Sonn defends Cronje ban

Paul Martin Cainer  Johannesburg

South Africa's cricket chief says the United Cricket Board had "no alternative" but to go behind close doors to make its decision to ban Hansie Cronje for life.

Percy Sonn, the UCB president, said if Cronje had been summoned to appear, he would have been able to reject the right of any disciplinary committee to hear the case. That's because Cronje had already been dismissed as captain and was in no way beholden to the UCB any more.

"He could have walked away from the hearing," said Sonn.

This of course begs the question of why the UCB did not offer Cronje a chance to co-operate or not. There is a legal principle of audi alteram partem, "hear the other side," in natural justice.

However, the UCB lawyers are expected to argue, in any High Court action they defend, that Cronje had already had his chance to present his case when questioned at the King Commission into match-fixing and corruption in cricket. From that testimony it was obvious, they will say, that Cronje had violated the UCB and ICC rules by taking money from bookmakers and offering inducements to players to underperform.

Cronje's lawyers, as first exclusively reported on rediff.com, are preparing papers for a High Court battle aimed at overturning the life ban.

Unlike Cronje, the two men who have admitted receiving a bribe offer from their captain, batting star Herschelle Gibbs and bowler Henry Williams, were given a disciplinary hearing. Their six-month sentences end on Janury 1 2000, and Gibbs -- in fine form in provincial cricket with a century and a big half-century this month -- is expected to be back in the international team very soon.

Many cricket leaders have been dismayed by the "light" sentences. But Sonn says the International Cricket Conference meeting in Nairobi this week has vindicated the UCB's sentences. They were imposed by a disciplinary panel comprising senior lawyers.

"The ICC confirmed the report of Lord Griffiths," said Sonn. "And that said South Africa had conducted their actions in a professional, objective and sincere manner."

Sonn also claimed that ICC anti-corruption investigator Sir Paul Condon, former head of Scotland Yard's police force, was "very, very satisfied and very comfortable. They feel we are on the right track."

Sonn maintained that other nations admired the South African approach, which was soon, he said, to be copied by Pakistan. "They realise they must take things seriously," said Sonn.

Mail Cricket Editor