Gibbs and Williams plead guilty

Herschelle Gibbs, the South African opening batsman offered $15 000 by Hansie Cronje to throw his wicket away in a one-day international against India in March this year, will discover what remains of his cricketing career on August 28 or 29.

Gibbs, together with team-mates Henry Williams and Pieter Strydom, appeared before a disciplinary hearing on Saturday to answer charges arising out of evidence led at the King Commission of inquiry into match-fixing in June.

Gibbs pleaded guilty to charges agreeing to accept an offer of money to make no more than 20 in the match and also to being untruthful about his involvement; Williams pleaded guilty to a similar charge of agreeing to ensure that more than 50 runs were scored off his bowling in the same match; and Strydom pleaded not guilty to a charge of attempting to place a bet on the outcome of the Centurion Park Test match between South Africa and England in April.

The three-man tribunal, chaired by former Judge Mervyn King, will deliver its verdict and pass sentence on all three men on either August 28 or 29.

As far as Gibbs and Williams were concerned, the hearing consisted largely of arguments for and against mitigation. It was pointed out that neither player actually followed through with their arrangements, Gibbs because he "forgot" to give his wicket away and Williams because he was injured early in his bowling spell.

Counsel for the pair pointed out that both were heavily influenced by their captain and that both had already been financially prejudiced by their involvement in the affair. Gibbs was withdrawn from the South African team to Sri Lanka and Australia and claimed that several sponsorship and endorsement deals, amounting to over R500 000, had been cancelled. Williams, meanwhile, is due to receive a benefit from his provincial team Boland, scheduled to start in September, but arrangements for this have been put on hold pending the outcome of the hearings.

Both, it was claimed, have acknowledged their guilt and expressed remorse and it was argued that any suspension or ban imposed on them should be suspended.

Counsel for the United Cricket Board, however, pressed for a sentence which would signal how seriously the UCB views their wrongdoings. The UCB clearly wants both players to be out of the game for at least some time as a punishment.

The case against Stryom was argued separately. His defence consisted mainly of legal argument that he was unable to place bets for himself and Cronje on South Africa to win the Test and therefore had not committed the offence. Whatever the case, Strydom is likely to be playing cricket again for Border this summer. The UCB have asked that if he is found guilty, the sentence imposed on him should consist of no more than a caution.