King undecided about 'batting order'

The King commission will still start its hearings on Wednesday, commission secretary John Bacon confirmed on Monday, but exactly who will open the batting remains to be seen.

"Wednesday's catching up with us very quickly," said Bacon. "But interviews were still being conducted by the officials this afternoon, and I just can't say who will be on on Wednesday. We're definitely starting on Wednesday, though."

With this uncertainty as its background, it is not at all clear at what pace the commission will be able to proceed as it sets about trying to get to the bottom of a scandal which broke in April when Indian police made public allegations that Hansie Cronje and three South African team-mates had been involved in match-fixing.

It is now understood that upward of 40 witnesses will be called to give evidence before the commission. Among the witnesses are likely to be all of Cronje's recent team-mates as well as a number of retired players. The former opening bat Andrew Hudson, for instance, has been named as the man who vigorously rejected a proposal to fix a game in India in 1996. Pat Symcox, too, has publicly questioned events and decisions made during the 1999 World Cup.

At the weekend, the Afrikaans Sunday paper Rapport claimed that Cronje had offered his team-mates R60 000 each to throw a match in India in 1996. Rapport further alleges that the South African players were later angered when they discovered that Cronje had been offered R2-million for the arrangement and would therefore have made a R1,3-million profit on the deal.

All that Cronje has admitted so far is to accepting $8 200 from a bookmaker, apparently for providing information on team selection, the weather and the pitch. Even if this is the complete extent of his involvement, he would face a five-year ban in terms of the International Cricket Council's code of conduct.

As the weeks have passed since Cronje first acknowledged that he had not been "entirely honest" about his dealings with bookmakers, any number of rumours have surfaced concerning Cronje's passion for enriching himself, often at the expense of his team-mates. There has been precious little solid evidence on offer so far, however, and it will be Judge Edwin King's task to sift substance from rumour, allegation and innuendo.

What does seem clear, though, is that the mood within South African cricket may have shifted away from wholehearted support for the former captain. It could be significant that former national coach Bob Woolmer, who initially backed Cronje wholeheartedly, has now offered to make himself available to the commission. But until the hearings start, all of this amounts to no more than speculation. And with an interim report due by the end of the month, the King commission will have its work cut out to keep pace with whatever revelations may emerge in Cape Town.