Wessel Johannes Hansie Cronje (September 25, 1969 - June 1, 2002) was a South Africa and captain of the South African national cricket team in the 1990s
Born in Bloemfontein, Cronje matriculated in 1987 from the prestigious Grey College school in Bloemfontein. An excellent all round sportsman, he represented the then Orange Free State in cricket and rugby at school level. Cronje also went to the University of Orange Free State and there he left with a Bachelor of Commerce
Cronje was made captain and took the job from his predecessor Kepler Wessels . He took it easy though and made the team go places especially in 1999 World Cup . Their team was undoubtedly the favorites in that World Cup and he showed great skills of captaincy and innovations like sending Lance Klusener down the order and using him as an all rounder . Also the way he shuffled his bowlers was lauded by many cricket critics. Even though they came to an unfortunate end in the 1999 World Cup their efforts are to be praised .
Cronje's form at the 1996 World Cup was poor, finishing with 98 runs at 12.25 as South Africa was eliminated after the famous tied Semi-final against Australia. In the first match of the tournament versus India, Cronje came onto the field with an earpiece wired to his coach Bob Woolmer, but at the first drinks break the match referee ordered him to remove it.
In October 1999 Cronje became South Africa's highest Test run scorer during the first Test against Zimbabwe. The two Test series was won 2-0 thanks to innings victories. The series with England was won in the fourth Test at Cape Town, Cronje's fiftieth as captain.
Under Cronje's captaincy South Africa won 27 Tests and lost 11, completing series victories against every team except Australia. He captained the One-Day International team to 99 wins out of 138 matches with one tied match and three no result matches. He holds the South African record for captaining and winning most number of matches .His 99 wins as captain makes him the third most successful captain worldwide in terms of matches won, behind Ricky Ponting and Allan Border.
However, on April 11 Cronje was sacked as captain after confessing to Ali Bacher that he had not been "entirely honest". He admitted accepting between $10,000 and $15,000 from a London-based bookmaker for 'forecasting' results. However Cronje’s life in similarity to his cricketing career came to a tragic end when he died in a plane crash.
Born in Bloemfontein, Cronje matriculated in 1987 from the prestigious Grey College school in Bloemfontein. An excellent all round sportsman, he represented the then Orange Free State in cricket and rugby at school level. Cronje also went to the University of Orange Free State and there he left with a Bachelor of Commerce
Cronje was made captain and took the job from his predecessor Kepler Wessels . He took it easy though and made the team go places especially in 1999 World Cup . Their team was undoubtedly the favorites in that World Cup and he showed great skills of captaincy and innovations like sending Lance Klusener down the order and using him as an all rounder . Also the way he shuffled his bowlers was lauded by many cricket critics. Even though they came to an unfortunate end in the 1999 World Cup their efforts are to be praised .
Cronje's form at the 1996 World Cup was poor, finishing with 98 runs at 12.25 as South Africa was eliminated after the famous tied Semi-final against Australia. In the first match of the tournament versus India, Cronje came onto the field with an earpiece wired to his coach Bob Woolmer, but at the first drinks break the match referee ordered him to remove it.
In October 1999 Cronje became South Africa's highest Test run scorer during the first Test against Zimbabwe. The two Test series was won 2-0 thanks to innings victories. The series with England was won in the fourth Test at Cape Town, Cronje's fiftieth as captain.
Under Cronje's captaincy South Africa won 27 Tests and lost 11, completing series victories against every team except Australia. He captained the One-Day International team to 99 wins out of 138 matches with one tied match and three no result matches. He holds the South African record for captaining and winning most number of matches .His 99 wins as captain makes him the third most successful captain worldwide in terms of matches won, behind Ricky Ponting and Allan Border.
However, on April 11 Cronje was sacked as captain after confessing to Ali Bacher that he had not been "entirely honest". He admitted accepting between $10,000 and $15,000 from a London-based bookmaker for 'forecasting' results. However Cronje’s life in similarity to his cricketing career came to a tragic end when he died in a plane crash.
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