I cheated, admits Captain Cronje

He said Cronje, who had stoutly denied any involvement in the scam, had not given any further information and the Board would address a press conference later in the evening.

Cronje had told a press conference on Sunday that “I am a committed player for South Africa and will not be involved in something like match-fixing". He had also said he had not talked to any teammate in India about throwing a match.

When this correspondent tried to find the whereabouts of Cronje, an official at the Kingsmead cricket ground here said “he is not here. He is flying somewhere”.

Bacher said in view of the latest developments, Cronje would be withdrawn as captain for the one-day series against Australia beginning here tomorrow.

Cronje has been replaced as captain by vice-captain Shaun Pollock and all-rounder Dave Callaghan has been included in his place.

The dramatic admission by Cronje has caught the South African media, especially the print media, by surprise as they had backed him since Delhi police made the charges against him.

"If he has nothing to hide, he and other players must go to India willingly to face the charges," many journalists said.

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

Later, Cronje arrived in Cape Town with his priest pastor Ray McCauley, leader of the charismatic Rhemer Church.

A spokesman for the church said Pastor McCauley had flown from Durban to Cape Town with Cronje.

"Cronje has given a full confession to the pastor and they are now discussing the issue," the spokesman said.

Meanwhile, South African Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad is holding talks with Sports Minister Ngconde Balfour in Cape Town about the latest developments.

It is understood Cronje will hold talks with Pahad and Balfour after his "confession" to his pastor.

Earlier, Cronje was expected to directly go to Pretoria to meet Pahad after admitting to the South African Board managing director Ali Bacher and its president Percy Sonn that he had not been "entirely honest" about his denials in the match-fixing scandal during South Africa’s recent one-day series in India.

The South African team, which takes on Australia in thefirst of a three-game one-day series tomorrow, is understood to have been shaken by the developments with skipper Shaun Pollock saying they would have to re-focus on the match.

"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.