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Cronje's June 22 testimony

MS BATOHI: It doesn't unfortunately. I am just trying to establish from you whether you say subconsciously it may well have been playing on your mind to ensure that you do lose the match, is that correct, is that what you are saying?

MR CRONJE: Yes, that is what I am saying.

MS BATOHI: Can you explain that?

MR CRONJE: I think that the fact that Mr Gupta gave me the money and the fact that I went out on the field, thinking about this, could have affected my professional mind as a cricketer.

MS BATOHI: So are you saying then that you may well have been doing something to make sure South Africa lost without actually knowing that, is that what you are saying?

MR CRONJE: I didn't consciously go up to any player and I will put an accent on that, I didn't speak to any single player, I didn't make any bowling change or any action to try and ensure that India wins at all, consciously, no, whatsoever. I tried my best throughout.

MS BATOHI: I understand that perfectly, what you are saying is that you didn't approach any players, but I just want to ask this of you for the last time, what did you mean that subconsciously you could have been trying to ensure that South Africa loses?

MR CRONJE: As I said to you that I tried my best throughout, whether that money worked on my mind or not, that I cannot answer to you. If it was in fact working on my mind, it didn't affect the way I performed and tried my best on the field all the time.

COMMISSIONER: Can I just ask you something on this subject, Mr Cronjé. I think it is fair to say that at the time that this man approached you, Gupta, South Africa were effectively on a hiding to nothing, in this test, didn't it strike you as odd, even suspicious, that he would have come to you and given you $30 000 to do something which was totally unnecessary? Didn't you see further into it that this man was trying to lock you in for instance?

MR CRONJE: I don't know how much of the money was actually for the third test match or how much was for future information or for future closeness or for a deposit for future or for locking me in as you would call it, or for trying to gain my friendship or confidence. As far as I can remember, I thought it was a dead give-away of $30 000 for something that we were on a hiding to nothing, anyway.

MS BATOHI: Mr Cronjé, I believe you have the stats of this game in front of you, is that correct?

MR CRONJE: Of the third test match?

MS BATOHI: Yes, that is correct.

MR CRONJE: Yes, I do have it in front of me.

MS BATOHI: Just as a matter of interest, can you just look at the fall of the wickets of the South African team during the second innings and just read that into the record?

MR CRONJE: Without looking at the record, I would think and I want to test myself, Ms Batohi. Andrew Hudson and myself were batting together, I think the score was about 30 or 40 and we put on about 60 or 70 and then there was a reasonable collapse after that. I think Lance Klusener got 30 odd not out, I think he was the only other batsman to get a reasonable score, but I will check. Yes, we were 29/3 and we put on 60 odd, and then there was a reasonable quick collapse after that.

MS BATOHI: Yes, I see the wickets fell at 97, 109, 127, 138, 167 and 179, is that correct?

MR CRONJE: That is correct.

MS BATOHI: Was there any particular reason for that massive collapse on the part of the South African team on that day?

MR CRONJE: I think that the wicket starts turning a lot more as the game progresses, I will have a look now who took the wickets, but I think also as the ball gets older in the sub-continent it gets scuffed more and there is more reversing.

MS BATOHI: Are you saying that that $30 000 had nothing to do with ensuring that the wickets fell in the way that they did?

MR CRONJE: Not at all, nothing whatsoever.

MS BATOHI: The next offer that you get is the 1996 offer, which falls within the terms of reference, you know which one I am talking about, the last One-day match in India which was upgraded from a benefit to a full One-day international?

MR CRONJE: That is correct.

MS BATOHI: I am going to ask you at this stage, there has been evidence, and I think you have alluded to it slightly, that at that stage the team was in a particularly low, well they were down and they were injured and nobody was particularly happy to play that game and it seemed an almost certainty that South Africa was going to lose this match in anyway, is that a fair assessment?

MR CRONJE: The players were really down, it was a long tour, I was particularly upset with the United Cricket Board for organising a match which at first when I looked at the itinerary, was in my mind a benefit match and had similar looks to it than the 1994 game against Holland after the tough England tour, and I was upset about that match. As it happened our coach, Bob Woolmer was in particular very sick, he had in fact picked up a chest infection and was very, very ill. It also affected players. I think Dave Richardson was in bed, Fanie de Villiers was in bed, Lance Klusener was in bed, Gary Kirsten kept wicket and if you understand travelling in the sub-continent, 63 days of getting up at four o'clock, travelling an hour by bus through the streets of Mumbai, waiting two hours for a flight, travelling up and down the country, for a One-day triangular, three test matches, three first class matches, and you lose the series, by the end of that, you are pretty tired, dejected, yes.

MS BATOHI: And to use your words that you used yesterday during cross-examination, you said it was "obvious that we were going to catch a serious "klap" in that game".

MR CRONJE: In my professional opinion, we were up against it, because as I said to you, we were without Donald and Rhodes who had already gone home. We were without Richardson, de Villiers only bowled, well was only going to bowl a certain number of overs at the time.

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