Released by Delhi Police to the media, the transcript was allegedly taken from police recordings made in Nagpur before the last of the five matches in the South Africa-India one-day series last month.

It appears to shed light on reports -- since denied -- of a disagreement between Cronje and all-rounder Lance Klusener.

According to the transcript, an aggressive innings by Klusener scuppered a 'deal' organised between Cronje and a bookmaker to limit South Africa's score in the final match of the recent one-day series in India. Cronje allegedly assured bookmaker Chawla that the South African 'target' was 270 runs.

Chawla is alleged to have said: "OK, so if it touches 270, it's off." But the South African tail, inspired by a swashbuckling performance from Klusener, added 80 runs in the last eight overs to reach 320 runs, apparently wrecking the deal.

The transcript alleges that Cronje told the bookie he would use non-regular bowlers in the match, which he did.

Ali Bacher, Managing Director of the United Cricket Board of South Africa (UCB), has refused to comment on the transcript.

"There is going to be an inquiry headed by a judge, who will probably be appointed next week," he said, referring to a commission of inquiry being set up by the South African government to probe the allegations of match-fixing.

Delhi police claims that Cronje and three other South African players were involved in match-fixing during the one-day series.

Cronje's lawyer, Leslie Sackstein, told the Sunday Independent newspaper that he knew nothing about the transcript.

"I've never seen this before," he said. "It really would be helpful if the Delhi Police was more forthcoming. It seems to have decided to release information in serial form to the media."

Radio talks shows, meanwhile, were flooded with callers expressing disbelief at the transcript and expressing support for the beleaguered ex-skipper. Opinion polls have shown a surge of support for Cronje despite his admissions of being on the take.

Some callers, however, admitted to being shocked by what seems to be clinching evidence against Cronje and said they were finding it increasingly difficult to continue believing his denials of match-fixing.

The Johannesburg Sunday Times, meanwhile, quoted leading Indian legal experts as saying they doubted Cronje could indeed by charged with match-fixing in an Indian court as a number of procedures involved in the tapping of his telephone had not been done according to the book and that police had prejudiced its own case by releasing the transcripts to the media.

The disgraced skipper has gone to ground, according to Afrikaans-language newspaper Rapport, which said his house in the central city of Bloemfontein as well as his 'millionaire's holiday home' in the Cape resort town of George were both deserted.