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Cronje's June 22 testimony

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, because we knew he had a huge temperature, so if I was a betting man, and I would think that a lot of the people in the room, will believe that by now, I would probably have put money on India, yes.

MS BATOHI: And then you get this offer, R200 000 to lose the game.

MR CRONJE: Dollars.

MS BATOHI: $200 000, I beg your pardon, a big difference these days, to lose a match that in your words, you knew you were going to "catch a serious 'klap'" in, and on all accounts, that was a lost game. Now, what was different, and let me put it in context, this offer in this 1996 game, the last One-day comes three days after your acceptance of $30 000 from Mr Gupta, which would have been on the 10th of December. This offer comes on the 13th of December, three days later, it is exactly the same situation you find yourself in, a game that we are going to lose anyway, why don't you take the money?

MR CRONJE: I shared it with the team and I felt that if the whole team was not going to be in, then I didn't want to get any of the other players involved in it.

MS BATOHI: But Mr Cronjé, you had every opportunity of telling Mr Gupta "fine, I will speak to the players" as you did on the previous occasion, do nothing and make easy as you put it, money for jam, why didn't you do it?

MR CRONJE: I don't know, I don't know why I didn't accept the money, I probably should have done, and I would have been a richer man for it because it was easy money and you are hundred percent right. But I didn't accept it, and when I phoned Mr Gupta the last time, I in fact said to him that we are playing an understrength side, but none of the guys are interested in taking the money anyway.

MS BATOHI: That is what I cannot understand, Mr Cronjé, you have an offer which is up to $250 000 which you could have either taken yourself, which you had done three days before that, you had taken a much lesser amount, you could have taken it for yourself or with one or two players that was willing to go along with this plan, because it seems from some of the evidence before us, that one or two players were keen to go along with this plan. Why didn't you take it, tell nobody about it and get this money for jam? You yourself say how much you loved it.

MR CRONJE: I don't know why I didn't take it. There is no apparent reason in my mind why I didn't take it.

MS BATOHI: With hindsight a foolish decision, would you not say?

MR CRONJE: I was very annoyed with myself for not taking it, yes.

COMMISSIONER: You see Mr Cronjé, there was a stage when it seems to me, you did give it serious consideration, and I must tell you this, I have difficulty in understanding when you say that the phone call to this man to increase the offer, was all done in a sort of spirit of jest and joking. It does indicate a little to me, and I am giving you an opportunity to dispel it, to correct me if I am wrong, but you were seriously nibbling at the proposal?

MR CRONJE: I think the phone call was more a gesture of bravado or trying to say to the rest of the guys "let's see how much we can get here" and maybe my way of showing a little bit of my naughty side to them.

MS BATOHI: Nothing stopped you Mr Cronjé, from phoning Mr Gupta when you were alone in your room at some stage that night, and said "look, I have changed my mind, we will do it", isn't that correct?

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