Ten years after he was killed in a mysterious plane crash, former South African cricket captain Hansie Cronje remains an enigmatic figure in the sport.
Cronje has often been hailed as a brilliant leader of men who lost just 11 of his 53 Tests as captain and won 99 of the 138 one-day internationals at the helm between 1994 and 2000. But the man who inspired thousands in post-apartheid South Africa showed his ugly side in 2000 when he admitted to accepting bribes from illegal bookmakers to influence matches. Cronje testified before South Africa’s government-appointed King Commission probing corruption in cricket that his “great passion of the game and for my team-mates” was matched by “an unfortunate love of money”.
Cronje was banned from the game for life in October, 2000, six months after New Delhi police accused him of taking money from bookie Sanjeev Chawla during his team’s Indian tour that year.
Two years later, on June 1, 2002, he was dead aged 32 when a light plane in which he was travelling crashed into the mountains near the South African coastal town of George in bad weather.
Cape Town judge Siraj Desai, who conducted an inquest into the crash, blamed the two dead pilots for the tragedy, saying they failed to follow correct procedures for a missed landing approach.
At the time of his death, Cronje was working as a financial manager with a firm that dealt in earth-moving machinery, a far cry from the days when he strode world cricket like a colossus.
A born-again Christian, Cronje initially denied any wrongdoing, but later became the first cricketer to publicly admit his involvement with corrupt bookmakers.
Two former Test captains, Salim Malik of Pakistan and Mohammad Azharuddin of India, who were also banned for life by their respective boards following a probe by India’s Central Bureau of Invesigation (CBI), have consistently denied any role in match-fixing. But the menace just refuses to go away despite the International Cricket Council pouring millions of dollars into its Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) to check malpractices in the sport. West Indies all-rounder Marlon Samuels was banned for two years in 2008 for allegedly passing on match-related information to an Indian bookie during his team’s one-day series in India the previous year. In 2010, two Essex cricketers, Pakistani international Danish Kaneria and Mervyn Westfield, were hauled up on spot-fixing charges following an investigation into betting irregularities in county cricket – Westfield was to be jailed earlier this year. Worse, three Pakistani stars — Test captain Salman Butt and fast bowlers Mohammad Aamir and Mohammad Asif — were jailed last year after being found guilty of spot-fixing during the 2010 Lord’s Test against England.
Anger, sympathy for ‘great leader’.
When Hansie Cronje died in an air crash 10 years ago, cricket lost an inspirational leader and the sport’s most high-profile self-confessed cheat. “He was a great leader of people who had the ability to get the best out of his players,” said former team-mate and current South African coach Gary Kirsten when asked for his main memory of the sporting icon who was banned for life for accepting money from illegal gamblers.
Cronje, who captained South Africa to 27 wins against only 11 losses in 53 Tests before his disgrace, was the only passenger on a mail delivery flight which crashed into a mountain near his home town of George in bad weather early on June 1 2002. He was 32.
“He was a fantastic team-mate and captain, always positive, enthusiastic and supportive,” said former South African wicketkeeper David Richardson, the International Cricket Council’s general manager, cricket. Richardson said his reaction when details were revealed of Cronje’s involvement with cricket’s underworld was “huge disappointment, a little anger and some sympathy for what you would not wish on anyone”. But Richardson said there was a positive side to the revelations made at the King Commission, a judicial inquiry set up in South Africa in 2000 after Indian police intercepted telephone calls between Cronje and Sanjiv Chawla, a London-based gambler, during South Africa’s tour of India that year.
“Until then, most believed the problem, if there was one, was limited to the sub-continent. The King Commission dealt with the matter effectively and unambiguously. The players were investigated, were found guilty and punished.” In addition to Cronje being banned for life, Herschelle Gibbs and Henry Williams were banned until the end of 2000 for being persuaded by Cronje to accept money in return for under-performing in a one-day international in Nagpur.
Richardson said he believed that measures taken by the ICC to combat corruption were effective.
“Today, no player in international cricket is able to say, hand on heart, he is not aware of the dangers and of his responsibilities. Unfortunately, the corruptors will not leave the players alone — the fight is ongoing.”
Kirsten agreed with Richardson that the King Commission had helped clean up the game. “It created an awareness for cricketers around the world of the consequences of getting involved in something like this.”
Ali Bacher, the former managing director of the United Cricket Board of South Africa, said he felt sorry for the Cronje family as the anniversary of the death approached. “It is something that never escapes them.”
Bacher believes Cronje realised he was trapped and wanted to escape from the clutches of his corruptors.
“There were two incidents which, in retrospect, show how badly he wanted to get out,” said Bacher.
“The first was in 1999 when he accepted an offer to coach and play for Glamorgan in the English county championship, although he was still under contract to play for South Africa.