On This Day in 2000: The Beginning Of The End For Hansie Cronje

South Africa vs Australia, Wanderers 1994. The great Shane Warne failed to pick up a wicket for the first time in his One-day International career. Reason: Hansie Cronje. The former South African captain used his reach to great effect, walloping the champion leg-spinner to all corners of the Bullring. Hansie stroked seven fours and three monstrous sixes in his whirlwind 120-ball 112 to set-up a five-run win for the Proteas.

That innings pitched the South African into an icon and sponsors Standard Bank decided to cash-in on the popularity of the rising star. In an advertisement released thereafter, Hansie was seen hitting a white-ball in the dead of the night, sending it into the bank of lights on one of the pylons, causing power failure in the city.

And, when the camera zoomed on him, the 24-year-old in his boyish innocence, sheepishly mouthed- ‘Sorry’.

Also Read: Rashid Latif Feels That Players Are Just ‘Pawns’ In Match-Fixing

Hansie Cronje: A hero who turned into a ‘villan’

Six years later, Hansie would use that word again, but not in a manner that he had used in that Standard Bank ad. The boyish innocence was long gone. Instead, that word by this very same jolted the nation, who had once been overawed by his youthful exuberance, into metamorphic darkness after a phone-call rang to Ali Bacher in the dead of the night.

“How could he?”, “No, he can’t!”, were the questions ringing in every South Africans or, in fact, every cricket fan’s mind, who had grown up watching Hansie develop the Proteas into a mean-winning machine in the 1990s. Cronje led South Africa in 53 of the 68 Tests that he played, winning 27 and losing just 11, including 13 series wins. In ODIs, his record was even better. South Africans lost 35 of the 138 50-over games that they played under him.

While much of the success could be attributed to the talent that Hansie possessed at his disposal but the fact that his astute leadership and immaculate man-management skills were pivotal in the rise of South African cricket in the post-apartheid era.

South Africans looked up to him as a demi-god, while his players hailed him as the poster boy of the whirlwind change in South African cricket in the late 90s; someone who did not have a pessimistic bone in his body.

“In a huge way, Hansie’s captaincy changed the nature of cricket in South Africa.” Alan Donald was quoted as saying by Cricketcountry in 2015.

Also Read: On This Day in 1995, When Sachin Tendulkar Batted Like A Ferrari

But, everything changed on that fateful night of 11th April 2000

It all started on the 7th of April during Delhi Police Crime Branch created a furor in the cricketing world that they have recorded a conversation between Cronje and the representative of the Indian match-fixing syndicate Sanjay Chawla.

The United Cricket Board of South Africa denied the claims on the following day. Hansie Cronje refuted by saying that “the allegations were complete without substance”.

But three days later, Cronje, in a telephonic conversation with Ali Bacher broke down, saying that “he has not been completely honest”. Cronje revealed that he had accepted $10,000 to $15,000 from a London-based bookmaker for ‘forecasting’ results, during the ODI series against India.

And, in a matter of a few days, the reputation that Cronje had built was ripped to tatters. From being a messiah of South African cricket to becoming a ‘villain’, the many laurels that he had earned were irreparably tarnished by the soot and stain of the murkiest association with bookmakers and his insatiable love for money.

Two months later, Cronje was subjected to public humiliation during a Kings Commission hearing where he broke down while admitting to his misdemeanors and his love for a leather jacket and hard cash. Hansie also admitted that he had cajoled his teammates Herschelle Gibbs and Henry Williams to underperform in the Indian series. He also admitted that he it was Mohammad Azharuddin who introduced him to bookmakers in 1996.

An inconsolable Cronje was stripped from captaincy before being handed a life-ban. He was vilified in full public view and to see a man who was renowned for being tough as nails, break down in tears, remains the most heartbreaking image for any cricket fan.

Match-fixing did not start with Hansie, nor did it stop with him. Others who weren’t as unfortunate as him in getting caught red-handed went on to play cricket post that. Some of them got their bans overturned, others became commentators, president of state associations, actors and pundits of the game. Life went on. But sadly not for Hansie, who died two years later in an aircraft crash, which to this day, some claim that he was murdered.