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BBC News
30-07-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Hansie Cronje, match fixing and the plane crash which left a complex legacy
Inside a wood-panelled annex of an Edwardian building in Cape Town the stricken figure of Hansie Cronje lay crumpled on the from the flashbulbs, and the media feeding frenzy, in the bowels of the Centre of the Book in the city's legal district, the exhausted former South Africa cricket captain, clad in a charcoal suit, had collapsed in father Ewie and brother Frans tried to comfort him. Hansie had just given evidence to the King Commission - the inquiry charged with investigating match-fixing allegations in cricket of which he was at the under two years later and both Ewie and Frans would be pallbearers at Hansie's funeral following his shock death in a plane is now 25 years since Cronje's life was turned upside down, and cricket was thrown into crisis, by a scandal which rocked the story, re-examined in Sport's Strangest Crimes on BBC Sounds, is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. The 'tight git' close to Mandela Wessel Johannes 'Hansie' Cronje was born into a sporting, and deeply Christian, family in Bloemfontein. Cronje was educated at the prestigious Grey College where he was head boy, captained the school in both rugby and cricket, and was earmarked for great Africa fast bowler Allan Donald, who was at the Technical High School in the same city, said that even as a teenager the young Hansie was a "a deep thinker" who had "leadership qualities all over him".Cronje was appointed Orange Free State captain aged 21 and the batting all-rounder soon became a part of the post-apartheid South Africa team which re-emerged on the international was handed the captaincy of the Proteas in 1994 and his astute tactics and calm assurance gave him a statesmanlike air as he turned the team into a formidable international also forged a close personal relationship with president Nelson Mandela. During a time when Afrikaner politicians began to disappear from view, Cronje was one of those from that community who filled the singled out Cronje in 1996 for the "excellent manner" in which he "led the national team" at a time when "sport had played a role in uniting our country".Cronje was a figure who seemed to transcend England batter Mark Butcher recalled Cronje was "incredibly personable, very charismatic, pretty humble and had a sense of humour" off the there was a darker side to Cronje. Especially when it came to looking, and extremely approachable, Cronje was a sponsors' dream and the endorsements flowed. Yet Donald said Cronje was a "tight git" when it came to things as simple as buying post-match frugality did not just extend to not getting a round in, though. It bordered on the would receive free clothing and kit as part of a sponsorship deal with Puma but would sell any unused items to younger players, rather than giving it away for a stint playing for Leicestershire he whisked his wife Bertha away for a romantic break in Paris but his sister said the couple survived "on bread and water" as Hansie baulked at prices in the French capital. 'A struggle to actually say no to him' That love of money meant Cronje was also one of the most accessible cricket captains around and he was regularly visited by people, particularly while on tour in South Asia. The rest of the South Africa squad would roll their eyes when yet another stranger would walk in for a meeting with him. It led to dealings with unscrupulous characters. In particular those involved with betting, and there was an early portent of what was to come in 1996. Before a one-off ODI between South Africa and India, tagged on to the end of a Test tour as a benefit match for Mohinder Amarnath, Cronje called a meeting in their Mumbai hotel for the players to consider an offer of $250,000 to throw the was rejected, but it showed how secure Cronje was in his position."Bringing it up in a team meeting was indicative of the power and untouchability that he felt," observed South African journalist Neil forward to Nagpur in 2000, Cronje attempted to coerce South Africa batter Herschelle Gibbs and seam bowler Henry Williams into spot-fixing men agreed, but subsequently did not carry out the instructions. "I always found it a struggle to actually say 'no' to him, you know?" reflected Gibbs."He was regarded in such high esteem and respected so much, and I never once thought of the consequences."Both Gibbs and Williams were non-white players but suggestions it was racially motivated are dismissed by those who know how was Cronje able to manipulate his team-mates with such ease? Manthorp said he was on an "elevated platform" and "very few people were prepared to stand up to him"."Hansie had quite a temper. He'd become, I think, accustomed to not being questioned," he added. The most infamous of Cronje's dealings with bookmakers came during the rain-affected fifth Test between South Africa and England at Centurion Park in early the Proteas recommencing their first innings on the fifth day Cronje - prompted by a bookie named Marlon Aronstam - contrived an unprecedented innings forfeiture for both sides to ensure a captain Nasser Hussain later compared his agreement with Cronje over what target his side would chase to the haggle scene in Monty Python's Life of Brian - Cronje immediately accepted the figure Hussain asked innovative action to create a result on what otherwise would have been a dead final day of a Test largely drew praise, even if did not quite sit right with everyone."After the initial celebrations I realised I did not experience the usual euphoria that would follow a Test win," said Butcher."Almost instantly I knew why - it didn't feel we'd earned it."Michael Holding, covering the match for Sky Sports, received "tons of phone calls and letters" over something he said on air during a commentary stint, having smelt a rat."I said if this game was being played on the Indian subcontinent, people would start talking about bookmakers," Holding said."I just knew something was going on and that was my total focus. I was basically disgusted at what I was watching." Confession, cross-examination and death When Delhi police released transcripts of recorded conversations between Cronje and Indian bookmaker Sanjeev Chawlar in early April 2000 it was met with denials from the man himself and South African cricket officials, and wider was initially identified in the calls by a quirk of fate. Pradeep Srivastava, the deputy commissioner of Delhi's crime department, had been working on extortion cases and taken some tapes home with of Srivastava's children had listened to a wire-tap cassette, left in the home hi-fi system, and asked his father why he had a recording of Cronje's voice. Srivastava's son had watched a post-match interview with Cronje on Indian television the previous day and recognised his the net closing, Cronje came clean. At 3am on 11 April 2000 he confessed to Rory Steyn, a South African security consultant working for the Australia cricket team, in a Durban hotel where the pair were staying."I walked into his suite and all the lights were on," Steyn remembered."He had a handwritten document and said 'you may have guessed, but some of the stuff that is being said against me is actually true'."A month later, Cronje attended the King Commission where he was offered immunity from prosecution in exchange for full three days of cross examinations, broadcast on television and radio, which gripped South Africa and the cricket world, Cronje gave his side of the story. Or at least some of it, given the input of his own admitted to taking large sums of money, as well as accepting a leather jacket for his wife Bertha, in exchange for giving information to bookmakers and asking his team-mates to play he claimed South Africa had never "thrown" or "fixed" a match under his captaincy."To my wife, family, and team-mates, in particular, I apologise," he said during a rather robotic reading of an opening statement lasting 45 was banned from cricket for life, unsuccessfully challenging the suspension. Further investigations into the truth of what Cronje said during the inquiry were halted when he died in a plane crash in June had boarded a small cargo aircraft in Johannesburg which went down in mountainous terrain amid poor weather conditions while attempting to land at George then working as an account manager for a manufacturer of heavy-duty construction equipment, was flying back to see his wife at their home near Fancourt Estate, a luxury golf death was put down to weather, pilot error and possible instrument failure, but nevertheless prompted conspiracy Nottinghamshire captain Clive Rice, who played three ODIs for South Africa, called Cronje's death "very fishy" and linked it to the subsequent death of Bob Woolmer, the former South Africa coach who was in charge of Pakistan when he died."Certain people needed him [Cronje] out. Whether it was one, two, or 15 people that were going to die it didn't matter," said Rice, who passed away in 2015."Hansie was the one that was going to have to go and if they could cover it up as a plane crash then that was fine."Eerily, Cronje himself had predicted in speeches, and written in a magazine, of the potential to "die in plane crash" because of the "constant travel by air".Ed Hawkins, a specialist betting investigative journalist, dismissed the notion that bookmakers were somehow behind the incident."I've never found any information basically worth my time or effort to launch a full-scale investigation," Hawkins the security consultant called it "ludicrous" to suggest there was a "conspiracy to murder him by bringing the plane down". Cronje's complex legacy Cronje's ashes were placed in a memorial at his beloved Grey College. A generation has now passed since the former South Africa captain's murky involvement with bookmakers came to light, but his legacy remains a complex death at the age of 32 meant he was denied an opportunity at redemption within a sport he felt so connected to. For some Cronje had been vulnerable, and had the anti-corruption measures which came in the wake of his fall from grace been in place, his story might have been different."In a moment of stupidity and weakness," Cronje himself said, "I allowed Satan to dictate terms to me rather than the Lord."Those close to him felt that once the depression following the King Commission lifted, Cronje's life path had altered course for the better. Cronje's brother Frans was the producer of a film based on Hansie in 2008 which portrayed the ex-South Africa skipper in a sympathetic the film there's a scene where a young black boy who had earlier ripped a poster of Hansie off his wall is seen fixing it back was a metaphor for the national psyche which, post-apartheid, makes it "a lot easier for people to forgive" in South Africa according to sports scientist Professor Tim Noakes, who worked with the South African team in the Nineties, went as far as to call Cronje a "psychopath"."He fitted the characteristics and it's no remorse, no conscience," he said."I understand that you can't make the diagnosis without having properly examined people, but I just saw enough evidence for it in, in this man."The currency Cronje should have been remembered for was the number of runs he scored as an inspirational captain, rather than deposits in bank accounts in his name in the Cayman Islands."I don't think he was evil. I think that's far, far too strong a word," said Manthorp."I do think that he was a skilful manipulator. I think that he was acutely aware of the power and influence that he had."For those outside the country, especially in a sport like cricket with its expected moral compass, it is perhaps even more difficult to separate the man from the crimes."I think that Hansie is a villain in this story," Butcher added. "He might not be the villain, but he's certainly a villain."The full six-part series of 'Sport's Strangest Crimes - Hansie Cronje: Fall From Grace' is available on BBC Sounds.
BBC News
25-07-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Sport's Strangest Crimes podcast from BBC 5 Live returns with the scandal that changed cricket forever
Sport's Strangest Crimes: Hansie Cronje - Fall from Grace is the latest gripping six-part podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live, delving into one of the biggest sporting scandals of the modern era. Hosted by former England cricketer Mark Butcher, this series retraces the rise and fall of Hansie Cronje - from his glory days on the pitch to the secret deals, damning confessions, and an untimely death that left more questions than answers. The series begins with the now-infamous Centurion Test match - a rain-ruined draw suddenly brought back to life by a puzzling decision from Cronje. What looked like bold sportsmanship was later exposed as something far more sinister when a wiretap in India revealed damning evidence of match-fixing. Mark guides listeners through the story's many twists: offshore accounts, secret phone calls, shady bookmakers, and a shocking televised inquiry. As the pressure mounts for a deeper investigation, Cronje is killed in a mysterious plane crash, officially blamed on pilot error, but still debated to this day. With testimony from former teammates, journalists, investigators, and those closest to the case, Mark uncovers a dark world of manipulation, power and money - and the real cost of betrayal in sport. Speaking about the podcast, Mark, said: 'I played in that Centurion Test, and none of us knew what was really going on. Hansie's story is both tragic and infuriating, and there's still a lot we don't understand. This series is about going back and asking the difficult questions. Who was the real Hansie Cronje? And how deep did this all go?' The series revisits a scandal that rocked international cricket and left an indelible mark on the game. Over two decades later, the echoes of Cronje's downfall still resonate. The entire series of Sport's Strangest Crimes: Hansie Cronje - Fall From Grace will be available on BBC Sounds from Wednesday 30 July 2025 Listen to Sport's Strangest Crimes on BBC Sounds AG / MCL Follow for more
Khaleej Times
04-07-2025
- Sport
- Khaleej Times
From Jota to Bryant: 5 sports stars who lost their lives in crashes
Sports and the football world was in shock on Thursday, July 3, following the news about Liverpool and Portugal star Diogo Jota's death in a car crash in Spain. The striker was with his brother Andre Silva in the the Lamborghini as it veered off the A52 highway and burst into flames, according to preliminary investigations by local authorities in Zamora, in the northwest of Spain. Several prominent figures in the sporting world have passed away under tragic circumstances. Here, we list the sports personalities who met with tragedy. Hansie Cronje, 1969-2002 Former South African cricket captain Hansie Cronje, who had led his country to the 1998 ICC KnockOut Trophy (now known as the ICC Champions Trophy) title, died in a plane crash in 2002. Cronje had hitched a ride aboard a medium-sized cargo aircraft from Johannesburg to George in the Western Cape province after his scheduled flight had been grounded. But the pilots lost visibility and crashed in the Outeniqua Mountains. Cronje was the only passenger on board and he and the pilots died in the crash. But conspiracy theories surfaced saying that Cronje was murdered following his involvement in the big match-fixing scandal in 2000 that rocked cricket. Kobe Bryant 1978-2020 NBA legend Kobe Bryant lost his life in a tragic helicopter crash in 2020. The Los Angeles Lakers shooting guard, was travelling with his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, from Orange County, California to Ventura County when the helicopter crashed in the hills in heavy fog. Ayrton Senna 1960-1994 Formula One legend Ayrton Senna, who won three world championships in 1988, 1990 and 1991, and known for the famed rivalry with teammate-turned-foe Alain Prost, was killed following an accident during the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix at the Imola Circuit in Italy. The Brazilian was leading the race when he crashed at the high-speed Tamburello corner. Senna was airlifted to hospital where he was pronounced dead. Andrew Symonds 1975-2022 Andrew Symonds, who shone for Australia with his all-round skills, died in a car crash in 2022 at the age of 46. Symonds, one of the best fielders in the Australian side then, was driving outside of Townsville in Queensland when his car went off the road and rolled. Symonds was pronounced dead at the spot despite attempts by paramedics to revive him.
National Post
10-06-2025
- Sport
- National Post
Corruption unit flies in to probe Cricket Canada's involvement in betting scam
A high-powered International Cricket Council anti-corruption team is jetting into Toronto this week. No, they are not here to check out what the country's largest dynamic metropolis has to offer or a trip to see the awe-inspiring beauty of Niagara Falls. Article content They may still take in all the sites during their spare time but they are here on a far more serious and challenging visit. They are here to investigate a number of incidents that have perked the ears of the world's governing body. Article content Article content The ICC has been forced to jump into action after receiving a recorded tape from a Cricket Canada member about illegal betting, match-and-spot-fixing involving the national team in the last few weeks. Immediately after the member admitted to forwarding the tape to the ICC in England, he was fired for not sharing the tape first with Cricket Canada. Article content This damning recording that was exclusively shared to Postmedia lasts 58 minutes and 47 seconds is conducted in Punjabi and was deciphered to me by a translator. The ICC takes these allegations very seriously as it doesn't want its lily-white image of the sport to be tarnished anymore. Article content Of course, the game received a black eye on April 7, 2000 when Indian police charged the late South Africa skipper Hansie Cronje of match fixing and that sparked a world-wide scandal. In the same year Pakistanis Salim Malik and Ata-u-Rehman were banned for life and six others were fined. The game was later rocked when the Indian Central Bureau of Investigation fingered India's national captain Mohammad Azharuddin and Ajay Sharma who both played in Toronto in the Sahara Cup tournament were banned for life. Article content Article content Since then, ICC has stepped up the fight but the proliferation of franchise cricket has made the job of stopping corruption even harder. Article content The recording points fingers at how the interim national coach Khurum Rashid Chohan was instructed by three board members on the composition of the team. It appears the bookmakers based in either Pakistan or India relayed classified information to these board members who were allegedly involved in placing bets. Article content In one instance the coach strongly objected to one bowler being dropped as the 'wicket had a green top.' And he paid the price for it. On the squad's return from the trip to the U.S. to play World Cup qualifiers Chohan was fired. He has been replaced by the national team's general manager Ingleton Liburd. Liburd was a former Canadian international all-rounder who has been with the organization for several years. When contacted on Monday, Chohan told me that he was relieved of his duties and that 'Ingleton will coach the team in next week's matches. Call me back in 15 minutes and I will talk to you.' I called him back twice and the calls went unanswered.
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Revealed: English women's cricket becomes match-fixing target
There are growing fears that English women's cricket is becoming a soft target for corruption, with hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of bets placed on matches. Corruption in men's cricket has been a longstanding issue for the sport, with numerous high-profile examples coming to light. A Telegraph Sport investigation can reveal a crackdown taking place in the women's game after uncovering: A total of £300,000 bet on one domestic match Players approached for team information via social media Anti-corruption officials sent to matches as part of crackdown Players forced to hand in mobile phones to officials during games Minimal security at venues during matches The men's game has been embroiled in plenty of infamous match-fixing scandals from the Hansie Cronje affair to three Pakistan players being banned and jailed for spot-fixing against England in 2010. It was only in February of this year, however, that the first female player was banned for corruption by the International Cricket Council. Former Bangladesh international Shohely Akhter, who played two ODIs and 13 T20Is, was found guilty of attempting to fix matches, offering a bribe, failing to disclose full details of an approach to the ICC's Anti-Corruption Code and obstructing the organisation's investigation. In one instance, she even tried to convince a fellow player to get out hit wicket in a match against Australia during the 2023 T20 World Cup, promising to pay 2 million Bangladeshi Takas (£12,000) for the fix. Akhter formally admitted breaching five provisions of the anti-corruption code and was banned from all cricket for five years. Players at lower levels of the women's game have been asked to report approaches made to them and Telegraph Sport understands that there have been some made via anonymous accounts on social media by those looking for team information about a particular match. There is also evidence of high sums being bet on domestic women's matches. As part of a wider restructure of the domestic women's game, the T20 County Cup has been launched as an FA Cup-style knockout including all minor counties as well as the 18 first-class ones across tiers one, two and three. A number of games have been taking place at grounds rarely used for first-class cricket like Exmouth, Brecon and Fenner's. These venues come with far less security, facilities and monitoring of those in attendance. Just a few days ago, the quarter-final match between Kent, a tier-two county side, and the Blaze, who represent Nottinghamshire, had a total of more than £296,000 placed on it via the Betfair exchange, which is just one betting platform. The match was also viewed by more than 77,000 people on YouTube. At the same point on the same day, the total bet across all nine men's county fixtures totalled just £8,535 on that website. In the women's domestic game, there is no suggestion, at present, that any matches have been fixed. But one of the initial concerns was caused by the number of wides being bowled, especially in tier-two competition. Across the first 60 matches of the domestic women's season, there were 1,888, at an average of 31.46 a match. There were 15 matches with 40 or more wides. In one innings, a side conceded 72 extras of which 61 were wides, while the other team conceded 26 extras, making the match total 98. However, as a non-professional league where the players receive no compensation for playing cricket, the standards can often vary, which could be the cause of the high numbers of extras. Anti-corruption officers are now expected to look for patterns when it comes to extras as it is not a market often offered by legal betting companies. Some women's streams on YouTube can draw thousands of viewers, with the majority of remarks in the comments section referencing what people need for bets to come in and how much they have placed, rather than the action. During one Women's One-Day Cup match, viewers in the comments openly posted about their bets in Hindi and, of the 2,000 who watched the stream, the majority are believed to be based overseas. There was even one comment referencing a Raja Bets website, which is not licensed for operations in the UK. Some users have posted their bets on social media with links to websites of which almost all finish in '.in', the country code for India. In light of examples like these, the England and Wales Cricket Board has been sending anti-corruption officers to women's matches with a particular focus on those further down the pyramid in the T20 County Cup and in tier two. By the midway point of the first innings of one such match, a total of almost £20,000 had been bet on the Betfair exchange. While it is not an exceptional amount compared to the millions that are sometimes bet on overseas T20 franchise tournaments, it is a considerable sum given the crowd in attendance was fewer than 50 people. Another game in the same competition was also brought to the attention of the ECB's anti-corruption officials for the sums bet on it. It is understood that the ECB is looking to increase education programmes attended by all players at the start of the season. Extra measures have been put in place, too. Players have to hand in their phones at the start of the match, a practice that has long existed in international cricket and televised men's county games, with only a select few in the dressing room, including media officers and medical staff, allowed their devices. But that is not yet uniform across the women's county set-up. For some tier-two matches players are allowed to keep their phones, but not in games that are part of double-headers alongside the men's team or any matches against a tier-one side. Although some counties apply designated players and match official areas, which unaccredited people cannot access, it is not a uniform rule across the divisions. At the smaller grounds, Telegraph Sport discovered first-hand it can be far too easy for those without accreditation to wander into areas which should be reserved for umpires and players without being stopped by any security. Some matches have also had free entry, with no one checking tickets or any monitoring of who is watching the match. In cricket, because of the nature of the game, there is almost no limit to the number of bets that can be placed on a particular match. The markets go far beyond simply who will score the most runs, take the most wickets or which side will win. It can go as detailed as specific scores by players, economy rates of bowlers, what score a team will have at a particular point in the game or even whether both teams hit a boundary in their first over. The case involving Pakistan, from the Lord's Test in 2010, related to the deliberate bowling of no balls. But the bigger concern is the relaying of data from the ground overseas to tell someone what is going to happen prior to the betting market being closed known as 'courtsiding'. This relies on speed, but the delay of betting markets being closed can take longer than someone passing on a message to another individual. Betting sites are often banned for those in the ground to try to prevent that, but that does not necessarily stop it. Anti-corruption officials are keen to make the point that their presence does not imply players are doing anything improper. 'The presence of an anti-corruption official is not indicative of the players doing something wrong,' Steve Richardson, who was investigations coordinator for the ICC's anti-corruption unit for seven years until 2023, said. 'It's indicative of the level of risk that the ECB perceives the women's game to be at, and the women's game is now more professional than it's ever been. With that comes betting markets and with that comes a risk of corruption.'
