‘I was just playing along’ – Alviro
ALVIRO Petersen, pictured, has admitted he “played along” with others involved in last season’s match-fixing scandal that rocked South Africa’s RamSlam T20 tournament and that he “never fixed a match‚ agreed to fix a match‚ or contrived to fix a match”.
In a statement from his lawyer, Robin Twaddle, Petersen maintains that he was in “constant contact” with the investigative team that was established to probe the scandal, which led to lengthy bannings for Gulam Bodi – described as the “intermediary” between players and illegal betting syndicates – Thami Tsolekile, Pumelela Matshikwe, Jean Symes and Ethy Mbhalati.
On Saturday Cricket South Africa provisionally suspended Petersen from all involvement in cricket – coaching, playing or otherwise – and gave him 14 days to respond to a number of charges, claiming he breached the organisation’s anti-corruption code.
“Alviro acknowledges and admits that he played along with other persons involved in the scandal so as not to alert them to the fact that an investigation was under way,” Twaddle’s statement read.
“While Alviro is willing to take responsibility for his actions over this period, although they were taken in good faith under the circumstances at the time, he could not reach an agreement with CSA because he believes that the sanctions which would have been imposed were disproportionate to Alviro’s actions and do not take sufficient cognisance of the defences and mitigating circumstances put forward by Alviro.”
Petersen has consistently acknowledged that he was the whistle-blower who raised the alarm about the scandal last season.
“When Alviro first learnt at the end of July 2016 that charges were contemplated against him‚ he was surprised because he felt that he had co-operated with the investigative team as fully as he was required to,” the statement continued.
Petersen trained with his franchise, the Highveld Lions, last week in anticipation of playing at the weekend in the opening round of the domestic T20 Challenge – the tournament that has replaced the RamSlam but is without a sponsor this season.
Cricket SA acted quickly upon seeing his name in the Lions’ squad, and then made the charges public on Saturday morning.