25 January,2011 09:14 AM IST | | Sai Mohan
Peter Strydom, who was involved in the 2000 match-fixing scandal, talks about his time in the SA team and how he misses 'inspirational' Cronje Peter Strydom.u00a0PIC COURTESY/CRICINFO
Peter Strydom was one of five South African cricketers besides the late Hansie Cronje who was summoned by the King Commission for the match-fixing scandal that broke out in 2000. Strydom was acquitted of conspiring to bet on the outcome of the Centurion Test against England in January 2000, which was incidentally his Test debut.
Thereafter, Strydom played in the Mumbai Test in February 2000 as a replacement for the injured Jonty Rhodes. South Africa won that Test by four wickets. It was during that series when seeds were sown for Delhi Police's raid on Cronje, Strydom, Herschelle Gibbs, Henry Williams and Nicky Boje.u00a0
In April later that year, Delhi Police released transcripts of a conversation between Cronje and Sanjay Chawla, an Indian businessman (who was revealed to be a bookie). At the time, Cronje rubbished the entire issue, but pleaded guilty at a later stage.
Strydom, however, never did. He was eventually acquitted of all charges by the King Commission. "I still plead not guilty. I don't know how many names popped up in there. Those were the dark days in our cricket structure.
"I had gotten close to Hansie because I played a lot of my cricket in the Eastern Province region. I heard about the trauma he underwent. I wish I could turn back the clock and if things could become normal again," he says.
Inspirational
"Hansie was an inspirational captain. Anyone who played under him will vouch for that. He's sorely missed. I wish he was still around," an emotional Strydom says.
"I started very late in my career. It took me eight full years of first-class cricket to finally get to the international level. Maybe I just wasn't good enough to play more than two Tests and 10 ODIs.
There were players like Jacques Kallis and Herschelle Gibbs who were a lot better than me. I still have my South Africa blazer and I am proud of it," he says.
His Test debut was a controversial one. In the match hampered by heavy showers, South Africa declared at 248-8 after which England declared at 0-0. This was followed by the hosts forfeiting their second-innings to set up England a run-chase of 249. The latter won the Test by two wickets.
