed that Cronje had more than 70 bank accounts in the

Cayman Islands The Cayman Islands () is a self-governing British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory, and the largest by population. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, which are located so ...

which were, because they were not declared to the South African Revenue Service, illegal. The South African investigation was terminated at his death: but the implication of the multiple accounts was that the match-fixing was much more widespread than had been revealed to the King Commission. After 13 years on 22 July 2013 the Delhi Police registered an

FIR Firs are evergreen coniferous trees belonging to the genus ''Abies'' () in the family Pinaceae. There are approximately 48–65 extant species, found on mountains throughout much of North and Central America, Eurasia, and North Africa. The genu ...

for match-fixing in 2000, the chargesheet named six people with Cronje the only cricketer included along with five gamblers and bookmakers.

References

External links

* * {{Sports Corruption Scandals Cricket controversies 2000 in Indian cricket History of South African cricket 2000 in South African cricket

Timeline

See also

References

External links