FORMER Bradford League player Ethy Mbhalati, who has been banned from playing for ten years by Cricket South Africa, knows he made a bad mistake that he will regret for a long time.

The Bradford & Bingley overseas professional, who played in the league in 2006 and 2007, has been found guilty of breaches of the Anti-Corruption Code relating to match fixing in the 2015 Ram Slam Twenty20 competition.

In all, four South Africans have been banned for a total of 39 years – former national Test keeper Thami Tsolekile for 12 years, Jean Symes for seven and Pumelala Matshikwe for ten – effectively ending their careers.

The quartet accepted their bans, which began on August 1 and prevents them from participating or being involved in cricket in any capacity.

Symes, Matshikwe and pace bowler Mbhalati expressed regret over their actions and issued apologies in CSA's press release. The release, however, did not include a statement from Tsolekile.

Mbhalati, 34, was contracted to Titans, while the other three were with the Lions franchise.

Former Wagon Lane star Mbhalati admitted: "I made a bad mistake which I will regret for a very long time.

"I would like to do all I can to prevent other players finding themselves in the difficult situation I now find myself in."

Mbhalati and Matshikwe, who has had three years of his ban suspended, have been banned for: "Receiving a payment or incentive to fix or contrive to influence improperly a match or matches in the 2015 RAM SLAM; making a payment which in the circumstances would bring the sport of cricket into disrepute; failing to disclose to the CSA Anti-Corruption officer a payment which they knew or ought to have known was given to them to procure a breach of the Code; failing to disclose details of an approach to engage in corrupt conduct and failing to disclose full details of matters evidencing a breach of the Code by another participant."

The 35-year-old Tsolekili, who won three caps 12 years ago, was being investigated for allegedly receiving at least 75,000 Rand (£4,200) to influence last year's competition and was punished on four counts.

Tsolekile, who has also captained Lions, was sanctioned for "contriving to fix a match or matches in the 2015 Ram Slam and failing to disclose to the CSA Anti-Corruption Officer the full details of an approach to engage in corrupt conduct".

He was also banned for "failing to disclose full details of matters evidencing a breach of the Code by another participant; and obstructing or delaying the investigation by destroying evidence that was relevant to the investigation".

All-rounder Symes was banned for failing to disclose to the anti-corruption unit a payment "which he knew or ought to have known was given to him to procure a breach of the Code".

He was also charged with "failing to disclose details of an approach to engage in corrupt conduct under the Code; failing to disclose full details of matters evidencing a breach of the Code by another participant; and failing to co-operate with the investigators by knowingly providing false information to them".

CSA chief executive Haroon Lorgat said that while there was no evidence to suggest that an "actual fix in a match had been carried out", the players had participated in "material discussions about match-fixing".