Ten Years Ago

BBC radio programme broadcast on Wednesday to mark the tragic death of Hansie Cronje in a plane crash exactly ten years ago today:

The Hansie Cronje Story

In many ways a tragic figure himself he was at the centre of one of the three greatest controversies to affect world cricket - the others being Bodyline and the Kerry Packer Affair.

Still makes me sad ten years later.

The best captain money could buy

If only he'd known he could've held out for more than a leather jacket. If only he'd known he could've waited until the end of his career, got put in charge of one of the IPL teams and fix matches that way.

If only there was spot fixing in his day.

If only England weren't so shit that the only way to make a game against them competitive was to dodgy it up.

taipan wrote:If only there was spot fixing in his day.

That was pretty much what he asked Gibbs and Williams to do, wasn't it? Guess the "spots" were slightly larger than the odd no-ball back then though...

beamer wrote:

taipan wrote:If only there was spot fixing in his day.

That was pretty much what he asked Gibbs and Williams to do, wasn't it? Guess the "spots" were slightly larger than the odd no-ball back then though...

Yep, was taking the piss. He's not my favorite character.

How much did the episode set back South African cricket? Things would certainly have developed rather differently, as Cronje rather than Pollock would have led them into that home World Cup, and Smith certainly wouldn't have got the captaincy at the age he did.

Interesting question Beamer. Looking back now I don't think it hurt SA cricket that much. It probably affected Pollock more than anyone. I don't think Pollock was captaincy material and Cronje's captaincy was already under threat. He was being appointed on a match to match basis when the proverbial hit the fan. That was one of the reasons advanced why he tried to maximise his income which was a pile as far as I'm concerned.

We must remember that Cronje was not that great a cricketer at international level, averaging mid 30s in both forms of the game.

Pollock got the blame for the WC balls up along with Eric Simons. To me a bigger error was getting rid of Woolmer. He wouldn't have cocked up the D/L, bur Bacher's was responsible for that. There is also a theory that Cronje and Woolmer weren't seeing eye to eye.

To me the appointment of Smith was a great selectorial move, despite ignorant Aussies such as Red misquoiting the sook comment. He will go down as one of the great captains.

When the dust settles in a few more years, the SA selectors of this this era will be hailed as visionaries. Most of the present squad made their test debuts at 21 or younger. Unfortunately thay are now beginning to block out younger talent but the quota has also affected this.

So, in short, it was probably for the best Cronje got shafted. The only worrying factor is that there are some here who revere Cronje while detesting Smith.

Idiots.

Sorry for the blog.

Especially as it wasn't made in the thriving blog section...

Dello wrote:Especially as it wasn't made in the thriving blog section...

I was tempted, but then only Skully would have read it.

"misquoiting"

sounds likes something the SGDT would do ...