Top 10 Amazing Facts about Hansie Cronje

Hansie Cronje. Photo outsourced from Wikimedia Commons

Top 10 Amazing Facts about Hansie Cronje

Hansie Cronje was born on 25 September 1969 in Bloemfontein, South Africa to Ewie Cronje and San- Marie Cronje.

He is also known as Wessel Johannes Cronje and he was a South African international cricketer and captain of the South African national cricket team in the 1990s.

He started his cricket career at 18, making his first class debut in 1988 and his international debut in 1992. Cronje portrayed amazing skills in bowling and batting gaining a lot of success.

In 2004, Hansie Cronje was voted the 11th greatest South  African despite being banned from cricket due to a match-fixing scandal.

Here are top 10 amazing facts about Hansie Cronje.

1. Hansie Cronje’s family had a history of playing cricket

Cricket runs in the family bloodline and has always been integral to Cronje’s family. Cronje is a second-generation cricketer.

His father played for Orange Free State in the 1960s and his older brother Frans participated in First-class cricket.

2. Hansie Cronje’s educational background

In 1987 Cronje graduated from Grey College in Bloemfontein and was the head boy.
Cronje was an excellent all-around sportsman.

He represented the then Orange Free State provinces in cricket and rugby at school levels. He was the captain of his school’s cricket and rugby teams.

He later joined the University of the free state and graduated with a Bachelor’s of commerce degree.

3. Hansie Cronje was an all-rounder

Hansie Cronje. Photo outsourced from Wikimedia Commons

An all-rounder is a cricketer who performs well at battling and bowling, which was a great advantage because most players are skilled in one disciple.

Cronje was a complete all-rounder. His battling skills were as good as his fielding and when it came to bowling, but he was a bit underrated.

Though Cronje’s gentle medium pace appeared innocuous in a lineup with the likes of Allan Donald, Shaun Pollock and Fanie de Villiers, it was extremely attractive.

Sachin Tendulkar, an Indian batting legend, once famously said in an interview that the only bowler who managed to unsettle him was Cronje.

Sachin also added that he didn’t know what to do to outsmart him; Cronje dismissed him five times in tests.

4. Hansie Cronje first-class career

He was an early starter in his career and started his first-class career at 18. At 18, he had a debut for Orange Free State against Transvaal at Johannesburg in 1988.
Cronje was made captain of the Orange Free State when he turned 21 for the season 1990 to 1991.

During 1992 o 1993, Cronje captained Orange Free State to the castle cup/ Total Power series double and in 1995 he played Leicestershire scoring 1301 runs at an average of  52.04, finishing the season as the country’s leading scorer.

Cronje also played for Ireland as an oversea player in the Benson and Hedge Cup in 1997. He won 46 runs over Middlesex by scoring 94 and taking three wickets.

Through his win, he helped Ireland to win the first match against English county opposition and in the same competition, he scored 85 and took one wicket against Glamorgan.

5. Hansie Cronje international debut

Cronje played impressively during his one-day International (ODI) debut against Australia in Sydney during the 1992 World Cup.

The match was South Africa’s first debut in world cup cricket and his side won the match.

After the world cup, he was part of the tour to the West Indies; he scored five and two in the match which South Africa lost by 52 runs after dominating for almost the entire duration.

6. Hansie was a good captain

Cronje was a genuine and a good leader since childhood and was raised in an environment where the leadership came naturally.

Cronje started captaining at the age of 21 and he proved to be an excellent captain throughout his career. His record as a captain is impeccable and he led South Africa in 53 tests; he won 27 and lost 11.

In One Day International (ODI), he won 99 matches out of 138 matches that he led south Africa in. he still holds the South Africa record for most matches won as captain in ODIs.

7. Hansie Cronje career stats

Photo by PDPics on Pixabay

During his career, Cronje appeared in 68 Tests for South Africa, scoring 3,714 runs at an average of 36.41 and taking 43 wickets at an average of 29.95.

In the One Day International cups, he managed 5,565 runs at an average of 38.64 and picked 114 wickets at an average of 34.78.

In the first class, his figures read 12,103 runs at an average of 43.63 and 116 wickets at an average of 34.43 in the 184 games he participated in.

8. Hansie Cronje disappointing world cups

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Cronje participated in three world cups and never ended in a good way. In 1992 he participated in the first world cup.

The first world cup ended tragically as South Africa chased a revised target of 21 runs from 1 ball in a rain-hit semi-final against England.

In 1996 during the second world cup, Cronje led his team and ended in a quarterfinals loss against the West Indies.

The 1999 world cup was the most tragic, and his side crashed out of the tournament in the semi-finals after the game was a tie. The Australians progressed to the finals since they had beaten the proteas in the league stage.

9. Hansie Cronje was involved in a match-fixing scandal

People voted him in despite being banned from cricket for life due to his role in a match-fixing scandal.

The South African cricket match-fixing refers to match-fixing performed by several South African cricket team players during their tour to India in 2000.

Delhi police claimed they had intercepted a phone call between London-based bookie Sanjeer Chawla and Cronje. The call indicated that the South African were taking money to fix an ODI match played in march 2000.

Hansie Cronje later admitted to the offense and was banned for life from cricket. He challenged the ban, but it was dismissed.

10. Hansie Cronje death

On June 1, 2002, Hansie Cronje died after his aircraft crashed into the Outeniqua mountains. During the crash, two pilots accompanied him, and they all died instantly.

his death was surrounded by conspiracy that he was murdered on order of a cricket syndicate.