SA board asks for assurances regarding Gibbs and Boje
The South African board has asked for assurances that Herschelle Gibbs and Nicky Boje will not be questioned by police investigation match-fixing if the scheduled tour to India takes place later this year
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Gerald Majola, the UCBSA's chief executive, said that he had spoken to Jagmohan Dalmiya, president of the Indian board (BCCI), earlier today and asked for his assistance. "I realise that the BCCI cannot give any guarantees on behalf of the police authorities, however I have requested that he assist us in finding the right person or persons with whom we can communicate about this matter," Majola told reporters. "He has given me an undertaking to respond to our request as soon as possible.
"We do not, under any circumstances, want to see any of our players put in a position where they have to go through police interrogation when they are on a cricket tour, we want to sort this issue out quickly."
Majola said that Rev. Makhenkesi Stofile, South Africa's minister for sport, would be contacted by the UCBSA for any assistance he could provide at an inter-governmental level. He refused to be drawn on whether the players might be left out if no guarantee was forthcoming. "At this stage there is no thought of any of our players being withdrawn from the tour. We will assess the situation once we have all the relevant information."
However, Ray Mali, the UCBSA president, said at a local meeting in East London that the board would not send Gibbs and Boje to India if there was the slightest chance that the two could be picked up by police. He asserted, "It is very important that there are guarantees in place that the two players will not be arrested."
Meanwhile, in Delhi, the commissioner of police, KK Paul, said that the cases against Gibbs and Boje had not been closed. "The case is obviously open," he explained. But it's all too early to give any guarantees that no police action will be taken, especially because no one has bothered to get in touch with us."
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