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South Africa confirm Indian tour |
Johannesburg, Sep 24 :
The South African cricket team will undertake
the Test tour of India as planned in November
despite the uncertainty over the questioning of
some their players in connection with a
match-fixing case, a top cricket board official
has said.
"At this stage, we proceed for the tour as
scheduled," Gerald Majola, chief executive of
the United Cricket Board of South Africa (UCBSA),
said in a statement. South Africa is scheduled
to play two Tests at Kanpur and Kolkata in
November-December.
The UCBSA is apprehensive because a couple of
players, like Herschelle Gibbs and Nicky Boje,
who will be in the team, could be questioned by
Delhi Police in connection with the Hansie
Cronje match-fixing case of 2000. But Gibbs and
Boje, who were said to be involved with the late
Cronje in allegedly fixing one-day matches
during South Africa's tour of India in 2000,
have not yet decided whether they would tour
India.
The UCBSA had written to the Board of Control
for Cricket in India (BCCI) a few months ago
seeking a guarantee that the Indian police would
question no player during the tour. But BCCI
president Jagmohan Dalmiya declined to give any
guarantee, saying his board could give no such
assurance.
Majola said he has sought the intervention of
the International Cricket Council (ICC). Majola
said the UCBSA and its players are prepared to
cooperate fully with the Indian police
investigations. However, he said he would like
to gain more information about the
investigation.
"I wrote to ICC president (Ehsan Mani) and to
the ICC anti-corruption unit on Monday about
this matter. I have not yet had a response from
them," said Majola. "At no stage has the UCBSA
received any communication from the Indian
police regarding this matter," said the
statement. "This despite numerous attempts to
make contact with the relevant person in the
case."
Majola, however, reaffirmed the UCBSA's support
of the ICC's drive to rid the game of
corruption. "South Africa were at the forefront
of exposing corruption and bribery in the game
and we will cooperate with the investigation,
where necessary. However, we clearly do not want
to send any of our players into a situation that
might risk them being detained," said Majola.
"If the Indian police are intent on questioning
any of our players, then we would want to at
least know the nature of the questioning and who
will be asking the questions," he said.
"We would obviously provide those players with
the necessary legal representation during the
questioning. In addition we would like to gain
some form of assurance that our players will not
be detained whilst in India to play cricket."
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