Alviro Petersen, the former South Africa opener, has emerged as the highest profile and most intriguing player to be sucked into the match-fixing scandal that has rocked South African cricket.
Wisden India quoted that Petersen was one of five players from the Lions franchise, three of whom are former Proteas, to be approached by middleman Gulam Bodi as Bodi attempted to fix aspects of last year’s Ram Slam Twenty20 competition. One player from the Titans franchise was also approached.
Lonwabo Tsotsobe and Thami Tsolekile are the other two former South Africa and Lions players. It is also understood that two further players from the franchise are being investigated, even though they did not play in the Ram Slam tournament. All five Lions players are former teammates of Bodi, whose final game for the franchise came in January last year.
Yet Petersen, who retired from international cricket last January after opening the batting in 36 Tests, is the most interesting of the lot. While it has been established that he met Bodi and went on to engage with the Indian gentlemen behind the former South Africa allrounder’s overtures, Petersen is believed to have turned whistleblower and revealed everything to Cricket South Africa’s Anti-Corruption unit.
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