Former Protease cricketer and one of the best fielders in international cricket history Jonty Rhodes feels painful on his old friend and former South African captain Hansie Cronje’s death that happened in 2002 in a plane crash.
On June 1, 2002, tainted South African captain Hansie Cronje died in a plane crash at the age of just 32-year-old. Less than a year ago of his death, Cronje had been handed a life ban from cricket due to involving in match-fixing. That match-fixing incident shook the cricket world heavily.
However, despite having the name in the match-fixing scandal, Cronje was voted the 11th greatest South African in 2004. The cricketer is still remembered in the cricket world for his valuable contributions.
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Rhodes and Cronje were very good friends as they had played together in most of their international cricket career. In together, the duo had played 215 international cricket matches (48 Tests and 167 ODIs) for South Africa.
Talking on Cronje’s death, Rhodes recalled his memory and said according to Sportstar, “His death was very, very sad. My wife and I were close to Hansie and his wife (Bertha). When we arrived at the Cronje house, they had just recovered his body from the crash site. It was horrible. For many people, when they lose a friend, life goes on after a period of mourning. But for us, it was impossible to just move on.”
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Rhodes believes Cronje can get out from the negative image if that aeroplane crash didn’t rob Cronje’s life prematurely. Rhodes believes that his friend could hugely help the cricket to fight against the big corruptions.
Rhodes spoke on it, “If Hansie was still with us, he could have had a positive role to play in the world of cricket. The ICC or Cricket South Africa could have utilised him as someone who can speak out and say, ‘Hey guys, there are ways to make easy money, but don’t do it, because the consequences are severe.’ He could have even worked with the ICC Anti-Corruption Unit. When someone with deep life experience tells you something, it resonates strongly. Hansie himself was keen to take an evangelical approach to preach about playing cricket the right way. But that aeroplane crash robbed Hansie of the chance to redeem himself.”
