The Case for Hansie Cronje

So the King Commission is about to start its work and Hansie Cronje comes to trial. Nothing in recent times has shocked South Africa more than its fallen hero's early morning confession on April 11, 2000.

How did it come about that one of its favourite sons, who wears a wristband with the acronym WWJD (what would Jesus do), presumably to guide him in moments of dilemma, allowed himself to risk a worldwide reputation and a glittering career for a mess of potage?

Small details from the past have leapt to a relevance they probably do not deserve. As, for example, when John Blair, now treasurer of the UCBSA, but then president of the Free State Cricket Union, warned the board not to ratify Cronje as successor to Kepler Wessels. "It will all end in tears," he said with a prescience that has probably surprised even himself. And so it has.

Blair believe that Cronje had a "dangerously unstable personality" that was susceptible, under pressure, to a degree of irrational behaviour that would not be compatible with the profile required of our national cricket captain. In the end, Blain may have been right but there is no doubt that for many years Hansie Cronje was a magnificent leader of our cricket team and a wonderful role model for thousands of aspiring cricketers. His ultimate failure has all the dimensions of a Shakespearean tragedy.

A flawed hero has been brought down by a weakness, for money, that gave in under the enormous pressure that goes hand in hand with the job of a modern cricket captain. Few men (in modern times) have been able to handle it for long. Brian Lara has caved in citing the pressure of the one day internationals as the main reason. Sachin Tendulkar has quit after two attempts at the job. Mark Taylor's career was probably extended by the ACB's decision to split responsibilities between himself and Steve Waugh.

Cronje, unfortunately, had even more to put up with than your average stressed-out national cricket captain. I would, however, be astonished if his shenanigans began under the regime he shared with Peter Pollock and Bob Woolmer. These men worked very closely together and in relative harmony. Pollock and Woolmer not only knew their captain but they also knew their cricket. Cronje knew they knew and would have been aware how quickly they would have challenged any decision. Their retirement from the scene thus not only deprived Cronje of the comfort of their advice and support but also removed the mental and moral disciplines he has now shown to have clearly required.

Dr Bacher's unilateral and ill-advised decision last year to make Cronje the undisputed boss of the national team now seems even more unwise than it did at the time. No one was left who had either the stature or experience to challenge the all-powerful captain.

One should not, however, underestimate the pressure crowding in on him. It was clear, late in 1998, that Cronje felt that the political interference in the selection of the national team was intolerable. Earlier that year, together with his whole team, he had attended a meeting when the UCBSA president, the convenor of selectors and Dr Bacher had laid down the agenda for the 1998/99 season. The '99 World Cup was to be the team's supreme goal. Everything that season was to be regarded as preparation for putting the team in the best possible position to realise their potential and bring home the World Cup to a country that was in sore need of a repeat dose of the fix delivered by the euphoria of the '95 Rugby triumph.

The team were told in no uncertain manner what was required of them in terms of dedication, determination, discipline and desire. Those players who felt that they were not up to the demands and sacrifice required were invited there and then to find a new career.

Yet just a few months later the Government, in the form of the Minister of Sport (who clearly used this issue for his own electioneering purposes), the media and most, but not all, of the UCBSA's board - in a campaign stoked by Dr Bacher himself - were telling Cronje that the demographic composition of his team was more important than success. At a time when he had planned to be finalising his World Cup combinations Cronje was force fed a completely unwieldy and ill-balanced squad for the one-day series against the West Indies.

No wonder he exploded when Dr Bacher, against all advice, arranged a meeting with the team to explain to them the political realities. "Ek is gatvol van die bigger picture," was the response and suddenly the captain was on a plane to Bloemfontein. He was enticed back by a combination of the power of the Rhema Church and a promise from Bacher that after the West Indies tour he would be free to develop his World Cup team. Even that promise was soon broken and another Cronje explosion ensued in New Zealand that nearly resulted in SA cricket losing their captain, selectors, president and heaven knows who else just two months before the team began their country's morale-boosting thrust for the World Cup.

The manner of his team's exit from the World Cup, the dramatic tie at Edgbaston, was the cruellest blow of all for Hansie. He was absolutely devastated. He had the look of a father who had lost a child. Those close to Cronje urged him to seek counselling so that he could deal with that tantalising moment when with victory so close his hopes were dashed. He was particularly weighed down by his failure to make a contribution with the bat, feeling that it was really his lack of runs, rather than the tragic run out, that cause the World Cup to slip from his team's grasp.

When the new season began he clearly required support, understanding and an acknowledgement of the magnificent job he had done in his five years as captain. Yet the new selectors, under the convenorship of the inexperienced Rushdie Magiet, put him on trial. It is difficult to recall a more stupid decision in the history of SA cricket and it almost certainly completed the alienation of Hansie Cronje from a system that was supposed to support him.

As he felt the sands shift under his feet yet again, and in the knowledge that other cricketers in the world had made fortunes by co-operating with bookmakers without the slightest danger of being caught, it is understandable and dreadfully sad that Cronje's values broke down and he succumbed to temptation.

His career is in ruins and he would be wise to expect no mercy from a system that let him down so often in the past. He would be advised to get a good lawyer, admit to no further wrongdoing and allow time to heal his self-inflicted wounds. People will not forget but they will forgive him. He may not feel it now, but life will give him a second chance. He deserves it.

Ray White is the former President of the UCBSA