Hansie scandal: more damning evidence

Delhi police have released new transcripts of alleged conversations between former South African cricket captain Hansie Cronje and an illegal bookmaker that they claim further implicate Cronje in match-fixing practices.

The new allegations were yesterday carried in the Australian newspaper the Melbourne Age which published a short excerpt from the new transcript.

A police source said a special team had been sent to Bombay to investigate possible links between the Cronje case and Dubai-based Bombay underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, and was expected to make arrests in the west coast city.

The latest transcripts allegedly refer to the last of a five-match series in Nagpur last month. In the transcripts, Cronje indicates to the bookmaker, Sanjiv Chawla, that off-spinner Derek Crookes will open the bowling; that other "non-regular bowlers" will bowl; and that India will make at least 250 runs. All this came to pass the following day.

The transcripts read:

Chawla: "Who will bowl the first overs?"

Cronje: "Crookes and (Henry) Williams."

Elsewhere in the conversation, Cronje informs Chawla that Lance Klusener will be the first change bowler, a "prediction" borne out in the match.

He tells Chawla not to worry: "We will be bowling our non-regular bowlers."

Pieter Strydom, not a regular bowler, received a full quota of 10 overs.

The revelations come as the International Cricket Council has ordered South African cricket officials to conduct a swift and exhaustive inquiry.

On Thursday Cronje vehemently denied he or any of the other team members had been involved in any "match fixing". He also said he had never lost a match on purpose.