Two South African Test players are under investigation as part of the RAM SLAM match-fixing scandal, according to newspaper reports.
The Daily Mail made the claim last night, as Cricket South Africa’s probe into alleged corruption in its domestic Twenty20 competition continues. Neither player is said to have been involved in the current Test series against England, but both are described as “active” cricketers.
CSA is aware of the latest reports but said: “No comment can be made as an investigation is still ongoing.”
#CSA Bodi has been charged with "contriving to fix, or otherwise improperly influence aspects of the 2015 RAM SLAM T20 Challenge Series."
— EWN Sport (@EWNsport) January 14, 2016Gulam Bodi, who played two one-day internationals and one Twenty20 for South Africa in 2007, was named this week as the ‘intermediary’ charged in December under CSA’s anti-corruption code, but there has been widespread speculation that other names would follow.
Bodi’s charge is a grave enough development in a country that was severely scarred by the match-fixing of former Proteas captain Hansie Cronje 16 years ago, but any involvement of recently-capped Test players would be seismic.
Cronje was not just a beloved sportsman in his country, but a national figurehead and ambassador in the post-Apartheid years following readmission. His confession in 2000 that he had taken bribes from bookmakers to help fix matches was a tumultuous moment for the nation, as was his death in a plane crash two years later.
Bodi, who was previously best known in England as the man whose selection for Natal under the old quota system forced Kevin Pietersen to pack his bags for county cricket, was charged with “contriving to fix, or otherwise improperly influence” matches in this season’s RAM SLAM.
CSA chief executive Haroon Lorgat said on Thursday: “Mr Bodi is presently co-operating with the CSA anti-corruption officials. We now await his response to the charges and the matter will take its course in accordance with the process outlined in the code.”
Bodi has been handed a provisional suspension by CSA, preventing him from any involvement in formally organised cricket, at home or abroad.
