When Hanse Cronje died in a plane crash on 1 June 2002, he would sadly be remembered as the highest level cricketer to have his name, and career tarnished by allegations of match fixing. However he was an exceptional talent who rose at the tender age of 24 to captain his country and continued to do so for 53 of his 68 Test matches.

His Rising Star

Wessel Johannes Cronje was born in Bloemfontein on 25th September 1969 into an Afrikaner family. He went to school at Grey College, in Bloemfontein before heading off to the University of Orange Free State. He was an all rounder batting and bowling medium pace right handed. He first appeared for Orange Free State against Transvaal in 1987 while still only 18. He went on to captain them when only 21, the same season he made his international debut 1990-91 before deputising for Kepler Wessels as national captain aged 24 in a match against Australia, a year before taking on the role permanently for the remainder of his international career. He joined Leicestershire as their overseas player in 1995 and also had a stint with Ireland.

Cronje had appeared in South Africa's first Test following their re-admission into the International Cricket Board family in 1992 against the West Indies. The 1992 series against India was a highlight in his career. In the first one day match he achieved his best bowling figures, in any match, of 5 for 32. And in December he achieved his maiden Test Century , his score of 135 was to prove to be his largest contribution with a bat in a test innings. He was a bright young star in the re-emergence of the United Cricket Board of South Africa's national team. However he was against the UCB's tokenism in the early days by appointed non-white cricketers who were not of the right calibre for international cricket merely to adhere to their specified quota to appease the outside world, this came to a head in a series in New Zealand.

He led the national team for 5 years including series wins over England in 1996¹ and India in 2000, his last appearance for his country. A loss of form during a tour of England led him to offer his resignation but this was turned down by the UCB and he continued in the role until more than his form deserted him.

In total he appeared in 68 Tests making 3,714 runs. He also has the greatest win/loss record of any of his contemporaries as captain.

Fallen Hero

Allegations started to surface that a number of leading players including Cronje had been involved in a number of matches by Indian bookmakers. However the head of the UCB Dr Ali Bacher fully backed his captain when these allegations first surfaced and barely questioned them. He never swerved from this position of support, until in 1998 Cronje admitted he had been approached to throw a one off international at Bombay in December 1996; the bookmakers had offered him and the team a quarter of a million US dollars to do so.

The reason for such loyalty was that many previous stories had arisen from the sub-continent² had proved to be unfounded and much disinformation and inaccuracy still emanated from that direction. However there was other evidence against Cronje not linked directly to Indian rumours. Ball tampering, including standing on a ball during a one-day match in Sydney, Australia, but instances like this are rare outside the sub-continent. So until his own confession very few people believed that this good, Christian boy from the Orange Free state could be involved with something like this.

He resigned the captaincy and was banned for life in 2000, after winning his last series as captain against India. Just before his death his rehabilitation had started when the courts cleared him to be involved in coaching or reporting cricket though the ban remained in place on his playing.

The End

On the morning of 1 June 2002 he left Johannesburg in a small plane with two other passengers in. It came down, in the Outeniqua mountains, outside the city of George, Western Cape Province, about 500 kilometres east of Cape Town, where it had been unable to land due to poor weather.

His Stats