Neil Manthorp Cricket
Will out-of-form Hansie Cronje drop himself for tomorrow’s final of the Standard Bank triangular series? The answer, of course, is no. The captain might be struggling badly with the bat but he will as surely lead his team out at the Wanderers on Saturday as the sun will come up. Mind you, the sun is the last thing one can rely on at the moment …
Cronje’s offer to stand down from the team before the Cape Town Test has fuelled speculation that he may consider a similar move ahead of tomorrow’s match, but coach Graham Ford says the idea is unthinkable.
“His overall contribution is incredible. His one-day bowling has been magnificent in recent games and his fielding is superb. As a tactician and as captain his contribution is invaluable. He’s not contributing as much as he would like with the bat, but he’s still crucial to the team,” Ford says.
That Cronje is under pressure is undeniable, but opinion is divided as to the extent of the pressure.
Fanie de Villiers believes his friend and former captain is at breaking point. “The pressure on him now is tremendous. I’m not saying he should resign, but something has to crack – and soon. He does not have the senior players around him to offer support on the field and he is having problems with the selectors and administrators. He feels isolated. And his batting form has gone. It is too much for anyone to cope with,” De Villiers told the Mail &Guardian.
Former captain Kepler Wessels, in his first season as a selector, was the man behind the move not to appoint Cronje for the full series against England and the two – once as close as father and son – are not even on nodding terms now.
“Maybe Hansie thinks Kepler has a vendetta against him, and maybe Kepler does. But maybe Kepler also saw some of this pressure coming. The best way forward, of course, is for Hansie to regain his form but there are now a lot of other wounds to heal.”
De Villiers, with a mischievous glint in his eye, even asked whether Shaun Pollock might be rallying the troops during Cronje’s slump and preparing himself to take over. “I’m not saying that’s happening, and I don’t believe for a minute that it is, but you start to see things happening when you are under pressure – things that aren’t real.”
Pollock, Cronje’s vice-captain, does not deny his captain is taking strain. “Yes, he’s been under more pressure this year than before; it started when the selectors put him ‘on trial’ at the beginning of the season. And his form with the bat isn’t good. But everyone in the current squad (except Jonty Rhodes) began their international careers under his captaincy and they have total respect for him. That will never change, whatever happens …”
Pollock concedes De Villiers’s point about the loss of senior players and their on-field input, but insists that Cronje is not isolated: “Jacques [Kallis], Lance [Klusener] and myself have all played enough international cricket to make suggestions and offer opinions on the field. It’s not easy to replace the input from Gary [Kirsten], Daryll [Cullinan] and Allan [Donald], but it’s not impossible,” Pollock says. All three will be back for the India tour, of course.
Vice-captaincy can mean any number of things in different teams, from qualification for a single room while on tour to the effective running of the team while a senior captain “runs down”. Pollock’s job is more than token, although Cronje is far, far from “running down”.
“It’s the captain’s job to get the best out of his players and it’s my job to get the best out of him – or at least allow him to get the best out of himself by taking as much pressure off him as possible,” Pollock says.
De Villiers, however, appears to be convinced Cronje is approaching terminal levels of gatvolness, if you’ll excuse the word. “My biggest concern is that Hansie will just pack it in and walk away.”
Ford and Cronje were present at the final selection meeting to choose the touring squad for India. After the spectacularly insensitive blunders made at the beginning of the season, the decision to invite coach and captain – in a non-voting capacity – may be a sign that relations are not only thawing but even beginning to sprout and flower.