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101 'undesirables' face
World Cup ban

Jodie Ginsberg and Nicholas Kotch

Cricket's anti-corruption unit has identified 101 'undesirables' who will be barred from South Africa for next year's World Cup.

The sweeping ban is aimed at preventing match-fixing scandals, illegal betting and other criminal activity which have tarnished cricket's reputation.

In an interview with Reuters, World Cup head Ali Bacher said the International Cricket Council's anti-corruption watchdog has drawn up the blacklist with the help of intelligence agencies and police forces in cricketing countries.

"There is a list of 101 people who are deemed undesirable," Bacher said late on Wednesday.

"They will not be allowed into the country."

Cricket was rocked two years ago by revelations of widespread match-fixing after former South African captain Hansie Cronje admitted accepting money to influence matches.

Bacher said at the time he believed international cricket was under threat from Mafia-style syndicates of bookmakers.

He declined to identify those foreigners black-listed by former London police chief Paul Condon's anti-corruption unit. But he said they were part of the "underground".

WATERTIGHT SECURITY

Bacher says crowd and player safety at the World Cup -- running in 15 venues in three countries -- will be as watertight as possible. South Africa is battling a scourge of violent crime and sexual assaults.

Visitors can expect metal detectors at every ground, close circuit television cameras monitoring players and spectators and large contingents of police officers.

He said the use of cellphones by players would be restricted before and after matches. Entrance to changing rooms would be controlled.

Some 25,000 visitors are expected for the two-month, 800,000-ticket event -- seen by many as crucial for the success of South Africa's hopes to host the world's two biggest sporting events, the soccer World Cup and the Olympics, in the next decade.

Bowled over by his good experiences at the Sydney Olympics, Bacher has taken a leaf out of the Australian organisers' book and has an army of volunteers to help run the event.

But with 10 weeks to go, there is still much to be done.

"People are not walking down stairs slowly now," Bacher said inside the plush ICC offices in Sandton, Johannesburg.

The 60-year-old is a former South African Test captain and batsman.

He organised pirate tours of South Africa during his country's sporting isolation during the apartheid era. But today he counts top figures in the black majority government among his friends and backs the World Cup's "legacy" projects, like 50 new cricket ovals in poor and mostly non-white areas.

One sticking point could still be Zimbabwe, where ICC head Malcom Speed is currently leading a team to check that venues will be safe for players.

TOUGH TIMES

Although the ICC insists it is not interested in politics, Zimbabwe's decision to refuse entry to two British reporters wanting to join Speed's trip points to tough times ahead.

Asked if he would accept Zimbabwe's right to refuse entry to cricket journalists during the World Cup, an emphatic Bacher said: "No".

But he added: "I am confident as I can be that these obstacles will be removed."

Zimbabwe will not be the only fly in the ointment. In September, the ICC's Champions Trophy looked to be in jeopardy after India said it could be forced to field a second-string team because of tough rules on sponsorship.

Some of the world's top players -- many of whom like Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly command highly lucrative personal endorsements -- threatened to pull out.

The deadlock had started when the ICC, in an attempt to protect tournament sponsors from 'ambush marketing' campaigns from rival companies, demanded players freeze their private sponsorships for the tournament.

Following player protests around the world -- Australia, England and South Africa were among several teams who delayed signing their contracts -- the ICC pledged to take their views into account in future sponsorship negotiations.

Bacher clearly expects some last-minute haggling but thinks sponsorship squabbles will be resolved.

"I'm confident Sachin will be here, the best players will come here," he said.

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