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Cronje's June 22 testimony

MS BATOHI: At that stage, you had already toured India prior to - well, yes, this was in January 1995, South Africa had toured India, were you part of that?

MR CRONJE: I toured India from November, October/November 1991 not as a member of the team, but as a member of the development side that travelled with the first tour and also for the Euro Cup, we briefly stopped over for four one day matches. I think it was November 1993.

MS BATOHI: So you knew what the position is in India in particular, and how crazy people are about cricketers and how they can make it quite difficult for a touring team there?

MR CRONJE: I think in the first couple of tours I saw it as a negative in the sense that people were very - I don't want to use the word nagging, but they were very onto you all the time, trying to touch you, trying to get close to you. On later tours I accepted the fact that these people were cricket crazy and they just wanted to get close to you and I saw it as a real over-friendliness rather than a negative and you cannot get angry with somebody when they are over-friendly. I know that there were times when I lost my cool and I lost my temper because of this over-friendliness, simply because you had a bad day at the office, but as far as I can remember, my first couple of tours, I saw it as a negative and as it went on, I tried to turn it into a positive. MS BATOHI: Well, at that stage, in 1995, didn't you think that this person, John, could be one of these fans from India who wanted to get close to you?

MR CRONJE: I don't know, he made it clear to me that he was a journalist and he wanted to conduct an interview with me.

COMMISSIONER: Mr Cronjé did you not ask him what newspaper he represented?

MR CRONJE: To be honest Mr Commissioner I wouldn't be able to tell you who 75% of reporters worked for, to be honest.

MS BATOHI: How did the conversation go after he came in?

MR CRONJE: I went up to his room, he did not come into my room.

MS BATOHI: Yes, go ahead, how did the conversation, oh, you went up to his room?

MR CRONJE: That is what I said, yes.

MS BATOHI: Why were you willing to do that?

MR CRONJE: Because I often go to reporters or to television rooms, sometimes it is set up in somebody else's room.

MS BATOHI: All right, tell us how did the conversation go.

MR CRONJE: As I said yesterday, as I walked into his room, I saw that there was no notepad or dictaphone in his room, and I wasn't really that suspicious, I thought that obviously he is not using any notes. He made it clear to me "listen, I am not a journalist, I am actually a fixer". Later he told me that he was more specific, a match- fixer and then that he wanted us to try, he made it clear that he wanted to put money on Pakistan and he wanted us to play badly, perform badly.

MS BATOHI: I know you have on several occasions mentioned how sorry you are for what you did and you wish you hadn't, but why were you prepared to entertain this from a stranger who you had never known, he hadn't been introduced to you by anybody, it was your reputation on the line, why were you prepared to even entertain him at that stage?

MR CRONJE: As I said yesterday, I was tempted by the money.

MS BATOHI: You were prepared to take quite a risk there, because here you are, were you the captain already by that time?

MR CRONJE: Yes, I was.

MS BATOHI: There is a stranger that comes to your room, he is not introduced ... (intervention)

MR CRONJE: He didn't come to my room.

MS BATOHI: I beg your pardon, you go to his room, he is not introduced to you by anyone that you know, so he virtually walks off the street, comes to you, offers you money and you tell him you will consider it or something to that effect and then you discuss it with Symcox. Weren't you putting your reputation on the line, didn't you think about that, were you prepared to take such a big risk at that stage, so early in your international career?

MR CRONJE: I was tempted by it and I said yesterday I wish I never ever considered it, and I wish I never ever went back to my room, and I kicked him out of the hotel, but I didn't, I was tempted, I phoned Pat Symcox, shared it with him and turned it down.

MS BATOHI: If we can assume that John was one of these persons in the so-called underworld of betting, who tries to influence cricketers, then one can assume that he would have known immediately then that you were approachable in a sense, is that correct?

MR CRONJE: I think I gave the wrong impression to him from the start, yes.

COMMISSIONER: Was it the wrong impression, I mean you actually not only told him you would consider it, you went and discussed it with one of your colleagues? Wasn't he entitled to come under the impression that you were seriously considering his suggestion?

MR CRONJE: That is correct.

MS BATOHI: I am going to ask you this again, why did you choose Pat Symcox to discuss this offer with?

MR CRONJE: I was trying to speak to one of the senior players and it just happened that he was the first one that came up to mind or the first one that I was able to contact, I haven't really thought about why it was specifically him.

MS BATOHI: Did you perhaps at the time feel that he might be inclined to be agreeable to such an offer?

MR CRONJE: That question never went through my mind, I was just trying to find some guidance from a senior player.

MS BATOHI: Did you mention this offer to anybody else in the team, at any stage, or any member of management?

MR CRONJE: No.

MS BATOHI: What is the reason for that?

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