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Bacher in a 'fix'?

Our Correspondent, in Cape Town

United Cricket Board of South Africa chief Dr Ali Bacher was yesterday accused of being involved in fixing of a cricket match way back in the eighties.

Johannesburg attorney Peter Soller, in a statement submitted to the the Judge Edwin King Commission which is probing corruption in South African cricket, said that Bacher was involved in talks for the West Indies cricket team to receive extra payments to lose a match in the mid-eighties.

Bacher has strongly denied the allegation. He, however, said he well remembered the match in question.

John Bacon, secretary of the Commission, confirmed that he had received Soller's statement and said the allegations would be investigated.

Soller's statement says that he was called to The Wanderers cricket ground in Johannesburg by sports promoter Richard Tessel during a one-day match between South Africa and the West Indies, on the 'West Indies' 'rebel tour' in the mid-eighties. It says that Tessel told him he was involved with the arrangements for the tour and that during the lunch break the West Indian team had decided not to return to the field because they were not being paid enough, and, as such, he should negotiate with the West Indians.

Soller's statement says: "I spoke in the West Indians' change rooms to the captain, Lawrence Rowe, among others. At one point the late Atholl McKinnon, then media representative for the Windies, asked me to go to another place in The Wanderers where Dr Ali Bacher was waiting for me.

'"At first Dr Bacher threatened to summons the Windies for breach of contract. After discussions between Mr Tessel and Dr Bacher the three of us agreed that if the Windies agreed to blow the match they would be paid extra as an inducement."

The statement continues: "After another protracted session of negotiations with the Windies players, they agreed to go back on the playing field and lose the match."

While denying the allegation, Bacher said, "I never made an offer that they would receive more money if they deliberately lost the match."

The statement, however, does mention the amount of money involved or negotiated.

The Betting Scandal: The full story