Plane crash is a tragic end for fallen cricket hero Hansie Cronje

IT WAS a tragic end to a tragic life. Few other words could aptly describe the life and death of cricket's fallen angel Hansie Cronje.

Hansie Cronje

IT WAS a tragic end to a tragic life. Few other words could aptly describe the life and death of cricket's fallen angel Hansie Cronje.

Only a few years ago Cronje's life was the envy of millions of sports fans who adored him.

Rich, devilishly handsome, articulate and married to a loyal attractive wife and with the most loving of families who supported him through good and bad times, life for Hansie Cronje was a joyous experience.

Or so it seemed.

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What his fans did not know was that he was a man with a tortured soul keeping the darkest of secrets.

Cronje's lust for money prompted him to be lured into the clutches of crooked Indian bookmakers and his life took a sharp downturn.

Had not an Indian policeman taped Cronje sealing a deal with a bookmaker the outside world would not have believed it.

The cricket world was aghast. It was as if Santa Claus had been caught stealing presents.

The phrase, "Hansie would have been the last person I suspected," was uttered in many different languages around the globe.

For weeks there seemed to be no other story on the front pages of South Africa's newspapers, and a judicial commission was appointed to get to the bottom of the matter.

Chaired by Edwin King, a retired judge, it became cricket's most thorough investigation into corruption.

During 10 days of hearings in Cape Town in June 2000, Cronje confessed to taking approximately $A180,000 in dirty money and to offering bribes of $A27,000 each to two teammates, Herschelle Gibbs and Henry Williams, to underperform in a one-day international against India in Nagpur.

Contrition from Gibbs and Williams was palpable but Cronje failed to convince the public who had paid money to watch him play that he was genuinely sorry for what he had done.

He famously told the commission: "I tried to live a Christian life and walk the way the Lord wanted me to walk. I allowed Satan and the world to dictate terms to me."

Cronje was banned for life but in subsequent media interviews, for which he was paid handsomely, he repeatedly brushed off his conduct as "a mistake", hardening many South Africans' hearts toward him. He launched a legal battle in a bid to get the life ban overturned in October last year, saying he wanted to serve cricket at grassroots level, but the ban remained.

Cronje is a hard man to describe because his life and personality was full of contrasts.

He would squabble over the price of garlic bread at a restaurant then, the following night, shout all of his teammates to dinner.

He would go to church on Sunday yet later that week try and convince teammates to underperform so he could take some money off an Indian bookie.

He would tell himself he would never drink on tour but would occasionally have a late night binge that would prompt him to curse himself the next morning when he would head out on a 10km run at a deliberately fast pace to release the pressure on his guilty conscience.

Cronje was born into a loving Afrikaans family as the son of Ewie, a well-known South African cricketer and commentator who was a sportsmaster at Grey College Bloemfontein.

Ewie is famed for telling his students: "When you leave, I want to read about you on the back page but not the front."

The words would later haunt him, given his son's indiscretions.

Cronje was a complex man but even his most strident detractors rated him as a fearsome competitor.

The South African team which was recently flogged by Australia clearly missed his steel.

He did not mind a sledge – copping one or handing one out – and the tougher things got, the more spirited he became.

Wessel Johannes Cronje was born on September 25, 1969 in Bloemfontein. He made his first-class debut for Orange Free State against Transvaal in Johannesburg in 1987.

In 1992 he played his first one-day international, against Australia in Sydney and made his Test debut against the West Indies in Bridgetown. Cronje was appointed South Africa captain in 1994, taking over from Kepler Wessels for a home series against New Zealand.

He lost the first Test but then led his country to five successive Test victories – a South African record.

His Test average floated around 36 for most of his career, which grossly undersold his ability.

His loyal fans lament that he owned up to match-fixing. They believe had he stayed silent, he would never have been caught.

Cronje lived with the hope of redemption and the hope of rejoining the cricket community. Sadly, that will never happen.

This column first appeared in The Courier-Mail in June 2002, following Hansie Cronje's death in a plane crash