Neal Collins
South African cricketers everywhere have been hit hard by the wild swinging of Cronjegate.
You might have found an angry little knot of them at Lord’s last week, looking embarrassed while, in Cape Town, their game and their nation were being dragged through the mud at the King commission.
While Cronje confessed to accepting cash, cheques, leather jackets and a kitchen sink (the last not yet confirmed) from bookmakers, this bunch feels particularly aggrieved. Cronje (and any other cash- taking worms yet to fall out of the woodwork) had best heed the words of Kim Price, captain of the South African women’s cricket side currently touring England.
They were in London to launch their tour but there was no getting away from the Cronjegate question. Price (38), who started playing cricket way back in 1974, led her side into the first one-day international against England on Tuesday in Chelmsford furious that the menfolk have besmirched her team’s reputation.
Match-fixing, bent umpires and leather jackets were largely absent as Melissa Reynard scored 46 runs and took two wickets in England’s victory. England were all out for 159 in a match limited to 44 overs by rain but South Africa could manage only 139/9 in reply to lose the first in a five- match one-day series.
Said Price: “They eyes of the world are going to be on us now. It’s up to us to restore the image of South African cricket. Obviously it’s not the same for us, we play for the love of the game.
“We don’t get paid. It’s a different league. When you see the amount of money the men receive these days, I can only say we feel cheated. But it’s hard to say what anyone would do if we were ever faced by the same sort of temptation Hansie came up against.”
Price, who has an undefeated ton and a best bowling analysis of 6/10, admits she doesn’t know Cronje well, but she played in a 60-hour cricket marathon with Herschelle Gibbs and Jacques Kallis.
Price, who has also represented South Africa on the hockey field, leads a rainbow team and proudly predicts: “We’ve come here to increase our experience. We got a thumping in Australia but we have the World Cup in New Zealand in November, we have to learn fast.” They will, you can bet on that. On second thoughts, don’t bet on anything.
n The second match was on Thursday, but the result was unavailable at the time of going to press.