It was in Kanpur that Hansie Cronje was invited by Mohammad Azharuddin to meet a keen cricket fan; I was present when they were introduced in the lobby and then they went off to a room. What happened then has been recorded at the King Commission held in 2000 in Cape Town.

During the early years of speculation, people looked for any signs that money might have exchanged hands. The Pakistan against Bangladesh game [during the 1999 World Cup] at Northampton was a case in point.

The first games looked at were those slating minnows against the big boys, and now recent newspaper reports suggest that South Africa's game against Zimbabwe at Chelmsford is suspect because Zimbabwe beat us. On the day Zimbabwe played better cricket and we were extremely disappointed - in fact Cronje and I had an argument over the way we had prepared for the game, having gone to Holland for the match before, which he felt was disruptive.

Our travel plans were poor and we stayed in a hotel miles out of town. The dressing-rooms at Chelmsford are too small for touring teams and the net bowlers were poor at practice. A lot of small things started to conspire against our preparation.

By the time the Zimbabwe game arrived we were all pretty ratty. That, more than any other reason, was why we did not perform to our best. Also, in those days Zimbabwe were a good team and not the complete underdogs they are now. They were quite capable of beating anyone in the tournament. There was no question of any betting or bookie involvement that I knew about.

Even more bizarre is that the detectives have been asked to take a look at the earpieces (and microphones) that were used at Hove during the game against India. I say bizarre because, quite frankly, the earpieces were used for one hour and ten minutes before we were instructed to stop by the match referee.

The players then did not have any microphones or transmitters with them - it was only one-way communication, from the coach to the player. The practice has since been banned by the ICC. Allan Donald and Cronje were wearing the two earpieces but any suggestion that we were using them for betting purposes is mere speculation and far removed from the truth.

I guess that my career as a coach will go down as one with its fair share of controversy and trying to explain exactly what really happened. At the same time, it is very disappointing that Cronjegate has resurfaced after six years.

More importantly I need to concentrate on the cricket that we [Pakistan] are playing. Normal service has to be resumed.