Gibbs and Williams at the King Commission hearing in Cape Town

Kuper said the pair "were found guilty of conspiracy, and not match-fixing."

He added: "We have given proper consideration to the rules of the ICC, but felt that the imposition of a life ban would go beyond what is fair and proper under these circumstances.

"We tried to strike a balance between taking into account the interests of cricket and of the players."

Plan

The plan was for Gibbs to score less than 20 and for Williams to conceded more than 50 runs in his 10 overs in Nagpur, for which each was to receive US $15,000.

Neither player was in fact paid with Gibbs scoring 74 off 55 balls, while Williams was forced to go off injured after bowling just 11 deliveries. South Africa won the game by 10 runs to take the one-day series 3-2.

"When Gibbs came to bat, he had closed his mind to the corruption and his was a temporary fall from grace," Kuper explained.

"By the time Williams came to bowl, Cronje had in any case already abandoned the plan."

Strydom: In the clear

A third player, batsman Pieter Strydom, was cleared of breaching regulations governing betting on matches and no action has been taken against him.

Cronje was sacked as national captain in April after admitting that he received money from bookmakers for match information.

The decision to limit the ban until 31 December will come as particular relief to 26-year-old Gibbs, who is rated as one of the best young batsmen in world cricket.

He has so far played in 21 Tests, with a best score of 211 not out, and 59 one-day internationals.

Turmoil

In a statement, Gibbs said: "Since April, my life has been in complete turmoil and I believe the past four months have been the worst of my life. I have obviously had an opportunity of reflecting on my actions in Nagpur and have come to appreciate fully my stupidity."

Cronje: Made a public for leniency to Gibbs

"I can but once again apologise to the South African public in general and in particular to my team mates, the United Cricket Board and its managing director Dr Ali Bacher.

"I have learned my lesson and I hope sincerely that my experience will serve as a reminder to anyone who finds himself in a similar situation."

Gibbs was left out of the squad for recent trips to Sri Lanka, Australia and Singapore and the ban means he will also miss the ICC Knockout tournament in Kenya in October and the ensuing home series against New Zealand.

Williams has played seven one-day games, taking nine wickets at an average of 25.33, but he is now 33 and the ban may mean his international career is over.

Neither player attended Monday's news conference but Bacher said Williams regarded the sentence as "fair" and was looking forward to starting afresh.