Inquiry hears from Bacher

South African cricket boss Ali Bacher made sensational claims yesterday about match-fixing in international cricket, including 1999 World Cup matches in England.

Bacher told the King Commission of Inquiry that he had been told by former Pakistan cricket chief executive Majid Khan that two World Cup matches involving Pakistan, against India and Bangladesh, were "fixed".

Bacher also said he had information from an Indian bookmaker that Pakistani umpire Javed Akhtar was "on the payroll" when he made eight crucial decisions against South Africa in their decisive Test against England in Leeds in 1998.

And he revealed a conversation on a South African domestic flight between a leading South African sponsor and a man who appeared to be Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar, who gave details of how matches were fixed.

Bacher did not give details of how the World Cup matches, Pakistan-Bangladesh and Pakistan-India, had been fixed and said only that Khan had made the allegations during the Wimbledon tennis championships in 1999.

Regarding the 1998 South Africa-England test, Bacher identified his source, the Indian bookmaker as "Mr R", from Mumbai.

After South Africa lost the Leeds Test in controversial circumstances he had phoned Mr R and asked him whether umpire Akhtar could have been "bought". At that stage Mr R said he did not have evidence.

But when Bacher was in Mumbai for the first Test in India in February this year, Mr R had told him that he had established that a leading bookmaker from Karachi had flown to Leeds before the Test "to ensure that his client complied".

Meanwhile, South African all rounder Lance Klusener and wicket keeper Mark Boucher testified that they were approached by Hansie Cronje with an offer of a bribe.

Klusener and Boucher said they, and all rounder Jacques Kallis, had been approached by Cronje before the second Test of South Africa's tour in India in Bangalore in March.

Cronje told them there was an offer for them to make money during the game, but they had interpreted it as a joke and only regarded it seriously after Cronje was fired as captain in April after he admitted taking money from an Indian bookmaker.