So many players got away, says Bacher

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Former South African cricket boss Ali Bacher was at the centre of the storm when eleven years ago his protégé, the late South Africa captain Hanise Cronje, was found guilty of negotiating with a bookie to fix a match.

Cronje was banned, thanks to Bacher’s testimony, but didn’t go to jail. The evidence accumulated against him by the Delhi police was almost entirely circumstantial and not admissible in the court of law. With the three tainted Pakistan cricketers being imprisoned on Thursday in the after-math of the spot-fixing gate, Bacher is finally happy a correct decision has been taken.

“Putting a corrupt cricketer in jail is the most powerful deterrent. I’m heartened by what has happened in London. It’s a watershed moment for corruption in cricket and as long as tough measures like these are taken, cricket will remain clean,” Bacher told this newspaper from Johannesburg on Friday.

Bacher was, however, critical of the International Cricket Council’s approach in handling corruption over the last decade, saying it had been “living in denial”. “About five years earlier they had told me, the corruption had been suppressed. It was clear that it was not over. I had meetings with them in the 90’s and whenever I brought up the issue of fixing, they quickly moved on to other topics,” he said. “ICC never tackled corruption seriously. They were living in denial.”

Bacher had been instrumental in getting Cronje sacked from the South African team and later sensationally revealed that two matches between India and Pakistan and Bangladesh and Pakistan in the 1999 World Cup in England had been fixed.

He was castigated for making allegations without evidence. “There were so many that got away in the 1990’s because there was no evidence. Match fixing is a lot older. Who knows when it started - it could be carrying on for many decades.”

He said the easiest way to stop corruption is get the players to sign central contracts in front of the camera. “Put a ‘code of ethics’ clause on the contract and get the cricketer to sign it on TV. People then know that if the said cricketer is found to have links with bookies, they know what clause has been violated and how much punishment that cricketer will get for it. It’s simple and fast process.”
Bacher said Pakistan cricketers were more susceptible to corruption, because they were not paid well.

“India, Australian and English players are paid handsomely. And Pak cricketers don’t even get a fraction of that — it makes them more vulnerable. Still there is no excuse for letting cricket down.”