Cricket South Africa has acted tough on four of its players – Jean Symes, Thami Tsolkile, Ethy Mbhalathi and Pumela Matshikwe as the board has handed over hefty ban on these players for their alleged involvement in match fixing.
The official release issued by CSA stated that Tsolekile will face a 12-year ban whereas Mbhalathi and Matshikwe are slapped 10-year ban from playing cricket. Symes has been handed over a 7-year ban.
Wicketkeeper Tsolekile has been given the most severe bans among all the four because he was the one who engineered the match fixing in Ram Slam T20 in 2015. CSA said that he did not provide full details the CSA and tried to destroy relevant information which delayed the investigation process.
Mbhalathi and Matshikwe took money to fix one or more matches playing for Titans and Lions respectively. Symes was punished for the fact that he did not disclose to the board about a payment he received during the time which procured a breach of the code.
All the four players have accepted the bans, which are active from August 1.
Haroon Lorgat, the chief executive of CSA, said, “Whilst there has been no evidence to suggest that an actual fix in any match was carried out, these players all participated in material discussions about match fixing. In fact, they all went further and accepted, or agreed to accept in the future, sums of money which they knew or ought to have known was given to them to partake in activity that would amount to a breach of the Code, or bring the game into disrepute.”
“Our attitude towards any form of corruption is clear and hence why we have imposed such firm sanctions.” he added.
David Richardson, the ICC chief executive has lauded CSA’s effort to curb corruption He said, “I would like to commend my colleagues at Cricket South Africa for conducting such a thorough investigation and for working in partnership with the ICC Anti-Corruption Unit.”
