Bacher does a volte face

As Hansie Cronje bid adieu to the King Commission, he was in tears. So naturally one would like to ask, was he doing a Kapil Dev? With the commission expected to submit its interim report by June 30, Cronje's act may have moved a few, but it remains to be seen whether he will be provided immunity.

UCBSA managing director Ali Bacher, who is in London to attend the International Cricket Council (ICC) meeting on Saturday did a volte face when he said that he was informed by Cronje about the monetary offer to throw a one day match in India in 1996 itself. This admission is significant because Cronje in his testimony had said that Bacher knew about the offer, contrary to Bacher's testimony that he had come to know about the offer only in April this year.

Bacher told the Citizen newspaper from London, where he is attending the ICC meeting, that "I did engage in a fleeting conversation with Hansie which probably lasted no more than five to 10 seconds. There was, however no mention of countries or amounts involved at any stage." He added "I acknowledged, in hindsight, that I should maybe have pursued the matter, but at the time, that was totally unthinkable." Bacher's admission could well put the entire match fixing scandal in a different perspective.

During the course of the cross examination, Cronje was warned several times by Judge Edwin King to tell the truth. Whether Cronje has spilled the beans or not only time will tell. After all, the commission is the deciding authority on the question of letting Cronje go scotfree. Another important aspect would be whether the commission will summon both India's Mohd. Azharuddin and Pakistan's Salim Malik whom Cronje said in his testimony had introduced him to bookies.

However, both Azharuddin and Malik have already dismissed Cronje's allegations. In fact, the former Indian captain has gone on record to both the media and the CBI that he does not know the alleged bookie Mukesh Gupta whom Cronje had said was introduced by him. One does not know whether to take Cronje's testimony before the commission at its face value as he kept changing his stance on Azharuddin throughout the three days of grilling.

It was also interesting to note that during the course of the cross examination, matches related to India and Pakistan were questioned. Other allegations related to the Centurion Test earlier this year against England and the charges of Ashley Mallet were either not taken too seriously or ignored.

Cronje may have come clean on most of the players who were under a cloud by taking most of the blame on himself. In that aspect, one has to hand it over to the former South African captain. Certainly one must admire his courage for accepting his wrong doing in public in spite of being under tremendous mental depression.

Meanwhile, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) which started hunting for Mukesh Gupta, the alleged bookie named by Cronje in his testimony. But he is still evasive. CBI sources told a news agency "We are yet to figure out Gupta's whereabouts." Gupta is reportedly holidaying at an undisclosed location, his lawyer said on Friday and added that he "will be produced by him the moment any of the investigating agencies so desire."

A Calcutta police team will visit Mumbai next week in connection with the arrest of three bookies. The team will investigate the possible links of the Calcutta bookies with those in Mumbai. Deputy Commissioner (detective department) of Calcutta police Narayan Chandra Ghosh told the media on Friday that the police had vital clues on the links between the three bookie brothers, who were arrested on June 16, and six Mumbai bookmakers. During the arrest, the police recovered some documents, large amount of cash, floppies containing match reports and mobile phones.

With the action more or less coming to a close in South Africa - unless there are some unexpected developments in the last week of the King Commission hearings - the scene now shifts to the ICC meeting where delegations from both India and Pakistan are expected to take on Bacher on various issues. Bacher's latest admission will no doubt give the delegates from the sub continent more ammunition while the South African cricket boss will no doubt come under fire from all quarters. Surely one can expect the current session to be a stormy one with the sparks having already been lit. As the writer Florence Scovel put it "The game of life is a game of boomerangs. Our thoughts, deeds and words return to us sooner or later with astounding accuracy."