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King's interim report put off till Aug 11: AFP

The King Commission's interim report into match-fixing in South African cricket, due to be handed over on Friday, will be delayed to August 11, the commission secretary said in Cape Town on Thursday.

Commission head Judge Edwin King was due to deliver the interim report to President Thabo Mbeki on Friday, the day the South African team leaves on a tour of Sri Lanka.

Mbeki extended the period by which King has to present the report, commission secretary John Bacon said in the statement. "The extension has been necessitated by the volume of work involved in preparation of the interim report," he said.

After 10 days of hearings, spread over more than three weeks, the commission adjourned on Monday to enable King to prepare his report and for further investigation to be conducted.

Hearings are not expected to resume till September.

King has said he would not be offering firm recommendations in his interim report.

He also did not expect to rule on whether disgraced former South African captain Hansie Cronje qualified for indemnity from criminal prosecution, an offer dependent on the judge finding that Cronje told him the "whole truth".

Cronje has admitted to the commission to receiving money from gamblers and bookmakers on five occasions between 1996 and 2000.