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Cronje's June 22 testimony

MR CRONJE: Yes, I was good friends with him, but I was also very good friends with Curin Moré, Sachin Tendulkar, with some of the other members of the side, but yes, I would say I struck up quite a good friendship with Azhar.

MS BATOHI: Would he have had any reason to think that you would be an approachable person as far as the betting underworld is concerned?

MR CRONJE: I don't have any reason to believe why he should have known that, no.

MS BATOHI: Can you explain, this might be difficult, but you might have some inside knowledge why he would think that he could introduce you to someone like that?

MR CRONJE: No.

MS BATOHI: Did you perhaps give him any indication during your friendship that you were amenable to such, or open to such suggestions?

MR CRONJE: No.

MS BATOHI: Are you sure about that?

MR CRONJE: Yes.

MS BATOHI: The reason why I ask you is that it seems extremely strange that Mr Azharuddin would compromise himself and introduce you to Mr Gupta?

MR CRONJE: I don't believe that Mr Azharuddin knew what the conversation was about, he left the room as I said yesterday, and I don't have any other reason why he should know about my dealings with Mr Gupta.

MS BATOHI: Are you saying then that you didn't think Mr Azharuddin knew what was going to follow in that room or have some idea?

MR CRONJE: He might have an idea, but that would be speculation from my side.

MS BATOHI: Did you ever ask Mr Azharuddin, I presume you continued to be good friends after that?

MR CRONJE: I never asked him after that, no.

MS BATOHI: Why, is this something that people don't talk about in the cricketing world?

MR CRONJE: It is something that I am not proud of to talk about, yes.

MS BATOHI: You didn't have to tell him that you were involved with Mr Gupta, but did you try to get any insight into what his involvement with Mr Gupta, or knowledge or relationship with Mr Gupta was?

MR CRONJE: No.

MS BATOHI: Why not?

MR CRONJE: I thought that he just introduced me to somebody that wanted to get into diamond dealings in South Africa who wanted to buy some diamonds from De Beers in South Africa. That is what he introduced me, he also introduced me to some other members of sponsors and bat sponsors and I have never ever referred back to those sponsors to him, so this wasn't any different to any of the other dealings that I had with sponsors or acquaintances of Mr Azharuddin.

MS BATOHI: Are you saying that you really believed that Mr Azharuddin thought he was introducing you to some diamond buyer?

MR CRONJE: I don't know what Mr Azharuddin thought, but he introduced me to Mr Gupta and I discussed diamonds with Mr Gupta at first, so I don't know whether Mr Gupta then went back to Mr Azharuddin and told him about our dealings or not.

MS BATOHI: Do you have any special knowledge of diamond dealing?

MR CRONJE: Not at all. I think Mr Gupta thought that I had very good contacts with some of the businessmen in South Africa.

MS BATOHI: You then go on to say that - "MK asked if we would give wickets away on the last day of the test to ensure that we lost"?

MR CRONJE: Yes, he asked for no heroics in the last innings, yes.

MS BATOHI: Is it correct, at that stage there was really no prospect of South Africa winning that game at all?

MR CRONJE: There was still a prospect of South Africa winning if we were able to chase I would say around 350/400.

MS BATOHI: Are you saying that at the end of the third day there was still a chance that South Africa could win that match, in your professional opinion?

MR CRONJE: Even though it was a small chance, there was still a chance.

MS BATOHI: So you are prepared to concede that it was a small chance?

MR CRONJE: Yes, I don't think that you chase 300 in the sub-continent successfully more than twice out of ten, I would say.

MS BATOHI: And at that stage Azharuddin was still batting and went on the following day to make about 160 odd, is that correct?

MR CRONJE: That is correct.

MS BATOHI: On the night of the third day, notwithstanding the fact that India was still batting and Azharuddin batting very well at that stage, you still felt in your professional opinion that South Africa had a small chance of winning that game?

MR CRONJE: Yes, I felt that there was still a small chance of winning the game, that would have meant that we had to get quick wickets the next morning, and it didn't look like we were going to get those, because the wicket was at that stage at its best.

MS BATOHI: I am just going to read to you from one of the South African Cricket Annuals what it says about the state of the game at the end of the third day and I would like your comment on it. It says - times during my career as a captain, and consciously I have been trying to stay away from him, and from his articles, but subconsciously I think it has worked on my mind. I don't know if that answers your question or not, I am trying my best to help you, Ms Batohi.

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