NEWS
OTHER SPORTS
DIARY
PEOPLE
MATCH REPORTS
SLIDE SHOW
ARCHIVES

Woolmer to testify in Cronje case: AFP

Former South African coach Bob Woolmer was Monday added to a list of 43 witnesses who will testify at the King Commission into corruption in South African cricket, which starts in Cape Town on Wednesday.

Woolmer is in South Africa to promote his autobiography and said he was keen to testify, particularly about an offer to the South African team to "throw" a match in Mumbai, India, in December 1996.

Hansie Cronje, the sacked South African captain, will be a key witness in the hearings to be conducted by retired high court judge Edwin King. But it has not yet been decided when Cronje will appear.

Cronje is the only South African player to have admitted taking money from an Indian bookmaker but he can expect close questioning on the role of other players who were mentioned in a conversation, allegedly with bookmaker Sanjeev Chawla, which was taped by police in New Delhi, earlier this year.

Although the King Commission does not have access to the tapes from India, the transcripts released by Indian police when the scandal broke on April 7 were widely reported in South Africa.

On the basis of the evidence collected when the South African team was in India earlier this year, Indian police announced that charges had been filed against Cronje, Herschelle Gibbs, Nicky Boje and Pieter Strydom. All four players have been subpoenaed to testify before Judge King.

Commission secretary John Bacon said Monday that he had issued 42 subpoenas. But he cancelled plans to hold a press conference to announce the order of witnesses. "We now expect to make the announcement at the start of the hearings on Wednesday," said Bacon.

He said Woolmer was not among the witnesses originally scheduled to appear because he is based in England, where he is coaching the Warwickshire county team.

"We were not planning to call witnesses from overseas until we had assessed whether this was necessary, based on the testimony from locally-based witnesses. Now that Bob Woolmer is in Cape Town and has volunteered to appear he will be the 43rd person to be subpoenaed."

Bacon said it was possible that Nasser Hussain and Andy Flower, captains of England and Zimbabwe in a triangular limited overs series in South Africa earlier this year, could be called.

Bacon said there had been difficulty in scheduling the appearances of several important witnesses, including Cronje, whose attorney is out of the country until the weekend. A second attorney acting for the former captain has requested that Cronje be among the last so he can respond to points made in earlier testimonies.

Leading officials from the United Cricket Board of South Africa will only testify in the second week of the inquiry. Jeremy Gauntlett, a senior counsel, who is not available until Monday, will lead their evidence.

UCB managing director Ali Bacher has said he will reveal the sources for his claim last month that match-fixing had been a fact in international cricket in recent years and had taken place during the 1999 World Cup in England.

All witnesses will submit written statements, which will be made public. The witnesses' legal team will lead questions before state prosecutor Shamila Batohi and Judge King will be able to ask further questions. Judge King has said he will release an interim report by June 30, when the South African team is scheduled to depart on a tour of Sri Lanka.

"It is important that the public must be able to have absolute confidence that what they see happening on the field of play on that tour is a true reflection of the skills of the individuals and the team," said Bacher.

The inquiry covers the period between November 1 last year and April 17, and the 1996 tour of India.