More tweakers from Bacher

Paul Martin Cainer  in Johannesburg

The Indian report has been just what the doctor ordered. Ali Bacher was a medical doctor when he captained South Africa, but as an administrator and long- term survivor he has an even bigger talent: as a spin-doctor par excellence.

His mastery of doctoring the facts in his favour is legendary, and he has just done another neat bit of spinning.

He says the report of India's Central Bureau of Investigation into match-fixing has come as no surprise. It has, he says, also vindicated much of his testimony to South Africa's King Commission inquiry into corruption in South African cricket, he said.

"Many of my concerns expressed during my testimony at the King Commission have now been confirmed," Bacher said in a statement.

"While it is unpleasant we need to see these developments in a positive light as all involvements in this malpractice must be unearthed so that cricket can go forward with confidence."

He added it is good the revelations came out now, rather than just before the 2003 World Cup, which he is in charge of staging.

Bacher was criticised by several Asian cricket officials when he told the King Commission in June that he had information that match-fixing took place in matches involving teams from the Indian sub-continent.

The truth is that Bacher told the King Commission he knew of efforts to corrupt cricket as far back as 1994. Yet, by his own admission, he did nothing to protect his players from the advances of bookmakers, by cell-phone or in team hotels, nor did he make any official complaint to the ICC, until after the World Cup last year.

He was clever enough to ensure that television and radio was able to record his remarks to the King Commission, even before Live Africa Network News had secured the right to broadcast the proceedings.

In his statement, Bacher revealed some hints he had had about corruption, but had still made it sound relatively small-scale and not the fault of the authorities.

In reality, Dr Bacher has not yet explained why he and the authorities did so little.

South African policy has all along been to try to internationalise the scandal, and that is just what the Indian report has done. The South African papers have been full of it in huge front-page headlines. On Thursday night The Cape Argus asked simply across its front-page: 'Can Cricket Survive?'

Meanwhile, the United Cricket Board of South Africa on Thursday officially banned former captain Hansie Cronje for life, but said it could overturn the ruling if the disgraced star repented.

The UCB's general council last month passed a resolution to ban Cronje for life from all aspects of the game, while giving him seven days to respond.

Cronje's lawyer, Leslie Sackstein, had threatened to sue over the resolution, but no representation has apparently been made yet.

"Pursuant to our resolution on October 4 and with immediate effect, WJ Cronje is banned for life from membership or participation in the UCB, its structures or activities," UCB president Percy Sonn said in a statement.

But he seemed to use a deliberately planned legal phrase that may be designed by his own lawyers to give Cronje a theoretical chance of coming back one day.

"We acknowledge that, with effort, people are able to rehabilitate themselves over time and there may be an opportunity for the UCB to take cognizance of this possibility in the future," Sonn said.

Mail Cricket Editor