At the forefront is Hansie Cronje, the former South African captain, who admitted to match-fixing after becoming entangled with Indian bookmakers. His most notorious scheme occurred during the inconsequential fifth Test against England at Centurion Park in 2000. Despite heavy rain severely impacting the match, Cronje insisted on all possible efforts to avoid a draw.
Cronje struck a deal with England’s captain Nasser Hussain to forfeit an innings, setting up a run-chase on the final day. Unaware of the manipulation, the English team completed the chase, while Cronje had engineered the outcome.
Agnew: “This was unbelievable. It came to light by accident. The Delhi police were trying to tap a phone of a bookmaker and accidentally tapped the phone of Hansie Cronje. Thank goodness they did because hopefully it is now much more difficult for a player to manipulate games of cricket.”
Zaltzman: “At the time, we all thought it was good. Cronje’s generous deal made a contest on the final day of a dead rubber. Until the true story came out, we didn’t realise what had gone was criminal. The shock of the story merits its place in this countdown.”
Finn: “A lot of these things have been the catalyst for necessary change in cricket and this was the biggest one.”
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