The devil made me do it - Cronje

Former South African captain Hansie Cronje has blamed Satan for making him accept money from a bookmaker, the Mail and Guardian newspaper has reported.

According to the M&G, in a confession faxed to Rhema Church leader Ray McCauley, Cronje says: ""In a moment of stupidity and weakness I allowed Satan and the world to dictate terms to me. The moment I took my eyes of Jesus, my whole world turned dark."

The confession is now in the possession of the King commission of inquiry which is due to start holding public hearings into match-fixing and corruption in South African cricket on June 7.

The M&G claims that the authenticity of the confession has been confirmed by commission secretary John Bacon who asked the newspaper to limit references to the document as it would be produced as evidence during the hearings.

Cronje was sacked as captain after admitting to taking $8 200 from a bookmaker at the start of the triangular one-day series between South Africa, England and Zimbabwe in January.

Together with team-mates Herschelle Gibbs, Pieter Strydom and Nicky Boje, Cronje has also been implicated by Indian police in a match-fixing investigation being conducted in Delhi.

Between 35 and 45 witnesses are expected to appear before the commission which is committed to producing an interim report into the affair by the end of June.