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Cricket remembers Cronje
Former South African cricket captain Hansie Cronje, who was killed in a plane crash aged 32, will be remembered by many for being the main figure in cricket's match-fixing scandal rather than as South Africa's most successful captain. Cronje died when the light cargo plane in which he was travelling crashed in the mountains outside George (Cronje's home), in the South Cape. Two others on the plane also died alongside Cronje. Many outside South Africa now find their feelings of betrayal after the match-fixing scandal mixed with the sadness that his death at such a young age brings. Former England Test great, Ian Botham said, "It will be a tough time for his family. It is a very sad time but unfortunately he will be forgotten for the good things he did and will remembered for the wrong reasons." Cronje after all had played for South Africa in 68 Test, captaining them in 53 Test, and winning 27. He made 3,714 runs in Test cricket at the more than useful average 36,41, which included six hundreds. He also took 43 wickets at 29.95. His skills in the one day game saw him accumulate 5,565 at an average of 38.4. So why did his cricketing career end up in tatters when he seemed to have everything in front of him? It was not only Cronje's undoubted skills as a player, but more importantly his leadership of the Springboks which marked him down as someone very special. He built a winning team only second to the Australians. In his time as captain hHe found captaincy was often effected by outside influences. One such influence caused an argument with Dr Ali Bacher, President of the United Cricket Board, who had insisted that more black players should be included in the one-day series. Cronje was respected by many, his morality seeming beyond question and allied to his deeply Christian beliefs. This is why Bacher brushed aside any criticism of his captain whether it being accusations of match-fixing, or temperamet. Cronje once threw a cricket stump through an the Australian dressing room door. It was only when the Indian police said they had a recording of Cronje and a bookmaker, that Cronje toldi Bacher that he had been economical with the truth and was sacked by the United Cricket Board. During the following investigation the ministry of justice led King commission of Inquiry in Cape Town, Pat Symcox said that the South Africans had been offered $250,000 to throw a one-day game in India in 1996. Thid news of this had already been there for public consumption, as Cronje had admitted in a newspaper interview in 1998 to "basically having laughed it off". But when Herschelle Gibbs said Cronje asked him to score less than 20 runs in a one-day match in the tour of India was it apparent that the net was closing in. Although Cronje never admitted to actual match-fixing, he did admit to receiving $100,000 for giving information to bookmakers. He felt that his fall from grace was down to "an unfortunate love of money". The commission's auditors found that Cronje owned eight properties and in addition had 19 bank accounts, in which had been entered almost one million pounds in his 5 years as captain. The UCB banned him for life in October 2000. Cronje's subsequent appeal against this was unsuccessful. Steve Waugh, whose Australian side enjoyed some titanic struggles with Cronje's side, issued a statement through his manager in which he asked for the cricket world to remember his achievements in that sphere. Waugh said, "I always admired Hansie as an opponent and enjoyed his friendship. He added, "Unfortunately he didn't finish his career as everyone would have hoped but now its time to forgive any shortcomings and remember the good times." One felt that Waugh missed Cronje as an opposing captain in the two sides recent back-to-back series, which Australia won convincingly, in which the South Africans appeared to be rudderless. But whatever his failings may have brought to South African pride, he countrymen still loved him: President Thabo Mbek said: "It is with a sense of shock and disbelief that we have heard of the tragic and untimely death of Hansie Cronje. South Africa will mourn him. He was certainly one of our most talented and well-known cricketers whose prowess inspired our youth to greater heights. And we shall remember his moments of sheer brilliance on the cricket pitch. Dr Ali Bacher: "This news comes as a terrible shock to me. I was very close to Hansie Cronje throughout his cricket playing career. For much longer than that I enjoyed the friendship of his parents, Ewie and San Marie, and their family. "I was very close to him from the time he emerged as a young cricketer with a certain international future. "Through my friendship with his father, a former president of the Free State Cricket Union, I watched Hansie grow from South African schools captain to our senior national captain in which role he had an outstanding record. "He was a natural born leader of men and his greatest attribute was his terrific ability to inspire and motivate his team-mates. "My heart goes out to his parents, his wife Bertha, and the Cronje family.' Shaun Pollock, the current South African left the field of his county cricket match so distressed that his wife said, "He needs a few hours to recover". The last words should be left with former South Africa President Nelson Mandela: "Here was young man courageously and with dignity rebuilding his life after the setback he suffered a while ago. "The manner in which he has doing that, rebuilding his life and public career, promised to make him once more a role model of how one deals with adversity."
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