The Hanse Cronje Story

On June 1st 2002, Hansie Cronje, arguably one of the greatest South African cricket captains, died in a plane crash in the Outeniqua Mountains. He was 32. It brought to an end the colourful career of a dedicated cricketer a husband and a favourite son of South Africa.

Penned by Garth King, the biography was written to give the public closure on the sensitive subject, one that has rocked not only South Africa but the cricketing world. In addition, the hope that the people would learn from the good and the bad from Hansie’s far too short a life was also in the family’s mind allowing this project to proceed. The thing that struck me more than anything is that this is a well-balanced biography. It includes perhaps some of Hansie’s darker moments along with the good, the good times and the bad together with the realisation that he made one grave error during his cricketing career that spiralled out of control.

He was prone to sulking if a result on the field didn’t go his way, unreasonable and unwilling to be the butt of a joke despite handing out the pranks himself. One such example as King writes “he would tune the team bus’s radio to static and then crank up the volume”. However when an identical prank was played on the sleeping captain he was not best pleased, in King’s words he was “unreasonably grumpy”.

Brought up in privileged surroundings along with his brother Frans and sister Hester, Cronje enjoyed the good life that his family and sport afforded him often watching Welsh rugby on the video courtesy of a highlights video that was played constantly. Similar to Donald Bradman, Hansie had to choose between cricket and tennis as a teenager. He chose cricket and never looked back.

While participating in a blesbok (purplish antelope in South Africa) culling on Oom Wiester’s 2000ha farm, Cronje took himself away from the furore eventually he caught up with him sitting alone quietly contemplating.

“Oom, did you know that I have had one big problem in my life? I have never been a child. I’ve never had the privilege of being a child? Do you know how nice it is just to sit here and be still?

I can only surmise that he didn’t include his countless hours of playing backyard rugby and cricket with his brother and sister and friend and team mate Allan Donald. Cronje was always seen as a leader, even as a youngster and tremendous pressure was placed on his shoulders from a very young age.

A pupil at Grey College, Hansie was very successful in everything he put his mind to. Tommie Cronje, a long distant relation and teacher of his, echoed the fact that Hansie was a leader of men. “Hansie stood out as a leader who was well balanced and who had a fine sense of humour. Whenever he gave his opinion the others would pay very close attention.” This included teacher and pupils alike.

For me the book lies in two halves. Part one looks at his childhood, growing up at Paul Kruger Avenue, family and his friends both on and off the field. The second and the most emotive section of the book looks back at the betting scandals, the temptations thrown his way to throw a match, the King commission and finally his death.

The biography tells how Hansie was hounded by the press during the commission, the biggest grievance being the manner of reporting from reporters often given access to Cronje at all times of the day. It wasn’t only the press that hurt Hansie but his former colleagues. Allan Donald had lashed out and Hansie attempted to heal the rift with a two hour chat. Donald said of the meeting “I sat and cried and talked to him for two hours in Bloemfontein. He acknowledged he was greedy, but assured me he had never fixed a game. I believed him and always will. Our friendship was renewed.”

King’s biography also includes, word for word Hansie’s signed statement on June 15th 2000. It makes remarkable reading and describes in detail those who had tempted him to alter a game’s conclusion with money and gifts. Hansie as we learn from the book and from Ali Bacher (upon his death) that he was the only person to hold his head up high and admit his mistakes.

In fact had it not been for his candour, had he remained silent, with very little evidence available it’s quite possible that he would have not been held accountable. It is obvious when reading the book how the pressure had built up over a period of time and he felt he had no choice. He had for all intents and purposes been backed into a corner. There is no doubt that given the frankness of his confession, it brought match fixing to the fore and saved the long term future of cricket.

His last flight, the missed family meetings we all put off if we are rushed for time and the aftermath of his death are covered emotionally in the later stages of the biography. At 8:30 in the evening Bertha, Hansie’s wife spoke to him on the phone. He had missed his earlier connection due to poor weather and was hours from boarding the cargo plane owned by Air-Quarius Aviation. Hansie ended the conversation with “Ek is baie lief vir jou. Engel” (I love you a lot, Angel) – these were the last words he spoke with his wife.

You are unlikely to read a more emotional biography than this one. I have always had an interest in South African cricket and for me Hansie will always be remembered as THE South African cricket captain – he is my generation. This books gives a wonderfully balanced view, seeking interviews from friends and family throughout and written in an easy style. Perhaps more importantly for the family, it has given them a chance to set the record straight – it has certainly been done fairly. Highly recommended

Available to buy from Amazon.

Pakistan future in doubt

With the second Test match starting in Kingsmead, Durban this Friday Australia has its hands full according the latest odds across the board. Betfair have South Africa at 2/1 to win with Australia at 13/5 and the draw an outside chance at 6/4.

Despite the predicted second Test win for South Africa, Australia are clear favourites to take the series with odds of 4/5. South Africa is a distant 9/2 with a healthy offer of 11/4 for the draw.

I was quite surprised when I noticed this earlier today especially given the fact that Australia won the first Test in Johannesburg by 162 runs. In a shortened series anything could happen I guess and one thing is for sure – the Boks will be up for revenge after the bowlers failed to take advantage of the visitors in the first innings.

Following on from the terrible atrocities in Lahore today, it will be interesting to see how the players will handle the attack on the Sri Lankan team. Although none of the players sustained any critical injuries others within the party have perished and it is truly a dark day for cricket and Pakistan.

Australian captain Ricky Ponting had this to say in response to the gun attack in Pakistan:

“On behalf of the Australian cricket team I would like to express our deepest condolences to those who have been affected by the tragic events in Pakistan this morning. An act of violence like this is a terrible thing and when it involves those who are part of our cricketing family, players the world over are affected.

The wider cricketing community has been shocked by what has occurred and our thoughts and full support is with those involved.

We have spoken with members of the Sri Lankan team this morning and made them aware we are extremely saddened by what has happened and that our best wishes are with them all. We hope that those who have been injured in these attacks can make a full and quick recovery and return to representing their country soon.”

Only time will tell if Pakistan will play representative cricket in the near future but one thing is certain, no one will tour Pakistan for a number of years – if at all. The only avenue forward for Pakistan is to play at neutral venues, something they have done in the past. We all want to see a strong and committed Pakistan team play cricket and a terrorist attack such as this morning’s should not be the catalyst that sees them suffer.

Going back to Friday’s Test match I can’t see any changes in the Australian batting line-up or indeed the bowling attack, South Africa on the other hand may be tempted to make one or two changes. That said any changes will surely be reactionary as I believe both countries have their best eleven on show at the moment.

Betfair have an interesting side bet in regards to the toss! You can get odds of 6/5 for South Africa to win the toss and bat, 5/1 if they field. On the other hand should Australia with the toss and bat Betfair offer 11/10 on a batting decision and huge 9/1 on a fielding decision. The fielding option will certainly be a tempter for many a punter!