Pieter Strydom became embroiled in the world match-fixing scandal

The charges were based on a tapes of a telephone conversation, supposedly between Cronje and a bookmaker, but all four protested their innocence.

The pressure on Cronje intensified, however, and he later told the King Commission hearings, set up by the United Cricket Board of South Africa, that he had accepted money from bookmakers in return for match information.

And Gibbs and seam bowler Henry Williams admitted they accepted offers from Cronje to under-perform in the final one-day game in Nagpur in return for $15,000.

It led to them being banned for the rest of the year, even though they did not go through with their end of the deal and were not in fact paid.

Events on the field during the tour had served to confirm South Africa's growing reputation as a major force in Test cricket.

India gained some consolation with victory in the one-day series

India gained a measure of revenge by taking the one-day series 3-2.

They were games which saw some sparkling batting by both sides - notably at Kochi and Vadodam where India, batting second, made scores of 302 and 283 to win and Nagpur where they lost by only 10 runs after making 310 in reply to South Africa's 320 for seven.

The tourists returned home after losing to Pakistan in the final of a triangular series in Sharjah, Cronje's final appearance for his country after 69 Test matches and 188 one-day internationals.