Ex-Protea “could be jailed for match fixing”
South African cricket is about to be rocked by a match-fixing scandal “as big as any to have hit the game in SA”, respected cricket writer and commentator, Neil Manthorp, claims.
Manthorp wrote in a blog “a legal case is being prepared against a significant number of domestic players for corruption during the recent Ram Slam Twenty20 tournament.”
Manthorp says “the ringleader is a former national player who is facing “almost certain prison time”. Others may be charged with the lesser crime of “failure to report suspicious or illegal activity.”
Sport24.com reports Cricket South Africa (CSA) confirmed that its Anti-Corruption and Security Unit had charged a perpetrator – operating as an intermediary – under its Anti-Corruption Code for contriving to “fix, or otherwise improperly influence aspects of last year’s tournament”.
This “intermediary” was also charged with failing or refusing to co-operate with the investigation. The tournament, which ran between November 1 and December 12, 2015, was won by the Titans who beat the Dolphins by seven wickets in a one-sided final at SuperSport Park in Centurion.
CSA will not identify the individual at the centre of the investigation, but according to Manthorp it is in fact a former national player.
Manthorp wrote: “No doubt it will reopen the wounds of 2000 when Hansie Cronjé was caught making deals with illegal bookmakers and, no doubt, some people will once again contemplate giving up on the game. If, however, Cricket SA delivers the largest group conviction for spot-fixing in the world, supporters might consider throwing their support even more firmly behind the sport.
“Corruption exists in every country that plays the game to a standard good enough to support a structured domestic competition, yet none of them have shown the will or aptitude to catch the bad guys. If SA makes an example of a few of them, it could be on its way to having the cleanest game of all.”
