Johannesburg: Former South Africa coach Graham Ford, who worked as an assistant under Bob Woolmer, said the murdered Pakistan coach had never spoken seriously about match-fixing during his time with the Proteas.

Ford was South Africa’s assistant coach in 1999, Woolmer handing over the reins after the World Cup in England that year.

Within a year, South Africa captain Hansie Cronje’s dealings with bookmakers had been exposed, leading to his sacking. Cronje died in a plane crash in 2002, which a 2006 commission of inquiry ruled to be accidental.

“Bob was such an honest guy that he believed others were too, and that match-fixing wasn’t really going on,” Ford, the current coach of Kent, said over the phone on Monday.

“I really don’t think he ever suspected any match-fixing was going on in the South African camp.

“If there was ever any mention of match-fixing from Bob, it was only jokingly,” Ford said. “We never had any serious chats about match-fixing, although occasionally, if something went wrong in the opposition camp, we would jokingly wonder if they did it on purpose.”

Clive Rice, South Africa’s first post-isolation captain, was widely quoted at the weekend as saying Woolmer confided in him about match-fixing and that he “named names”.

Rice said the discussion occurred in 2000 during a County match between the teams they were coaching, Nottinghamshire and Warwickshire, respectively, but declined to elaborate. (REUTERS)