How the match fixing scandal unfolded - Part 6

June 18

A `red alert' is sounded at international airports in India to prevent Mukesh Gupta, named by Hansie Cronje, from leaving the country. Despite the red alert, sources however do not rule out the possibility of Gupta having managed to sneak out of the country. Mukesh Gupta owns a jewelry shop in New Delhi and CBI sleuths had visited the shop on June 16 and collected documents.

AC Muthiah, president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India says that he has already notified the ICC seeking action against Ali Bacher who withheld information from the game's governing body but revealed it to a commission probing corruption in cricket. Talking to reporters in Chennai, Muthiah said the BCCI will take up the matter with the ICC to initiate action against Bacher for making allegations that the 1999 World Cup match between India and Pakistan at Old Trafford was fixed.

In India, the additional commissioner of Income Tax Viswa Bandhu Gupta says a thorough investigation should be undertaken to reveal the alleged links between cricketers and mafia gangs operating in Mumbai. ``During the Bombay blasts, the Mumbai police taped several conversations between cricketers and mafia people which were not investigated,'' says Gupta. However he alleges that the Mumbai police did not question the cricketers at that time.

Former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif says he would record a statement at the South African inquiry into the match fixing allegations if his testimony is sought. ``It will be an honour for me because if I can help eradicate the malaise from cricket, I will leave no chance,'' Latif tells a news agency in Karachi. ``Cronje's confession was not full because he has hidden some names. He should have named Australian players who are also involved,'' says Latif.

Md Azharuddin says there is no such thing like match fixing in cricket. ``An inquiry is going on. Let us wait for the conclusion. As far as I know there is no such thing as match fixing,'' he tells a news agency in Hyderabad. He says as soon as his counsel Mahesh Jethmalani returns from abroad he will send legal notices to former Indian captains Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri, former all rounder Manoj Prabhakar, IT official Vishwa Bandhu Gupta, Outlook magazine, website tehelka.com, Mumbai eveninger Mid Day and fast food chain McDonald's. He alleges there is a lobby of jealous former cricketers who want him out of the team.

Scotland Yard detectives seek to establish links between the Asian betting syndicate that allegedly approached former England all rounder Chris Lewis last August and the one that dealt with Hansie Cronje in India earlier this year. Three Indians based in London, Kamlesh and Jayendra Patel and Peter Patel are arrested and questioned about their alleged roles in an offer of 300,000 pounds that Lewis claims was made to him to recruit England players to fix matches, police say in London.

It is reported in India that the Income Tax department had grilled Kapil Dev three years ago for his ``undisclosed'' payments to a Mumbai based builder. Kapil's interrogation for more than four hours in the capital followed soon after a raid by the IT department in Mumbai in 1997 on the premises of builder Ramnik Chavda during which his personal diary containing details of the money received by him from various persons including Kapil Dev was found. One of the entries in Chavda's diary had a code ``KD'' which the builder admitted referred to Kapil. According to the entries in Chavda's diary, Kapil had paid him Rs 50 lakh in cheques and Rs 83 lakhs in cash.

Former Australian captain Greg Chappell says match fixing allegations have shaken the people's faith in the game and the individuals. ``It is disappointing'' he says in an interview in Mumbai. ``But it is not the end of the world. Cricket is big enough to survive, provided there is commitment within the cricket community to rid the game of this cancer. I think the game will survive and get stronger. We will look back in ten years time and see this as a blip on the radar and as a sad chapter in cricket but not the end of cricket.''

The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) decides to investigate the allegations that Brian Lara placed bets on individual performances during a triangular one day tournament in South Africa seven years ago. ``I am requesting a thorough investigation in keeping with our policy of dealing with charges of impropriety,'' WICB president Patrick Rousseau says though he admits he supports Lara's denial of the allegations.

In Panaji, India, Goa Cricket Association president and state deputy chief minister, Dayanand Narvekar urges criminal immunity for Indian players and officials on the lines announced in South Africa for those coming out with the truth in the match-fixing scandal. He says he will write to the Centre in this regard. The happenings in the cricketing world could be a well-planned conspiracy against Asian countries, he says.

June 19

Indian Sports Minister SS Dhindsa says the Indian government and its investigating agencies are in close touch with South African authorities for the extradition of Hansie Cronje to India where he faces charges on match fixing. He says that government level talks are on and the procedure for the extradition of Cronje would be handled by the CBI. The Minister says the Indian team would be kept under watch during all future tournaments and adds that requests have been sent to several countries for the extradition of several bookies suspected to be involved in the scandal.

Former Indian cricketer Prashant Vaidya, in his deposition before the CBI, denies he was a witness to any commotion over Kapil Dev's offer of a bribe to Manoj Prabhakar in 1994. ``I have denied the statement made by Prabhakar and I have nothing to do with match fixing,'' Vaidya tells reporters in New Delhi.

Former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif says he is ready to come to India and share information if his testimony is sought by the CBI. ``I have a lot to tell which can help the CBI in conducting the inquiry,'' Latif tells a TV news channel. He says he will ask the Pakistan Cricket Board and the government for permission to visit India.

The Hansie Cronje cross examination is delayed until Wednesday after the King Commission hearings are halted because of a High Court application on live broadcasts of the testimony. An expected ruling by the High Court on an application by Live Africa Network News failed to materialise Monday. The decision is expected later today. Live Africa Network News went to the High Court to challenge a ruling by Judge Edwin King that live television and radio broadcasts would not be permitted on the grounds that the presence of cameras and broadcast equipment could be an inhibiting factor for witnesses. The hearings are open to the public and written media. Television cameras were permitted during testimony by Ali Bacher who said he had no objection. Cronje's lawyers allowed a live broadcast of his initial testimony when he read a prepared statement Thursday but are opposed to live coverage of his cross examination because they say it will increase the stress on the former South African Test captain.

June 20

BCCI president AC Muthiah denies reports in a section of the press that he had prior knowledge of Hansie Cronje naming Mohd Azharuddin at the deposition before the King's Commission. Muthiah, in a statement in Chennai, clarifies that he had come to know about it only a few hours before the actual deposition and not two days in advance as reported in a national English daily and an internet portal. He says Ali Bacher had contacted BCCI secretary JY Lele and informed him that Cronje would be naming Azhar in his submission, only a few hours before the deposition. Muthiah said when he contacted Bacher, the latter had informed him that "in five minutes time, Cronje would be naming Azharuddin".

Former Indian team manager Ajit Wadekar denies the claim of Manoj Prabhakar that he (Prabhakar) had informed him of the alleged offer made by Kapil Dev to under perform in a one day game in Sri Lanka in 1994. According to CBI sources, Wadekar, who was then team manager, had not corroborated the conversation shown by Prabhakar in a secretly taped video footage. He stands by his earlier statement made last month that he was not in the know of such an allegation. Wadekar, who is questioned by the CBI for over two hours, tells them that he was not a witness to anything as claimed by Prabhakar, the sources add.

In India, the Additional Commissioner of Income Tax Vishwa Bandhu Gupta is suspended. After the match fixing scam broke, he was the first to raise the issue of cricketers making huge disclosures under the VDIS (amnesty) scheme. He also made the charge that a former Indian captain had made disclosures running into Rs 16 crore.

Beleaguered former Indian captain Md Azharuddin, who received all round flak for alleging that he was being targetted by former team mates because he was from the minority community, tenders an apology. In a statement in Hyderabad he says ``In some media reports I find that the sentiments of the people have been hurt for my uttering the minority community word. In fact I was quoted in the wrong context. It was never done to defend myself from any inquiry or investigation,'' he says. ``It was purely a reaction to the adverse remarks singled out against me for the past many months,'' he says. He denies that he is issuing the apology because of any pressure.

In India, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray criticizes Azharuddin for bringing in religion as a factor for being named in the match fixing scandal. He remarks whether Azharuddin did not know that he was made a skipper even though he was a Muslim and asks how Azharuddin suddenly remembered that he belonged to the minority community. ``Where was Azharuddin's religion when he led the team for so many years,'' asks Thackeray.

King Commission secretary John Bacon says that Judge Edwin King will need to get a presidential order before he can seek testimony from former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif at his inquiry into match fixing.

Former Pakistan captain Imran Khan lashes out at South African cricket chief Ali Bacher over the match fixing allegations. He says Bacher should be expelled from the ICC and sued for millions of dollars for making false allegations based on `heresay'. ``Bacher is a two faced man and I have no faith in his credibility. Bacher is vindictive towards Pakistan and India,'' Khan tells a news agency. ``I watched the match between Pakistan and India in the World Cup and only a fool can say that the match was fixed,'' he says. Refering to Bacher's charge against Pakistan umpire Javed Akhtar, Imran says ``Bacher is the first official to pass a damning judgement against an ICC umpire and from now on people will question umpires' credibility.'' Imran says the ICC must take Bacher to task at the annual meeting in London and should also investigate its alleged knowledge of the Australian Cricket Board's cover up of its decision to fine Shane Warne and Mark Waugh for providing pitch and weather information to an Indian bookie in 1994. He says that Hansie Cronje's testimony that he had accepted money to fix matches and discussed offers with the team was an ``indictment of South African cricket. Cronje's confession is sad but what has come across is that Cronje withheld facts. He lied and no matter how sorry one feels about him he has to be punished,'' says Imran.

India deny reports that the government is in touch with its South African counterparts to seek the extradition of Hansie Cronje to face match fixing charges. Foreign Ministry spokesman Raminder Singh Jassal tells reporters in New Delhi that the reports are misleading. ``India's Foreign Ministry has not been approached by anyone to seek the extradition of Cronje. There is no bilateral extradition treaty between India and South Africa,'' Jassal says.

Pakistan Cricket Board chief General Tauqir Zia says the ICC should take stern action against South African cricket boss Ali Bacher over his match rigging allegations. ``I think the coming ICC meeting will be a hot meeting and we will definitely ask the governing body to take strong action against Bacher,'' he says. ``Bacher has made allegations against matches being fixed in the 1999 World Cup without any solid evidence,'' he tells reporters in Lahore.

June 21

Hansie Cronje admits that his love of money led to his becoming involved with gamblers and bookmakers and ultimately to his downfall. In his testimony before the King Commission, Cronje claims however that he had also been driven during his tenure as captain by a fierce patriotism. Cronje, after being warned by judge Edwin King that he needed to be convinced that he was telling the truth in order for him to benefit from an offer of immunity from prosecution, comes close to breaking down once when he says his ``great passion of the game and for my teammates'' was matched by ``an unfortunate love of money.'' Despite evidence by a doctor that he is suffering from clinical depression, Cronje gives evidence clearly and admits that he accepted money from bookmakers. ``Yes, I was tying to feed them information. Yes, I spoke to the players before the match in 1996 but I promise you every time I walked on to the field I gave my all for South Africa,'' says Cronje, his voice cracking with emotion. He says he could have avoided his five year association with bookmakers and gamblers if he had turned down the first approach to him in January 1995. Instead he was tempted and asked for time to think about the offer. ``A simple no would have made my life a whole lot easier and I would not be in the situation I am in now.'' He tells the Commission he earned millions of rand in his time as an international cricketer but the temptation to make even more money by doing very little had led to his downfall. ``I unreservedly accept that I have brought huge shame on the game and the country for which I have great passion but I also have an unfortunate love for money,'' he says.

In the course of the cross examination at the King Commission by Itzie Blumberg, a lawyer acting for businessman Marlon Aronstam and Hamied Cassiem who were allegedly involved in Cronje's shady deals, the former South African captain reveals two previously undisclosed payments. He says he is not sure of the origin of an amount of 139,158.70 rand (20,080 dollars) paid into his account in January 1997. The money was deposited five days after a payment of 231,143.40 rand (33,353 dollars) was made by Mukesh Gupta, an Indian jeweller and alleged bookie for information received during India's tour of South Africa in 1996-97. He also admits receiving 3000 rand (435 dollars) from Aronstam, an employee of a company involved in betting which he says he regards as a bonus for an accurate forecast of a likely total in a match between South Africa and Zimbabwe in January.

Malcolm Gray, who takes over as president of the ICC on Monday, attends the King Commission hearings. Gray, from Australia says ``I am here to meet Judge King and to observe the proceedings.''

The high court in Cape Town rules that radio can provide live coverage of the King Commission of inquiry. Judge John Hlophe sets aside a commission ban on live radio coverage of its probe into match fixing after an appeal by broadcaster Live Africa Network News. Hlophe says the ban is unconstitutional.

Mukesh Gupta, named by Hansie Cronje as the bookmaker introduced to him by Azharuddin, is holidaying with his family, according to his counsel Vineet Malhotra. Earlier Gupta's father, who owns a jewellery shop in New Delhi had claimed that his son was missing and expressed apprehension that he might have been picked up by an investigating agency in the wake of Cronje's charge. However Malhotra says Gupta's father had now told the CBI that he would send his son immediately to the investigating agency on his arrival. ``We are trying to get in touch with him,'' says Malhotra.

In India, Union Minister of State for Finance, Dhananjay Kumar says the Income Tax Department has launched investigations against cricketers and some other individuals to ascertain if they had earned illegal income in the match fixing scandal. Speaking to reporters in New Delhi, he says ``the cricketers are being probed and their earnings and businesses are under scrutiny.'' However he refuses to name the cricketers who are being investigated.

June 22

Hansie Cronje and his legal team become embroiled in a dispute over the validity of transcripts released by Indian police when the sacked South African captain's cross examinination continues at the King Commission. He says he does not believe Md Azharuddin knew while introducing him to the alleged bookie Mukesh Gupta that the latter was seeking to bribe him to lose a match in India in 1996. Cronje tells the commission ``I thought that he just introduced me to someone who wanted to get into diamond dealing in South Africa.'' Cronje, whose naming of Azharuddin raised a storm in Indian cricket circles, says ``I don't believe Azharuddin knew what the conversation (with Gupta) was about.'' He said he could only speculate that Azhar might have had an idea about it. Cronje also has no explanation to offer when State prosecutor Shamila Batohi asks him why Mukesh Gupta seemed to have entirely disappeared from his life since 1997 after paying him ``80,000 dollars, possibly 110,000 dollars'' and not making any money out of such investement. He however admits that he has brought the cash back into South Africa hiding it beneath some clothes in his handbag. He had not declared the amount, he says. Cronje also cannot explain why he had accepted 30,000 dollars from Mukesh Gupta for throwing the third Test at Kanpur but rejected the offer of 200,000 dollars made by Gupta three days later for throwing the last ODI at Bombay. During cross examination by Batohi, Cronje refuses to name players who might have been in favour of accepting the 200,000 dollar bribe offer. ``It may put people in a bad light and after five or six years, I may be incorrect in naming players,'' he says. When pressed again by Batohi, Cronje again refuses to name the players. Whereupon Judge King intervenes to tell the advocate ``You make the necessary deductions, You don't need to press Mr Cronje.'' The day's proceedings end early when Batohi says she has difficulty in pursuing the line of questioning while there is doubt about the transcripts.

Boeta Dippenaar is named as a replacement for Herschelle Gibbs in the South African squad to tour Sri Lanka next month. Gibbs is ejected from the tour party after admitting to the King Commission to having been involved with Hansie Cronje in deals with bookmakers.

Former Indian captain Md Azharuddin denies all allegations levelled against him by Hansie Cronje during his five hour deposition before the CBI in connection with the match fixing scandal. A CBI spokesman says ``the cricketer denied all charges against him. He was very co-operative during the questioning.'' Azharuddin reportedly tells sleuths of the investigating agency that he was not aware of Cronje's claims. He tells the investigators that he had never indulged in match fixing and the charges levelled against him are baseless and concocted. Sources however say that Azharuddin might be called again for questioning. Azharuddin, who arrived at the CBI headquarters in the morning, is questioned by the special crime branch of the agency for over five hours. He refuses to speak to the large gathering of reporters when he emerges after the questioning.

June 23

Marlon Aronstam, a bookmaker and gambler from Johannesburg, claims that Hansie Cronje offered to `throw' a cricket match during the first meeting between the two men in January. Aronstam says he was so shocked by Cronje's offer that he immediately conctacted his friends from his car telephone to tell them about it as he drove away from the meeting. Aronstam breaks broke down before giving evidence and again briefly when he describes how he had `respected Hansie as a champion.' He does not withdrawn the allegation despite extensive cross examination by Cronje's advocate. Relating the circumstances of Cronje's alleged offer, Aronstam says he had been invited to the player's room after a phone conversation in which he offered to make a donation to charity if Cronje was able to contrive a result in the rain hit fifth Test against England at Centurion in January. Aronstam says he withdrew the offer of a donation to charity before meeting Cronje after a call to London had established there was no betting open on the match. He had however offered Cronje money to provide pitch information during the one day series. As he was leaving the room, Cronje had asked how he could make money from cricket. Aronstam replied, ``the ball is in your court.'' Cronje then shocked Aronstam by saying he could arrange for South Africa to lose a match in the upcoming triangular series involving England and Zimbabwe, provided South Africa qualified for the final. Aronstam says Cronje told him that he had three players Gibbs, Boje and Stydom `in his pocket' although he agreed with a lawyer for the players that he had no proof other than Cronje's word in that conversation. Later that week Aronstam gave Cronje 50,000 rand (7,215 dollars) in cash in two instalments. He also provided an extra 3,000 rand (450 dollars) and a leather jacket for a particularly accurate forecast.

In his cross examination before the King Commission, Dr Ali Bacher says that he became aware of the bribe offer made to the South African team to throw the last one day international on the 1996 Indian tour only after April 7 this year. Bob Woolmer, coach of the team however has maintained that he had mentioned the offer in his tour report.

South African Sports Minister Ngconde Balfour says he is not entirely convinced that The Management of the UCBSA does not know about match-fixing earlier than it claims. He says he is satisfied that the cross-examination of Hansie Cronje at the King commission is in line with his earlier call for witnesses to be "grilled" so that they "squirm in their chairs". But Balfour is adamant that the UCB management know more than what has been revealed at the hearings by Ali Bacher. "The manner in which they evaded questioning is unacceptable," Balfour tells a newspaper in Pretoria.

In India, the Union Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs Syed Shahnawaz Hussain makes some indirect references on the match-fixing issue. Talking to reporters in Calcutta, Hussain says "If a player gets injured, he has to sit out. You can't include injured players in the side. The players against whom allegations have been made may be mentally disturbed. It is better that their names are cleared first,'' hinting that players who are allegedly involved in the match fixing scandal should step down. The Minister reveals that he has been shifted from another ministry by Prime Minister AB Vajpayee with a special brief ever since the match fixing scandal broke out.

Hansie Cronje is led away in tears after his three day cross examination by the King Commission of inquiry ends. Cronje who was described earlier this week by his psychiatrist as being clinically depressed, burts into tears as the panel of lawyers at the commission wrap up their cross examination and thank the former South African captain for his co-operation.

On the third day of his cross examination, Hansie Cronje tells the King Commission of inquiry that other players could be involved in match fixing. He says he does not know who these might be, but admits that ``if they could get to me, they could get to anyone,'' referring to bookmakers or match fixers. Cronje also admits that he tried to shortchange his teammates who were to receive amounts from a bookmaker to underperform during the tour to India earlier this year. ``Maybe I was trying to cut something for myself,'' says Cronje when a discrepancy is pointed out between the amounts of money he apparently asked on behalf of the players and what he was seeking from bookmaker Sanjay Chawla during a one day series in India in March. When King interjects by saying ``Let's be realistic, that is what you were doing,'' Cronje agrees that was possible. On the transcript of a taped telephone recording in which Cronje asks Sanjay for `25' for each player and `140' as a total amount to play badly, he admits the amounts refer to thousands of dollars.

Lawyers for the UCBSA try to get Hansie Cronje to name other international players involved in match fixing. UCBSA lawyer Brendan Manca quizzes Cronje on his statement last week that former Indian captain Md Azharuddin had introduced him in 1996 to Mukesh Gupta whom Cronje says had twice given him money totalling 80,000 dollars. ``Didn't you think it was strange that a person that Azhaurddin had introduced you to had just handed you 30,000 dollars and asked you to fix a match,'' asks Manca. Cronje replies, ``He could have been involed with Mr Gupta but I didn't for any reason think he was doing business with Mr Gupta at all.'' But he concedes later ``If he is the one who has introduced me, then he can also do business with Mr Gupta.'' However, he also says that he does not think that Azharuddin was aware of the offer that Gupta made to him on that tour.

June 24

The ICC summit meeting moves to Paris with its focus on cleaning up the game. The ICC executive board is expected to study progress reports on the Pakistan and South Africa match fixing inquiries. England and Wales Cricket Board chairman Lord MacLaurin calls for hardline measures. ``We must deal with this in a strong way,'' he insists. ``The game has to remain bigger than any individual. This scandal has got worse and worse. The ICC meeting has to be strong and root this out. I think there is more to come, who knows what is going to come out?'' Lord MacLaurin had asked for an interim meeting of the ICC member countries last month for a common response to the allegations of match fixing. An ICC Code of Conduct commission report will be heard this weekend, including the update on the appointment of the anti corruption investigation.

King Commission spokesman John Bacon will ask President Thabo Mbeki to help it obtain from Indian police transcripts of tape recordings of a telephone conversation between Hansie Cronje and a bookmaker. ``We have been working through the Department of Justice but as a last resort we will request the president to try to obtain the tapes for us,'' he tells a Johannesburg newspaper. Commission officials have also reportedly asked the Foreign Ministry to help them obtain the tapes but with no success. Excerpts from the transcripts have been published in newspapers around the world and Interpol has access to the transcripts.

Hansie Cronje could face a fine of more than 2,84,000 rand (41,000 dollars) from the South African Revenue Service in outstanding taxes and penalties, a Johannesburg daily reports. It is the amount Cronje could be asked to pay if he co-operates with tax authorities ``pending an investigation to determine his total earnings from bribes.'' The report says the immunity from criminal prosecution offered to Cronje for full disclosure during the government inquiry would not cover his tax liability nor an alleged offence against the Exchange Control Act for failing to declare foreign currency he has admitted to have kept at home. A contravention of this Act carries a possible fine of 2,50,000 rand (36,420 dollars) or five years in prison.

Hansie Cronje's lawyer says that the former South African captain does not have evidence against any Indian cricketer's involvement in match-fixing, including that of former Indian skipper Mohammad Azharuddin. In a television interview from Cape Town, John Dickinson says, "Cronje has given no evidence before the King Commission to indicate or implicate any Indian player on match-fixing, including Azharuddin. He has also indicated that he has no knowledge of match-fixing. In short, no Indian player is involved in match-fixing."

Indian Member of Parliament KP Singh Deo says instead of ordering a CBI probe into the match-fixing allegations, the government should have instituted an inquiry by a sitting Supreme Court judge. ``That was my stand in Parliament and it hasn't changed,'' he tells an Indian newspaper. He says the CBI is basically the investigative arm of the Central Vigilance Commission and it is not fair to saddle it with myriad probes. ``Also, once it establishes there is a prima-facie case, the CBI will have to move court. The judiciary, then, could've been involved from the outset.''

June 25

The CBI says it will soon summon at least three formeer cricket captains in the match fixing scandal. After the deposition of former Indian captain Md Azharuddin, the agency is now planning to issue summons to more players. The CBI says it also plans to call other officials of the BCCI to depose before the agency's special crime banch. Meanwhile efforts are on to trace Mukesh Gupta.

Justice Edwin King is non commital on whether he would summon Md Azharuddin to depose before him and voices hope that he would get the authentic transcripts of the tape containing Hansie Cronje's conversation with a bookie. ``I would not like to single out individuals who might or might not be able to assist the commission,'' he says in a TV interview. Asked in what way he would like the Indian government to give support, he says his jurisdiction is limited to South Africa and its people.

The Indian Minister of State for Sports and Youth Affairs Shahnawaz Hussain says the government is in the process of drafting a news sports policy for the development of sports in the country and it would also be aimed at stopping match fixing in cricket. It is a clear hint that the government wants to brings cricket under some sort of control. Speaking in Calcutta, Hussain says ``it will not be tolerated if somebody makes the nation lose due to his personal interest.'' The Minister reiterates his stand that Azharuddin should opt out of the team till his name is fully cleared. ``The ongoing CBI investigation might affect his performance as it would make them tense,'' Hussain says.

Punjab Cricket Association president IS Bindra says a former Indian skipper and his Pakistani counterpart were the two persons who started fixing matches in the late seventies. People in authority in the cricket associations got involved only in the mid-90s and what the players made is peanuts compared to what these people made, he tells reporters in Shimla. Asked why he had not made the matter public earlier if he had known about it, Bindra says he had told the people who mattered and even a Supreme Court judge had been told about the match-fixing in London when the last World Cup was in progress. ``The people who mattered, who could set things right were all told about it, but nothing happened in the right direction,'' he adds. Bindra says the inquiry being conducted by the CBI should be conducted in public and before television cameras as people should know what is happening behind the scenes.

Hansie Cronje wants to give back all the money he received from bookmakers and start a new life, his father Ewie Cronje says. However, he is not sure whether the money would be ploughed back into cricket development, as Cronje had said in his hearings at the King commission, or donated to charities. The senior Cronje discloses this in a newspaper interview. He also says Cronje is fine after he had to be helped out of the hearings in Cape Town in tears at the end of three days of questioning. Ewie Cronje says the family, which has been very supportive of Cronje throughout his ordeal, would now be sitting down with him and his lawyers to plan his future. "I don't know what direction Hansie will now take," he says. "My son has acknowledged the error of his ways and has asked for forgiveness. He now needs a great deal of support to continue with his life," he adds. The senior Cronje says that ever since his son's cross-examination ended on Friday, the telephone at the family residence has not stopped ringing with messages of support streaming in. He says there were also many letters which Cronje had not had the time to read yet.

Justice Edwin King says the reluctance of the Delhi police to release the original tapes of conversations between bookies and Hansie Cronje was posing a problem as the sacked skipper's lawyers were saying the recordings were concocted. He says a lot of measures had been taken at the diplomatic and other levels to get the tapes and he remained hopeful that authentic transcripts of the tapes will be made available to the commission. ``I can very well understand the attitude of the Delhi police in not wanting to release the original tapes which apparently exist. But we have had snippets of the conversation that have allegedly been taped and there are suggestions from the legal team of Hansie Cronje that they have been concocted, put together, added to or subtracted from,'' Justice King says during a TV interview. In other words, he says the authenticity of what the commission had is being challenged.

June 26

The first round of hearings of the King Commission closes in Cape Town. Judge Edwin King will now prepare an interim report by June 30 after having heard testimony in the past two weeks of how Cronje took at least four bribes and elicitated promises from two teammates to under perform for money. King is to hand over the report to President Thabo Mbeki and Sports Minister Ngconde Balfour on Friday, stating what he has found so far. But commission spokesman John Bacon says that it does not signal the end of the inquiry into the scandal. ``There will be further investigations and there has been a call to the public to come forward with any information they may have.''

Hamid `Banjo' Cassim, the sweet shop owner who introduced Hansie Cronje to London based bookmaker Sanjay Chawla, denies he had helped Chawla to bribe the former South African captain. Cassim tells the King Commission that `no alarm bells' were set off when he saw Chawla hand Cronje an envelope containing money when he first put the two men together in a hotel room in Durban in February. He also says he had given Chawla no further help but admits he had received numerous calls from Chawla who wanted to make contact with Cronje during South Africa's tour of India in February and March. Sometimes Chawla would call Cassim in South Africa despite staying in the same hotel as Cronje in India. According to a document handed in by state prosecutor Shamila Batohi, Cassim's mobile telephone statement reveals 180 calls to Cronje, 146 during the triangular series between South Africa, England and Zimbabwe in January and February. Cassim says he met Chawla after receiving a phone call from him saying he was about to visit South Africa. Chawla had heard that Cassim had extensive contacts with South African and Indian players. He says his relationship with cricketers started when he befriended former Indian captain Kapil Dev during India's 1992-93 tour of South Africa.

Hansie Cronje begs for forgiveness for his involvement in illicit gambling deals. ``It is not my intention to seek to excuse myself for what I have done,'' he says in a statement released to a Cape Town newspaper. ``There is no excuse and I have let the UCBSA, the team, the fans and the game down. I am bitterly sorry for what I have done and the pain I have caused,'' he says. Meanwhile Cronje's father Ewie Cronje appeals to the nation to give his son a chance to make a new life for himself. In comments in the same newspaper, the senior Cronje says: ``The past 12 weeks have been a very tough time for the entire Cronje family and hopefully we will emerge from it stronger people,''

Former Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Sir Paul Condon is appointed director of the International Cricket Council's anti corruption investigation. Condon will head a task force likely to include up to four people which will be completely independent of the ICC's executive board and report only to the Code of Conduct Commission head by Lord Griffiths. Condon's duties will continue until the next World Cup in South Africa in 2003.

June 27

Indian Sports Minister SS Dhindsa says the the government is ready to take the assistance of agencies other than the CBI in the match fixing case. He says that if the CBI investigation is found to be inadequate, the government would have no hesitation in employing some other agency in probing the matter. However he does not specifiy what agency he has in mind.

The CBI launches a nation wide hunt for Mukesh Gupta who has been named by Hansie Cronue as having offered him money to throw a match.

June 28

Justice Edwin King says he has not yet decided whether Hansie Cronje was telling the truth during his testimony. ``I have not yet made up my mind as to whether Cronje has told the commission the entire truth about match fixing,'' Justice King is quoted as saying in a radio interview. Cronje had been offered amnesty by the King Commission if he told the truth about his involvement with bookies. ``I will be submitting an interim report to president Thabo Mbeki on Friday and will be asking him to extend the terms of reference of the commission,'' he is quoted as saying. ``We would be greatly assisted in our work if we could obtain copies of the New Delhi police tape recordings of the conversations between Cronje and the Indian bookmakers. For some reason or the other our application for these tapes are taking time,'' he says.

Ali Bacher says he will fully co-operate with the ICC anti corruption investigator Sir Paul Condon. ``I have been involved in cricket for a long time and I want to see the image of the game being restored,'' Bacher says in a radio interview. ``I will let the ICC have all the information relating to the disclosures I have already made to the King Commission of Inquiry,'' he says. During his submission to the commission, Bacher had claimed that Pakistan's matches with Bangladesh and India in the 1999 World Cup were fixed.

Former Indian captain Bishen Bedi calls for an open enquiry on the lines of the King Commission in South Africa into match fixing allegations among Indian cricketers. Participating in a discussion organised in New Delhi, he says ``South Africa is doing it openly with the whole world watching it. Why are we doing it behind closed doors? We need to be more upright, we need people of integrity.'' Bedi says that Indian cricket has suffered at the hands of administrators who claim that the game in the country is clean. ``It is a great shame to the entire nation.'' During the same discussion, Indian Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports Shahnawaz Hussain assures the gathering the government will nab the match fixing culprits and punish them.

Mukesh Gupta, the bookie named by Cronje, appears before the CBI in New Delhi on his own and is grilled for about 3-1/2 hours. He tells the agency that he had ``a special relationship'' with former Indian captain Md Azharuddin but denies having indulged in match fixing.

Newspaper offices in Cape Town are flooded with calls to check if Hansie Cronje committed suicide. Cape Times newspaper says it has received reports from several news organisations that Cronje had committed suicide. The paper calls his former teammates to confirm the rumours which are dimissed. ``There is nothing wrong with Cronje. He is fine,'' Herschelle Gibbs tells the paper.

The West Indian Cricket Board says in the light of evidence in its possession, it is satisfied that Brian Lara is innocent of any wrong doing with regard to the allegations of betting and supplying information to a bookmaker during the 1993 triangular tournament in South Africa. ``A key piece of evidence that has led to this conclusion is an affidavit in which the South African bookmaker who was alleged to have placed Mr Lara's bets and received information from him denies that this occurred. We are satisfied that no further action by the Board is warranted and our conclusions will be submitted to the ICC. We commend Mr Lara for the dignity and composure that he has shown in the face of these allegations and media scrutiny.''

June 29

The King Commission's interim report into match fixing in South African cricket, due to be handed over on June 30, will be delayed to August 11, commission secretary John Bacon says. Commission head judge Edwin King was due to deliver the interim report to president Thabo Mbeki. But Mbeki extends the period by which King has to present the report, John Bacon says in a statement in Cape Town. ``The extension has been necessitated by the volume of work involved in the preparation of the interim report,'' he says.

South Africa's international cricketers are to sign declarations that they ``are not, have not been and don't intend to be involved in match fixing'' before leaving on a tour of Sri Lanka, the UCBSA says. UCBSA spokeswoman Bronwyn Wilkinson tells a news agency the cricketers and UCBSA chief Ali Bacher have come up with the idea in the hope of mitigating some of the damage done to the game by the Hansie Cronje scandal. ``The players realised that the public's confidence in cricket is pretty low at the moment,'' she says. ``They want to make a declaration that they are clean and win back some of the public's confidence.'' Wilkinson says each of the 16 members of the squad leaving for a three Test tour of Sri Lanka would sign a declaration as would Bacher. Two members of the touring side, Pieter Strydom and Nicky Boje are facing match fixing charges from the Indian police.

Delhi police request South African authorities to provide them with tapes of the statements made by Hansie Cronje relating to match fixing scandal before the King Commission, even as it awaits the deportation of prime accused Sanjay Chawla from London. ``We made a request three to four days back to the South African authorities to provide us the tapes of the submissions made by Cronje,'' Delhi police commissioner Ajay Raj Sharma tells a news agency in New Delhi. ``Though it will have to be seen how relevant the tapes are under Indian laws, it is good to have them in the records for whatever evidential value they have,'' he says.

Indian cricketer Nikhil Chopra deposes before the CBI in connection with the match fixing case. Chopra, right arm off spinner, arrives at the CBI headquarters and is questioned by the Special Crime Branch of the agency. He is grilled over his last minute inclusion in the Indian team for two one dayers in Sharjah, allegedly at the behest of bookmakers. Chopra tells reporters that he was asked certain sensitive questions about cricket and whether he had any knowledge about match fixing. He is also questioned about his close relationship with Sanjeev Chawla but he says he denied having any links with the alleged bookie.

Indian Sports Minister SS Dhindsa says not a single cricket player questioned by the CBI so far has confessed to any involvement in the match fixing scandal. ``Everybody knows that not all players are clean,'' he says. The Minister says he still stands by his statement that the government would take a lenient view if the players who may be involved confessed to the crime.

June 30

The King Commission says it is pursuing the matter of obtaining tapes containing the conversation of Hansie Cronje and the Indian bookie Sanjay Chawla through diplomatic channels to expedite the probe. The commission's prosecutor Sharmila Bahoti says the commission will be greatly assisted in its work if the tapes could be obtained from the New Delhi police. ``We are pursuing the matter through diplomatic channels and hope that we would be able to receive them so that we can complete our work,'' she says.

Newspaper reports in South Africa say the King Commission should find out whether Cronje gave away the fifth Test to England on a platter this year because he took the bait of a 500,000 rand donation to a charity organisation of his choice. The reports say that his teammates were against the very friendly winning target of 249 runs in 76 overs set for the English team on a slow batting track. Reports also say the commission should also find out whether Ali Bacher knew about the 1996 team meeting where the South African cricketers considered a serious offer from a Mumbai bookie to fix a one day match against India. The reports also question the credibility of Hameed Cassim's evidence that he was merely a go between for Cronje and Chawla.

Indian Sports Minister Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa hints at giving amnesty to cricketers who come out with the truth regarding match-fixing and help CBI in its probe. ``The players should come out with the truth and help the investigating agencies to clean up this match-fixing muck as soon as possible,'' says Dhindsa. ``The government will be lenient to cricketers who will come forward to help the agencies,'' Dhindsa says at a function in New Delhi. About the match-fixing investigation, the minister says, ``I am very happy with the way the CBI is conducting the inquiry. The agency will come out with some constructive conclusion soon.'' Expressing concern over the role of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, he says that the BCCI was supposed to submit a report regarding their functioning to the government. ``But even after a period of two months the BCCI has not submitted any report to the authorities concerned. In future the government will keep an eye on the functioning of the BCCI,'' he says. ``The match-fixing scandal has brought disgrace to the gentlemen's game,'' he says. But he expresses optimism about its fair image and popularity. ``The game will come out of this rut very soon and will remain at the top as it was,'' says Dhindsa.

July 1

Former Indian cricket physiotherapist Ali Irani deposes before the CBI in connection with the match fixing scandal. Irani arrives at the CBI headquarters and meets the special crime branch of the agency probing the scandal. His deposition is necessitated following his conversation with former all-rounder Manoj Prabhakar about match fixing in the game. Prabhakar who had filmed the conversation on match fixing clandestinely, submitted these video tapes to the CBI on May 27.

Pakistan Cricket Board director of operations Yawar Saeed denies there is a rift between the powers of world cricket over allegations of match fixing. He says no conflict emerged at the recnet ICC meeting in London. ``It's in nobody's interest and no such thing came up at the annual meeting,'' he tells a news agency in Karachi.

UCBSA managing director Ali Bacher claims that he has passed `credible information' to the ICC's new anti corruption official that two matches in the last World Cup, India vs Pakistan and Bangladesh vs Pakistan, were fixed. ``The information that has been conveyed by me comes from people of integrity and highly reputed people. I do not believe that one can just sweep this under the carpet. It has got to go forward now to the anti corruption investigator,'' Bacher says in a TV interview from Cape Town. ``Let us see if he finds evidence. I am confident as I can be that he would. If I am am wrong, I will apologise,'' he says. Asked whether players were particularly susceptible when they tour the sub continent, Bacher says ``it would appear at this point in time that there are potential problems when the players tour the sub continent but bookies from India now come into South Africa and offer South African players money.'' According to him, the problem in India is that the betting industry is illegal except for horse racing and hence bookies tended to go underground. Asked whether there was an east-west divide in the ICC, Bacher admits to the tension.

Indian Minister of State for Sports Shahnawaz Hussain says the CBI is probing the match fixing scandal at a much faster pace than is being imagined by many. No time has been set up for the CBI to submit its report but it was expected very soon, he tells reporters in Hyderabad. He says the deadline set for the cricketers who were allegedly involved in match fixing to disclose all details was over and the government is determined to bring the culprits to book. He also clarifies that there is no contradiction within the Sports Ministry on this issue. ``Cricketers found guilty would be punished and there were no escape routes however big they may be and whichever community they hail from,'' he says. To a query whether the cricketers, if found guilty would be pardoned for they had already suffered enough as suggested by the Law Minister Ram Jethmalani, Hussain says ``some ministers are only giving their personal views and they need not necessarily reflect that of the government.'' He says the ministry is working on a proposal put forward by former Indian captain Bishen Bedi that a representative of the government find a place on the BCCI for more accountability. ``We don't want to be mere spectators to the dirty sport that is going on. We will take necessary steps for a more transparent administration of the game without actually interfering in its working'' Hussain says.

July 2

The CBI seeks detailed records of a mobile phone used by a former Indian captain. Agency sources say the sleuths of a special crime branch have sought details of a mobile phone used by a former cricket captain to ascertain allegations made by some bookies. The sources say the details would provide some assistance in the probe into the match fixing controversy as the CBI has already identified phone numbers of certain ``well to do bookies'' operating in the country.

Former physiotherapist of the Indian cricket team Ali Irani, who is questioned by the CBI for over three hours in connection with the match fixing scandal, denies his conversation with Manoj Prabhakar. Irani, before recording his statement with the CBI, seeks the video tapes from the website which is displaying it. CBI sources say Irani replied satisfactorily to all the questions by the sleuths of the crime branch. Irani had reportedly said in the video taped conversation with Prabhakar that further pursuance of the match fixing scandal would create a political uproar in the country.

The Income Tax Department is midway in looking into records and returns of leading Indian cricketers and officials of the BCCI whose names have surfaced during the match fixing controversy. IT sources say returns and records of three players hailing from the northern region, two from Mumbai, one from Hyderabad and a BCCI official from Calcutta are being scrutinised by the officials.

In India, the Enforcement Directorate is looking for Mukesh Gupta, the bookie named by Hansie Cronje, to record his statement in connection with alleged FERA violations. The move follows the submission of a report by a deputy director of the ED saying Gupta's was a fit case for questioning. Gupta's counsel Vineet Malhotra says that Gupta has so far not contacted him for any legal help.

Hansie Cronje is looking for a lucrative publishing deal to give his version of his fall from grace. In a move that could leave him open to accusations that he is cashing in on his notoriety, Cronje agrees to allow Clive Rice, the Nottinghamshire coach and former South African all rounder to broker a book deal with a British publisher. ``I am busy working on it,'' admits Rice who is understood to have had discussions with a BBC journalist about ghost writing the book. Rice however refuses to reveal which publisher is involved or how much the deal might be worth.

July 3

A court in New Delhi orders the arrest of a London based Indian bookmaker to face trial for his alleged dealings in the match fixing scandal in South Africa. Magistrate TR Naval issues a non bailable arrest against Sanjay Chawla and orders detectives from the Indian Finance Ministry to produce him in court on September 21. Chawla, a key suspect in the match fixing scandal, was earlier ordered to appear before Naval on June 5. Government prosecutor Subhas Bansal told the court last weekend that Interpol was yet to respond to India's three month old request to seek out Chawla in London. The Indian Finance Ministry has sought Chawla's return to face questioning in connection with charges that he violated local currency laws to the tune of 4,00,000 dollars in the match fixing scandal. It also seeks details of bank accounts in London and three other cities saying Chawla and other bookies paid Cronje through these accounts to `tank' matches against India in March this year.

The manager of the Pakistan team currently touring Sri Lanka Mohammad Nasir blames India for the match fixing scandal and says ``the betting centres are based in India.'' Questioned by an Indian journalist at a press conference in Colombo he says ``it all started with your country. You can't shrug off the responsibility for what is now going on. All the bookies are from India, they are the ones who are bringing the bad name to the game.'' Speaking about his country, Nasir says ``Pakistan were the first country to institute a legal investigation in the Qayyum Commission. We asked the Australians but they refused to come. We sent our judicial commission to Australia to gather evidence from Mark Waugh and Shane Warne. We were the first to do so. It is time India does something similar since all bookies are based there.'' He adds that India had failed to prosecute the South African players named in the scandal.

July 4

The Income Tax department in India is in the process of ascertaining the payments received by the Indian cricketers in the last ten years. According to a source in the IT department, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has been asked to submit a detailed account of payments made to cricketers who represented India in Tests and one day internationals since the 1991-92 season.

The special crime branch of the CBI probing the match fixng scandal, summons Manoj Prabhakar and questions him for nearly 2-1/2 hours at the agency's headquarters in New Delhi. Prabhakar is summoned for the first time after he submitted videotapes to the agency containing conversations of players and administrators about match fixing. Sources indicate that Prabhakar is confronted with the versions of those appeared on his tapes and who were questioned by the CBI. The agency has questioned a number of former and current players and administrators who had appeared in the video tapes to verify if they corroborated the contents of the tapes running into some nine hours.

July 5

Australian batsman Ricky Ponting says in Mumbai that he too has been approached by a bookmaker three years ago. Asked whether he was an Indian, Ponting declines to answer. He says the first thing he did when the approach was made was to inform Australian Cricket Board officials and that was as far as the matter went.``I was aware of the implications of the Mark Waugh and Shane Warne affair and took these precautions,'' says Ponting who is in India to conduct clinics for under-16 and under-19 boys in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore.

The CBI will soon be calling former Indian captain Ravi Shastri to depose before the agency in the match-fixing scandal. Agency sources say though no summons had been issued to Shastri, the CBI would record his statement as he had corroborated Manoj Prabhakar's claim that he had been briefed about Kapil Dev's alleged offer of a bribe of Rs 25 lakh to Prabhakar to underperform in a one-dayer against Pakistan during a 1994 triangular in Sri Lanka. The sources say the CBI was awaiting Shastri's return from Sri Lanka where he is presently on an assignment as TV commentator. According to them, Shastri is the only player so far who had corroborated Prabhakar's charge and it would be interesting to examine his statement before the special crime branch of the agency, which is probing the alleged scandal.

July 6

Pakistan Cricket Board director of operations Yawar Saeed says the PCB is waiting for an ICC report on Pakistan umpire Javed Akhtar who was mentioned in last month's match fixing inquiry in South Africa. UCBSA chief Ali Bacher told the inquiry that he had heard that Akhtar took bribes to influence the outcome of a Test between England and South Africa at Leeds. ``When Akhtar officiated in the Leeds Test in 1998, he was representing the ICC and we can only hold an inquiry if we get the match referee's report from that particular Test. There is nothing against Akhtar and since he is a Pakistani, we have to clear the matter,'' says Saeed.

July 8

Indian Sports Minister SS Dhindsa says that senior cricketers in the Indian team have amassed assets to the tune of Rs 200 crore. ``I have information that the junior most cricketers in the Indian team have assets worth Rs 10 crore. As for the seniors, the figure could go up to Rs 200 crore,'' Dhindsa says at a Meet the Press programme in Chandigarh. Asked about the involvements of Indian players in the scandal, Dhindsa says though according to his information, five to six players are involved, the number could be more. But he says he will wait for the reports from the CBI and clarifications from the Board of Control for Cricket in India before initiating any further action. He reiterates that players and officials, including Md Azharuddin and Kapil Dev, against whom match fixing allegations have been levelled, should step down till they are cleared of the charges.

Indian Sports Minister SS Dhindsa says that the CBI is investigating the match fixing allegations on a ``priority basis' amd those found guilty will be sent to jail. ``The CBI will probe match the fixing issue in a time bound manner and players found involved in it will be sent to jail so as to set an example for upcoming cricketers,'' Dhindsa says at a Meet the Press programme in Chandigarh. He says no player had so far come forward and voluntarily shared information with the CBI despite the Ministry's offer to deal with them leniently if they did so. He says that for technical and legal reasons it is not possible to conduct public investigations into match fixing as was being done by the King Commission in South Africa.

Indian Sports Minister SS Dhindsa says his ministry has directed the Board of Control for Cricket in India to divulge its code of conduct for players and also furnish details by July 26 of how it utilised its huge financial resources.

The Indian Minister of State for Sports Syed Shanawaz Hussain denies that the government is considering setting up an independent commission to probe the match fixing allegations. The Minister also dismisses suggestions of banning cricket matches before the CBI investigation is over. ``The CBI is doing a fine job and the chargesheet will come up in due course,'' he says while talking to reporters in Jaipur.

Australian cricketer Ricky Ponting, who is in New Delhi to conduct a coaching clinic, seems to have learnt the knack of evading questions on match-fixing. Asked to comment on the episode, Ponting says "I stick to my earlier statement and I've nothing more to say on this. I'm here to popularise the game." He adds "The ICC should take steps to clean up the whole mess at the earliest and right now I don't think the match-fixing issue has affected cricket's popularity in any way."

July 9

Former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif says the 1996 Lord's Test between England and Pakistan was fixed and that he had been offered a huge amount to get out cheaply in that match, according to a report in the Sunday Telegraph. Rashid says a bookmaker had called him in his hotel room after the first day's play and offered him a sum of 15,000 pounds if he got out cheaply but he rejected the offer straightaway. Pakistan had scored 290 for nine at the end of the first day with Latif seven not out. ``The bookie called me at my hotel room and said if you are out before the total reached 300, we are giving you 15,000 pounds,'' Latif told the newspaper while in London last week. ``He did not give his name but I could tell he was an Indian - the Indian accent is slightly different from that of a Pakistani,'' he said. Latif claims he informed the matter to team manager Yawar Saeed, who advised him to play his own game. On the second morning, Latif batted on to reach 45 and take Pakistan's total to 340. Latif also says that he had been offered Rs 10 lakhs by Salim Malik to throw Pakistan's one day international against New Zealand in Christchurch in 1995. `I told him I will give you an answer in the morning but we did not speak. When I took two catches he said, `what are you doing? We must lose this game,'' the paper quoted him as saying. Malik has since been banned for life for match fixing. Among many other matches, both one day internationals and Tests, Latif believes that England's last game in Sharjah before the 1999 World Cup was fixed. ``Javed Miandad (the Pakistn coach) had a big argument with the players after that match and he resigned afterwards. He told the Qayyum commission about this Sharjah match,'' Latif said.

Former president of the International Cricket Council Jagmohan Dalmiya says that some players are definitely involved in the match fixing scandal. In his first interview after stepping down as the ICC president, Dalmiya tells a website that 10 to 15 percent of the blame should go to the players and the rest to the bookies. He says it is for the CBI and the government to decide whether or not to have an open King Commission type of inquiry. Asked if it had never struck him even once that some players were throwing away matches for money, Dalmiya says it had happened only once, during the India vs West Indies one day international in October 1994. Manoj Prabhakar and Nayan Mongia were dropped but they returned after tendering an unqualified apology.

Aldrin Naidu, a South African Indian playwright will have on stage a play on cricketing irregularities including the story of Hansie Cronje. Naidu, a journalist and controversial playwright, who has written and produced several satires, says in Durban that he has already started auditions country wide for an actor to play Cronje. His play is titled `Vak-Hansie' which is an Afrikaans word meaning holiday but can also be easily misconstrued by many through its pronounciation as being dismissive of Cronje. According to reports he has agents offering large amounts for the rights to his story. ``Vak-Hansie will lampoon the world, or rather the underworld of cricket,'' says Naidu whose penchant for playing with double edged words and humour which border on the offensive has sometimes landed him in hot water but has also gained him many fans in the local Indian community.

Indian Minister of State for Sports, Shahnawaz Hussain rules out the possibility of granting pardon to match-fixers. He says they should be punished like war criminals as it concerned large number of fans and the image and dignity of the country. He tells reporters in Jaipur that the CBI probe is going on satisfactorily and the country's premier investigating agency is working faster than South Africa's King Commission on the matter. He says the CBI has recorded the statements of more people than the King Commission but added "no action can be taken against anybody before the filing of a charge-sheet by the agency."

Former Indian wicketkeeper Syed Kirmani expresses the view that the match fixing enquiry is taking too long. ``They should see that the entire muck is cleaned and the sooner the better,'' he tells reporters in Kochi.

July 10

Hansie Cronje is invited to act as guest lecturer in sports ethics at a Pretoria University but he will not be paid for the job, according to the institution. ``Mr Cronje could, as a community service, share his experience of temptation and corruption with students who would gain priceless insight into the nature and mechanics of corruption,'' Pretoria Technikon (technical university) spokeswoman Prof. Rene Uys says. ``It is rare to have the opportunity of studying high profile individuals in scandals of the magnitude of Hansiegate and such opportunites should thus be grasped,'' she says.

July 12

Former Pakistan captain Saleem Malik says he is fed up being called a match fixer and accuses former teammate Rashid Latif of destroying him. ``I demand that the Pakistan Cricket Board immediately inititate an inquiry and take action against Latif for his frequent outbursts designed to bring a bad name to Pakistani cricket,'' Malik tells a news agency in Lahore. Latif had, in a British newspaper, said that that Malik had offered him 100,000 rupees (1,920 dollars) to throw Pakistan's one day match against New Zealand in Christchurch in 1995. Malik accuses Latif, also a former captain, of profiting from the allegations.

Former Indian captain Kapil Dev meets Indian Sports Minister SS Dhindsa in New Delhi and requests him to expedite the probe in the match fixing scandal. ``We had a discussion over the entire issue and he requested for bringing the case to a logical conclusion so that players could concentrate on the game,'' says Dhindsa adding that the CBI probe is moving in the right direction.

July 14

Australian skipper Steve Waugh wants next month's one day series in Australia against South Africa to represent a fresh start for the troubled game. Waugh says the game is losing its integrity because of the negative publicity generated by controversies such as the match fixing case. ``I would like to see this as almost a fresh start for cricket. Over the last 12 months we have had so many bad things happen,'' Waugh says in Melbourne. ``I think people want some positive stuff out of cricket. They are sick of reading the negative stuff. It's changed a bit in recent times. Even in the conversations I have, people are always talking about bookmakers and bribery and have associated that with cricket.''

New Delhi police say that an Indian government prosecutor KC Mittal, pursuing match fixing charges against Hansie Cronje, has been provided high security following death threats. Mittal is escorted away from a court by heavily armed policemen after an unidentified caller says the prosecutor will be attacked in his chamber. ``We have also provided security at the counsel's home in view of the security threat,'' a Delhi police official says, adding that efforts are on to track down the person who alerted detectives yesterday. He says Mittal, who was appointed the government's counsel only last year, is handling several sensitive cases including charges in April by the Delhi police against Cronje and three of his teammates in the match fixing scandal. ``It is a big case and we cannot take chances,'' the police official says.

Former South African captain Hansie Cronje earns praise from cricket buffs in Calcutta for confessing his guilt. "Hansie, we hate your actions but praise your confessions," about 200 placard-wielding fans shout in front of the Eden Gardens. "Everybody makes mistakes and commits various types of offences, but nobody comes forward to admit his fault. This way Cronje has made history," a fan says. The buffs also blame `Indian culprits', allegedly involved in match-fixing, for not `admitting' their fault. "On the contrary, they are putting forward false and fabricated counter-allegations on the issue," general-secretary of the Ganatantrik Nagarik Samity, Howrah, Subhas Dutta, the leader of the demonstrators, says.

A report from New Zealand says that the country's cricketers might soon be taught how to recognise and handle the approaches of `disreputable people' in the wake of the match fixing allegations. Christopher Doig, the NZC chief executive says his board will consider an offer from a former Auckland detective to develop a suitable programme. ``We are working to better prepare our players in case they get approached by disreputable people,'' says Doig, who adds that administrators from other countries attending the ICC meeting in London last month had shown ``a fair bit of enthusiasm'' to adopt similar programmes.