Gibbs and Boje all set to do the entirely unpredictable

With the ICC Champions Trophy a reality now, South Africa yet again face the issue of Herschelle Gibbs and Nicky Boje touring India.

The issue first cropped up in 2004 during South Africa's tour of India when the tourists bored the spectators so much that one chap tried to inject some shots of excitement. India won the series 1-0.

In the lead-up to the series, South Africa's cricket administrators wanted a guarantee from the BCCI that no action would be taken by the New Delhi police against Boje and Gibbs for their involvement in the match-fixing scandal which was broken by that department in April 2000.

When it became obvious that the BCCI would issue no such guarantee, the UCBSA tried to up the ante by threatening to cancel the tour, a threat which was evidently a dangerous ploy, given that the UCB was committed to the ICC Future Tours Programme as well as the mandatory co-operation required of boards in investigating the match-fixing issue.

After a lot of vacillation, Boje and Gibbs decided not to see the Taj Mahal after all!

Act II played itself out last year when the two decided that they were in it together, for good or for bad, and (yawn!) pulled out from the one-day series in India.

I hope the BCCI, the government and the New Delhi police continue to stick to their guns. Gibbs and Boje aren't exactly "wanted" men. They're required to be interrogated as part of an investigation into an offence which they admitted to being abettors, willingly or unwillingly.

Herschelle and Nicky, just do us a favour. Don't even bother to come here. Cricketers who don't co-operate with investigating authorities, demand that they be treated specially etc. are, in my book, persona non grata.

Labels: match fixing