Devil absolved by Cronje

Paul Martin Cainer Southern Africa Correspondent for rediff.com

Satan can breathe a sigh of relief. Hansie Cronje has officially withdrawn his charge that the Devil was responsible for his match-fixing activities.

Cronje said in a pre-recorded interview on the South African pay-TV channel M-Net that, as a Christian, he had to accept that the responsibility for his actions lies fairly and squarely on his own shoulders.

The ex-South African cricket captain had become notorious for the remarks made in a letter to his religious guide ray McCauley and passed on to the United Cricket Board. That was on the night he admitted he had been "less than honest" when denying involvement with bookmakers just days earlier. He had written that when he became involved with bookmakers he had looked the other way and "let Satan in". Newspapers in SA made headlines out of the quote, suggesting that "Cronje Blames Satan".

This was greeted with deep distaste and surprise by the SA public. Until then Cronje had seemed to be wriggling and twisting but not actually seeking to shift the blame...especially to so non-physical a force. Cronje in the M-Net interview paid tribute to his own family for standing by him through his recent crisis. And he added: ``I made a mistake and I have paid the price. I have hurt a lot of people; my wife, my family, my team-mates and the country.''

In general though the first in-depth interview, shown in three parts until this coming Saturday, contained mainly background on Cronje's childhood and early cricketing days. The only really newsworthy comments were a plea for leniency for opening batsman Herschelle Gibbs. He pleaded that batsman Herschelle Gibbs be given another chance to play international cricket. ``In my opinion Herschelle did nothing wrong,'' Cronje said. He added that he felt particularly responsible for the predicament in which Gibbs now finds himself.

Gibbs told the King Commission, amid tears, that he had accepted an offer of 15,000 dollars from Cronje to throw a match in Nagpur earlier this year. Gibbs last weekend pleaded guilty before a United Cricket Board disciplinary committee to the allegation of match-fixing Rediff.com has reported that he faces suspension from international cricket for another few months, though he is under ICC rules subject to a sentence that could go as high as a life ban.

Though Gibbs agreed to score no more than 20 runs, he says he "forgot" about the deal and hammered 73 runs off 53 balls. ``In my opinion, Herschelle should be given another chance to play,'' Cronje said.

Cronje in the interview, said he had ``always given my best for South Africa.'' He said he had been taking anti-depressants since he was sacked as South African skipper when the match-fixing allegations first surfaced in April, and was seeing psychiatrists.

He added that he had been ``too scared and embarrassed'' to leave his home in Bloemfontein in the early days of the scandal, but messages of support from the public had made him able to face the world again. He had also received a number of death threats from unknown people ringing him on his mobile telephone.

How exactly they knew his number is a mystery: Rediff.com was in the foyer of the Elangeni Hotel hours after Cronje's confession and departure, and the SA team manager Goolam Rajah actually held Cronje's cellphone in his hands. It belonged to the United Cricket Board.

Cronje was roundly criticised Thursday by Sports Minister Ngconde Balfour for granting the television interview. M-Net is refusing to say whether, or how much, he was paid for it. Balfour said Cronje ought to have waited until the King Commission has completed its work before going public.

``It's Hansie's prerogative, really, to do what he likes, but I would have thought he wouldn't do it before we finalised everything with the commission,'' Balfour told reporters.

He was speaking in Pretoria after handing a copy of an interim report by retired judge-president Edwin King, who is heading the inquiry, to South African cricket's managing director Ali Bacher and International Cricket Council chief executive David Richards.

The report is to be published within hours (Friday), but the Commission resumes only on October 2. Cronje and Bacher will be recalled for further questioning.

Paul Martin Cainer is CEO, Live Africa News Networks

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