Boje was one of four players charged by Indian police following a tour in 2000 and has not been back there since.

But Bacher said: "Nicky Boje was innocent. I know that for a fact. I can read people."

South Africa has yet to decide whether to pick Boje for the ICC Champions Trophy in India later this year.

But India's Board of Control recently offered to lobby the government on behalf of Boje and opening batsman Herschelle Gibbs, another player police still want to question about alleged corruption.

Bacher was in charge of the United Cricket Board when the match-fixing scandal broke.

Indian police charged Cronje, Gibbs, Boje and teammate Piet Strydom were charged with "cheating, fraud and criminal conspiracy relating to match fixing and betting" on the basis of taped telephone conversations between Cronje and a bookmaker.

Boje has always denied any involvement in the affair, but Gibbs acknowledged accepting £11,180 to score fewer than 20 runs against India in a limited-overs international.

He in fact made 74 and suggested he had "forgotten" about the deal but was subsequently fined and suspended from cricket for six months.

Bacher told the Press Trust of India that match-fixing was one of the three biggest crises in the history of international cricket, along with England's Bodyline Tests against Australia in the 1930s and the Kerry Packer World Series affair which split the game in the 70s.

"It was very traumatic. I was fiercely criticised in South Africa for not supporting Hansie Cronje, but I had to see the bigger picture," he said.