In 1994, four years after Nelson Mandela returned from a long and widely exiled exile, he won a historic election and took office as President of South Africa. The wounds of a country wounded by racism have not yet healed. Still a complex and difficult assignment in his hands.
Mandela embarked on a mission to build a South African nation with one and the same goal.
Sports was Nelson Mandela's greatest weapon in shaping this nation.
The 1995 Rugby World Cup helped, but cricket was one of his tools.
One of Mandela's companions along the way was Hansie Cronje, then captain of the South African cricket team.
"I think Cronje was the most respected citizen of South Africa after Mandela," said South African-born cricket coach Paddy Upton in a documentary about Hansie Cronje on Netflix.
Johannesburg-based journalist Luke Alfred wrote in his memoirs, "The whole of South Africa was looking for a hero after that racist transition. Many people saw that hero in Cronje, people of all ages, young and old, were his fans at that time. Cronje was the new man of a new age. '
How Hansie Cronje became a cricketer
Hansie grew up in Bloemfontein. A city in South Africa where racism was commonplace in the seventies and eighties.
According to Hansie Cronje's brother, France Cronje, 'We grew up in an area where white people were progressive and racism was the norm. But we were against racism as a family. It never crossed our minds. We have grown up in support of one and the same South Africa. "
According to Frances Cronje, Hansie and her siblings grew up in the same family.
Both parents were teachers, there was not much money, there was no pomp. And the dream since childhood was to become a great cricketer.
Hester Parsons, Hansie Cronje's sister, said: "I don't remember Hansie talking about anything but cricket. He lived for cricket as long as he lived. '
Hansie Cronje and his brother France Cronje made their first appearances for the same team in the 1970s, in which Cronje's Orange Free State did not have much of an advantage.
He was all out for 51 in the second innings. But Gordon Parsons, who played for the opposition Transvaal, clearly remembers Hansie Cronje scoring 16 of those 51 runs.
These are the stories of Hansie Cronje's early cricketing life, written by Luke Alfred.
He wrote that Gordon Parsons of the opposing team was an Englishman. He used to come to South Africa to play domestic cricket in winter.
He was fascinated by Hansie Cronje's desire to learn and his unquenchable interest.Getting the captaincy
Hennessy Cronje was a part of the national team in the era of Kepler Wessels, and also got a place in the 1992 World Cup squad.
Kepler Wessels was an example for cricketers who played top-level cricket for Australia and South Africa.
Wessels suffered a hand injury in a 1993-94 Australia series. Hansie Cronje then took over the captaincy.
South Africa won the Test in Sydney after Hansie took charge midway through. That Test match was dramatic and memorable.
Alan Donald, the current pace bowling coach of Bangladesh, reminisced about that time in the 'Fallen Idol' episode of Netflix's series Bad Sport: But his character was strong. "
Alan Donald said: 'Hansie Cronje kept a cool head, which was the most urgent. He did not panic in the ups and downs of the match. I can't explain how calm Cronje was before that victory. '
But Cronje has not yet been given a permanent captaincy.
Wessels continued to captain at the age of 36. But he could not perform so much.
South Africa lost all their matches in a tri-nation series on Pakistani soil in 1994, but Cronje was in great form.
Despite losing all the matches in the series, Hansie Cronje was the highest run scorer in the end.
Cronje's emergence as a team loser and a great cricketer, all in all, Wessels' days were coming to an end for the South African team.
Hansie Cronje's name was finally announced as the captain of the South African cricket team. It is also the beginning of a new era.
In a 2006 documentary on BBC Panorama, Andre Wolstead, former headmaster of Hansie Cronje, said: "No one has ever disagreed that Cronje was a worthy captain.
The way Hansie Cronje became a beacon of hope for the nation
Nelson Mandela became the voice of the oppressed not only in South Africa but all over the world. Mandela had political foresight.
"Not everyone had confidence in Mandela," said Rory Stein, a senior Johannesburg police officer during South Africa's civil war. Many thought him a terrorist. But Mandela was a magician. He knew that sports could reach places where politics could not play a role.
"Then the whites in South Africa started saying, 'Give him a chance, let's see where he takes the country.'
"Hansi used to say that we would make South Africa the number one Test team in the world, the best ODI team, and the fittest cricketing nation in the world," said Alan Donald.
Mandela and Hansi were parallel in terms of dreams and ambitions.
According to BBC cricket writer and analyst Jonathan Agnew, "Hansie Cronje would have set a standard."
In 1996, he was the chief executive officer of the United Cricket Board of South Africa. Ali Bashir, he said, "then the country was moving towards a new horizon, where black and white walked the same path."
When Nelson Mandela gave a new responsibility to Hansie Cronje, Dr. "Bashir is presented by Nelson Mandela as a role model who can inspire other whites to build a non-racist South Africa," said Ali Bashir.
In a speech in January 1997, Nelson Mandela said, "Sports has a responsibility, an important responsibility, to unite the country. I would like to congratulate Hansie Cronje separately, the way he is leading the national team is very important.
In the 'Fallen Idol' episode of the Netflix series Bad Sport, Alan Donald said that Hansie Cronje was for a country that would then become a bigger character than a cricket captain. Nelson Mandela somehow hired Cronje on a mission to unite the country.
As shown in this documentary, Hansie Cronje was the idol of all the black cricketers growing up in South Africa at that time.
It was seen as a success then. In this country, 4 million white people once turned the stick on 20 million black people. That time is long gone.
Ghulam Rajar, the manager of the South African national team from 1991 to 2001, came to Cronje and complained, "Why are there still only white cricketers in this team?"
Ghulam said, "Cronje wanted a team of cricketers of different colors."
Then cricketers like Makhaya Ntini, Herschel Gibbs started joining the team.
Herschel Gibbs, a Cape Town mixed-color cricketer, recalls, "When I was picked, many said you only got a chance to fill the quota. But I knew I would perform and play cricket for a long time. '
Everyone was willing to give their lives for Hansi, said his teammates at the time.
Gibbs, Donald said this.
Those who followed him in cricket and those who were associated with Hansie Cronje knew that a change had taken place in Hansie Cronje's life at this time.
Hansie Cronje preferred simple money
Hansie's older brother, France Cronje, said in the Netflix series Bad Sport's' Fallen Idol 'episode,' Hansie was addicted to making money. He used to enjoy it as much as he could earn easily. '
Hansie Cronje was a great tool for ad creators back then.
Hansie Cronje could be found everywhere, from advertisements to billboards, from television to newspaper pages.
An incident occurred in 2000 during the Centurion Test between England and South Africa. Hansie Cronje decides not to bat an innings to save the Test, which is going to be a draw for a long rain.
He made the remarks to then-England captain Nasser Hussein.
The BBC's Jonathan Agnew says: "It was a well-received decision. A popular decision. But we did not know what was behind it.
Even Alan Donald wasn't sure why Cronje made that decision.
'It was not very understandable. I am not willing to give England a chance to win any match even in a hundred thousand years. '
England won the toss and elected to bat.
Hansie Cronje, however, was lauded for bringing a so-called bold decision back to life in an almost certain unresolved Test.
But Hansie Cronje's thoughts were not behind the announcement of the dramatic innings of this Test.
Which comes out much later. Which brings down the undisputed hero in a country. Causes his downfall.
Marlon Ernstam was a gambler. Those who are called bookmakers in the sports world.
He called Hansie Cronje during the match and asked her to meet him.
Hansie Cronje agrees to his offer.
Marlon Ernstam won two and a half thousand dollars in that match.
That was just the beginning, according to records.
Fall and Death
In April 2020, during the India-South Africa series, Delhi Police released a call record.
It was alleged that a representative of the Indian Gambling Syndicate had a conversation with Hansie Cronje.
It was rumored that South African off-spinner Derek Crooks would bowl early in one of the matches of the series and Herschel Gibbs agreed not to score more than 20 runs.
After the first bowling change, Cronje took the ball in his hand, he gave 69 runs in that match by bowling full 10 overs.
Herschel Gibbs was dismissed for 19 in the third match at Faridabad and Derek Crooks opened the innings with the ball in the last match.
Crooks gave up 53 runs in six overs and was stunned when asked to bowl.
Gibbs, Nicki Boy and Peter Stridem were also suspected at the time, Delhi Police confirmed.
Hansi Cronje immediately denied all responsibility.
"I have been playing for this team since 1992 and I am giving my all to win here," he told a news conference.
The then managing director of the United Cricket Board of South Africa. Ali Bashir was in favor of the captain at first. But later Hansi Cronje once said to himself. Ali admits to Bashar al-Assad that what he said at the press conference was "not entirely true."
The whole country was stunned.
One by one the cricketers came forward and Hansie Cronje kept admitting when he had offered them money for a match.
Hansie Cronje admitted in court in Cape Town on June 23, 2000, that he had taken nearly লাখ 100,000 to match at various times.
Later, statements from various teammates revealed that Cronje had offered them a total of তিন 350,000 for a bad game.
Hansie Cronje has been banned for life by the South African Cricket Board.
The South African cricket board and the government then consider themselves deceived.
Many did not believe. Many did not want to believe then.
Cronje's not playing cricket, staying away from cricket, feeling cheated by cricket fans all faded away after two years.
On June 1, 2002, news came that former South African captain Hansie Cronje had died in a plane crash.
The plane crashed five hundred kilometers from Cape Town with only three passengers on board.
Hansie Cronje was 32 years old at the time of her death. Exactly twenty years ago today.
Cricket writer James Borodel wrote in the popular cricket magazine The Cricket Monthly about Hansie Cronje: The way Cronje died may have set him free. '