Cronje cracks up, admits he took money

However, a seemingly sceptical Bacher added they did not know whether the money handed to Cronje related to the January-February series here between South Africa, England and Zimbabwe or South Africa’s tour of India in February and March. And later Sports Minister Ngconde Balfour announced that the government and the board would set up a commission of inquiry to look into the entire affair.

But minutes after Bacher addressed the Press, Cronje issued a statement through Balfour in Cape Town saying “I never received any financial rewards,” causing confusion.

Bacher, who said Cronje had not deposited the money in a bank, admitted that his contract with the UCB had been suspended and that he would not receive a salary at the end of April.

Balfour, however, speaking alongside a downcast Cronje at Cape Town’s Park Hospital, where the minister was undergoing tests, said Cronje had confirmed that he “played along with the contact (a South African) and lied to him about trying to influence matches”.

Cronje’s version, relayed through Balfour, was: “Earlier this year I was contacted by a South African during the series with England and Zimbabwe which was about three weeks before the tour to India. While I was in India I was again contacted.

“I mentioned names of players, but in fact I never spoke to a single player about throwing a match. I never received any financial rewards…I wish to emphasise that the allegations of match-fixing by myself are devoid of all truth.”

Cronje — who Balfour said was feeling “very, very down, feeling remorse” — did not answer any questions on the minister’s advice.

Vice-captain Shaun Pollock was named to replace Cronje as skipper for the series against Australia.

Cronje added that Herschelle Gibbs, Nicky Boje and Pieter Strydom were innocent of any wrongdoing, Bacher said. So, Gibbs and Boje were included in the squad due to play Australia in the one-day match in Durban on Wednesday.

Earlier, Cronje had arrived in Cape Town with his priest, Pastor Ray McCauley, leader of the charismatic Rhemer Church, after making a “full confession” to him on the match-fixing allegations. A spokesman for the Church said Pastor McCauley had flown from Durban to Cape Town with Cronje.

Meanwhile, South African Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad was holding talks with Balfour in Cape Town. Earlier, Cronje was expected to directly go to Pretoria to meet Pahad after admitting to Bacher and board president Percy Sonn that he had not been “entirely honest” about his denials in the match-fixing scandal.

The South African team is understood to have been shaken by the developments with new skipper Pollock saying they would have to re-focus on the match tomorrow. “We have to do a job,” he said. “We are all shocked but what can we do? We have to go out there and play the game to the best of our ability. We hope the people will be behind us,” he said.

“The South African media now have spit on their faces,” said a Durban journalist Gary Govindsamy, reacting to the media’s rejection of the allegations made by Delhi Police earlier.

“When it is the white man, the media will go out of its way to protect the person. Now they have to eat humble pie,” the journalist said.