News

Gibbs and Boje pull out of India tour

Herschelle Gibbs and Nicky Boje have confirmed that they won't be touring India for the five-match one-day series during November

Cricinfo staff
31-Oct-2005


Gibbs won't to be jumping on a plane for India © Getty Images
Herschelle Gibbs and Nicky Boje have confirmed that they won't be touring India for the five-match one-day series during November. The players have been unable to get a clear ruling on what would happen to them if they enter India, with the authorities still wanting to interview them over alleged involvement in match-fixing.
"There has been a considerable amount of effort put into this especially in the past few weeks, " said Tony Irish, the chief executive officer of the South Africa Cricketers Association. "Despite this, however, we are still not able to determine the intentions of the police and whether or not the safety and freedom of these players can be guaranteed.
"It's extremely unfortunate because it's very clear to me that Nicky has never done anything wrong and the Indian police won't tell us what they think he may have done wrong. He also co-operated with all requirements given to us by the police prior to last year's tour and it's difficult to understand what else he can possibly do now.
"As far as Herschelle is concerned, he paid for what he did years ago by serving a ban which was sanctioned by the ICC at the time."
Gibbs and Boje had agreed to be questioned in a neutral country but the offer was rejected by the Indian authorities.
Gibbs told the Afrikaan newspaper Rapport: "I am willing to go to Dubai or any neutral county to meet with the Indian police, but they are not interested. I desperately want to tour with my team-mates but I can only go if I am 100% sure nothing will happen to me there."