for fun’
Bob Woolmer
FROM THE PAVILLION
Hansie Cronje is a driven man. In my experience as coach of his wonderful team for five years, one motivation and one motivation alone drove him. His desire was to take on to the pitch the best South African team regardless of skin colour and win the game that they were playing.
Following the many reports of the so- called “Hansiegate saga”, I, too, am bewildered by the growing storm. I fear that it hasn’t started to break.
Maybe I am nave – I always thought a man was innocent until proven guilty. Guilty, however, of what? Match-fixing is a heinous crime in cricket; it is to the sport what murder is to everyday crime! Despite the uproar, I believe that Cronje did not fix matches. I would like to think that for five years I got to know this complex individual better than most.
His desire to see South Africa as the greatest Test nation was enormous; the pace of which led to some conflict between us. Our methods were based on a different age and culture. Mine were based on my experience in coaching, knowing that time would make us into a great side. His on pushing, striving, making things happen – either way it was working!
Yet it suffered the hiccup of selectorial interference. Not with the selectors but from higher. Cronje was responsible for the inclusion of Paul Adams and Makhaya Ntini, but the politicians wanted more. Adams and Ntini have grown in stature, but they had to learn their lessons the hard way, as did Herschelle Gibbs. They were lucky that they played in a side that had a work ethic second to none.
It has been argued that Cronje wanted too much power. After all, he was the captain and he was responsible for the country’s cricket team. United Cricket Board managing director Ali Bacher certainly gave him that at the 1999 World Cup, only for the selectors to cast doubt on Cronje’s ability for the recent England tour – remember, they only made him captain for two tests. Cronje threatened to go and coach Glamorgan. “I want to look to my financial future,” he said.
Bacher talked him out of that and the selectors backtracked and Cronje was given control of the team. They beat England, they won the one-day series and they beat India in India. What a record! Yet they lost the one-day series. That would have hurt Cronje because he loves winning and he feels he has let the country down if the team do not win.
This is the Cronje I knew. So why did he get involved with the bookmakers for $8E200? Why did he have his phone tapped? Was he shopped? Was he unlucky? Was he nave? I guess the answer to the last three is yes.
Various theories have been expounded: one is that he took a small amount of dollars for information similar to that that Shane Warne and Mark Waugh were fined for! That was silly and nave!
Now we hear he took R850E000 to fix a match – at least, that is what the infamous tapes are meant to reveal. I do hope the Indian police make them available one day. Wouldn’t it be nice to hear it from the horse’s mouth rather than speculate?
Does anyone really believe that R850E000 is enough to risk bunging your career down the drain? Forget it. If you get caught you might as well get caught with enough money to retire on!
Again drawing on my experience of Cronje’s character, I know he was always a keen practical joker. I once told him, “You will find out one day that crying wolf will backfire on you.” I say this because I have a sneaking suspicion that Cronje was tagging these bookies along for fun. Unfortunately the fun ain’t so good anymore.
The media, of course, have had a field day: a national icon, a national hero shamed and disgraced, over five meaningless one-day internationals among the 150 played annually!
Can we believe Cronje was having fun? Can we believe Cronje was match-fixing? What will we believe after the hearing? Will the children who idolised Cronje have their faith restored? Will the children learn a salutary lesson in telling lies?
I am putting my faith in the man I know, the man who once castigated me when I suggested we rotate the team once we were in the finals, with the words: “Bob, remember this. I always want to take on to the field of play a team that will win for South Africa, I will never be satisfied with anything less!”