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'People who were heroes are now seen or looking increasingly like villains'

The transcript of a telephone conversation between Faisal Shariff, rediff.com cricket correspondent, and Paul Martin, editor-in-chief, Sport Africa and Live Africa, on Tuesday, April 11, after Hansie Cronje was sacked.

Listen to Paul Martin on Real Audio

Tell us about Hansie Cronje stepping down as captain of South Africa... and he has also confessed of being untruthful. Are these reports true?

Paul Martin: What has been confirmed so far is that the South African cricket authorities have asked, or ordered, Hansie Cronje not to be captain of this current series ... that is the three one-day internationals to be played against Australia, starting in Durban on Wednesday, Cape Town on Friday and ending in Johannesburg on Sunday. As to his complete future, nothing has been actually said ... that he will be fired as captain of South Africa, but there are few people in South Africa who believe that he will never play international cricket again following his admission. His admission was like the whole encounter shrouded in some controversy; he didn't quite say that he had admitted anything. He said that he had not been entirely honest. This, according to Dr. Ali Bacher, who is the chief executive of the South African United Cricket Board.

Now Bacher has been strongly defending his players saying they couldn't be possibly guilty of anything. That was only on Sunday at the press conference where Hansie Cronje also denied involvement but the way he phrased his denial was the way .... that he had not received the money from any one regarding the current tour. And I wondered at the time that this was an interesting phrase he was using. Now that the revelations are appearing to be coming out of India ... that there is a lot more and a lot more has been recorded. I feel that Hansie Cronje realised that he couldn't keep quiet any more, it was bound to come out. Now he has gone to Cape Town, and I am not sure why, but his religious mentor Ray MaCauly, of one of the biggest evangelical churches in South Africa has flown down from Johannesburg to join Hansie Cronje. These two are very close to each other. Hansie Cronje is devout Christian, leads prayers with some of his team mates and this is all the reason why it's a huge shock for the South African public.

Hansie has always been seen as Mr.Clean, a deeply religious man who wouldn't possibly do anything corrupt and untoward and now it appears that he has got his finger stuck in the cookie jar.

What do you think is going to be the outcome of his confession today?

This will have very serious repercussions in South Africa not only on a political level, but also on the personal level every South African will be shocked to the core. Percy Som, the president of the South African Cricket Board, has said that he had never been so upset in his life when he heard the allegation, which he completely did not believe. And now he seems to have revised his opinion. As for the ordinary member of the public in the street, they said that none of these players could possibly be guilty of match-fixing.

And now they have to revolutionize their thinking. Lastly, Keppler Wessels, who is the only South African in a position of authority, he is of course the current selector and was the former cricket captain. He is the only one who has expressed some reservations about Hansie Cronje in the past. He said this morning that he thought there might be something more behind it. And I am afraid he seems to be proved right.

What does the South Africa Cricket Board do from here?

There is no doubt that they will not have Hansie Cronje as captain, there is no doubt that the names of the players that have been revealed in India... those players I suspect will be put under suspension or they would withdraw from the team. I believe that they would be looking to rebuild from scratch and will be looking very much for development players, that is players coming from black background; they will try and fill the gap. South Africa's Test future will continue I believe, but the quality of the South African cricket will undoubtedly be badly affected.

Where does South African cricket go from here?

I believe that Keppler Wessels is right when he said that this is a disastrous day for South African cricket and the disaster will be flooded all levels. People who were heroes are now seen or looking increasingly like villains.

But there is no way that the series can be called off between South Africa and Australia with the present turmoil?

I very much doubt that they will call off the series, I think it will be played but it will not be close of contest as it was expected to be, and I imagine an easy victory for Australia. But I think they will go ahead with it.

What has Dr. Ali Bacher have to say about it?

Dr. Bacher has of course had to eat his words and therefore he is not making much of it. He said that he had spoken to Hansie Cronje and that Hansie Cronje had admitted that he had not been entirely honest. And that he had then requested or ordered Hansie Cronje to give up captaincy for the current matches. That as far as he has gone so far and we will hear a lot more.