Neil Manthorp
There are many compelling reasons to start the inquiry into Hansie Cronje’s confessions as soon as possible, but the most pertinent for the immediate health of the national team is the growing “rumour circus” that is threatening the sanity of the remainder of the cricket squad.
So just how many games were affected? The senior players who knew nothing about Cronje’s dealings feel, in some ways, as though they were irresponsible and should have seen the signs.
For others, there is the uncomfortable truth that, maybe, they actually did suspect something but (understandably) were too intimidated by the potential repercussions to contemplate involving themselves. None of the current squad have spoken in graphic detail – they fear they could lose their national contracts – but they do talk. They need to.
“If anyone suspected anything then it was never a case of turning a blind eye,” one player said. “It’s more like suspecting that there might be a skeleton in the closet and choosing not to open it. Imagine if you were wrong … you’d never play again. If anyone suspected anything they would have forgotten about it immediately; the whole idea just would have been too scary to think about.”
The only other man who has shared every single one of Cronje’s dressing rooms around the world is physiotherapist Craig Smith. Did he ever suspect anything? “No, not really. The only thing I thought was odd was the [cellphone] that Hansie turned up with at a team meeting in India. A free phone, with unlimited calls overseas, given to him by a businessman? That didn’t seem to add up,” said Smith.
Among the other players mentioned on the infamous tapes was Henry Williams. Cronje is recorded as telling bookmaker Sanjeev Chawla that Derek Crookes and Williams would definitely be opening the bowling in the final one-day match at Nagpur. The man under most pressure to make that happen, it seems, was Smith.
“Henry tore a muscle in his right shoulder the day before the second game and didn’t play until the final match. He said after final practice that he was all right, but I wasn’t sure. There was a lot of pressure to play him, though. It was quite clear to me that Hansie thought he should be playing. I have no idea why that pressure was applied,” said Smith.
Williams did open the bowling, but broke down at the beginning of his second over and took no further part in the game.
Among the questions to be answered during the inquiry is: what are the full reasons for Daryll Cullinan’s retirement from one-day cricket during the Centurion Park Test match against England? It came as a total shock to his team-mates at the time and some are now asking whether he felt it was his only honourable option after stumbling across something he shouldn’t have.
It is not without irony that Cullinan said yes to a new two-year contract from the United Cricket Board (UCB) this week which means that he must be available for both Test and one-day cricket. He has said the UCB gave him no choice, but he had voiced some fears and concerns about the legitimacy of the Centurion Park Test result to a prominent Gauteng team-mate during the Supersport Series final against Border a couple of weeks after the Test.
A week ago, when speaking on a television programme, Cullinan said he “had heard the innuendo”, but refused to deny knowledge of what may have transpired at Centurion.
He would surely have known no details, so if he chose to fall on his own sword rather than taint his captain, he should never be criticised. It would have been an extraordinarily honourable thing to do, if that is what happened.
One national squad player expressed grave doubts, admittedly in retrospect, about the legitimacy of the Nairobi tournament last September. “Some really odd things happened … but, of course, you never suspect anything underhand at the time.”
Another player was prepared to be more specific about his doubts, this time concerning the final of the Sharjah Cup a few weeks ago.
“Pakistan [batting first] were thrashing us around a bit, and were using seven bowlers. One of our spinners [Crookes] bowled five overs for 20 and was just about the best bowler on the day. He got taken off and didn’t bowl again. The other spinner [Nicky Boje] didn’t bowl a single ball. Then Hansie brought himself on as the seventh bowler, towards the end, and bowled three overs for 22 runs,” the player said in reference to what might have been an attempt by the former captain to “help” the opposition to the total they were “supposed” to score.
And incidentally, did anyone notice that part-time spinner Pieter Strydom bowled more overs in the five-match one-day series against India than either Boje or Crookes? “I was just happy to get a game. I suppose the Indian conditions did suit my type of bowling,” said Strydom last weekend before emphatically denying any wrongdoing. “It took me seven years to get a chance in the national team, why would I ever risk that?”
Lance Klusener’s apparent involvement in “shopping” Cronje to the authorities has also left many of the squad bewildered, although it must be noted that none of the players the Mail & Guardian spoke to suggested that Klusener would have been wrong in doing so. It would, however, have been very out of character. What appears to be the popular theory is that Klusener may have become aware of wrongdoing and unburdened himself to another player who had less compunction in communicating with authority.
A couple of players joined Andrew Hudson’s stance in immediately rejecting – with disgust – the offer of $250 000 to throw a match at the end of the 1996 tour and their moods were not improved by a suggested resolution that, should the bribe be accepted, they would swear to tell no one, including their wives. Ever since that day there have been the tiniest flickers of doubt between some players.
Now is the time to remove all the doubts. The current squad, under Pollock, have resolved not to speak in public on the matter (and they have also been instructed not to) but, in private, they must talk to each other.
Meanwhile, Cronje spent this week sheltering in his luxury Fancourt house where security guards kept a constant eye out for unwanted visitors.
When the former captain was visited by the M&G he looked strained and especially tense. “I’m OK,” he said, clearly not. “I can’t talk to you; after the hearing I can talk, but until then everything must come from my attorney [in Bloemfontein].”
It was impossible not to feel sympathy for the man with the tired, haunted eyes. Especially when he picked up the telephone and said in a sad, resigned voice: “Security …”
n The Times of India reported this week that the high court in New Delhi has asked the Delhi government to justify its order to tap telephones during its investigation of the match-fixing scandal.