On This Day: June 1, 2002 - Hansie Cronje died in an air crash

[lestaboy]

One of the finest leaders in the history of cricket and the greatest match-fixer of them all died on this day in 2002. It's a history lesson many cricketers still haven't grasped. Hansie Cronje was only 32 and was killed in a plane crash near George, in South Africa's Western Cape.

 

[Kianig89]

Cronje facial expression during the game while fielding looked dam serious..........R.I.P

 

[MenInG]

No one in their wildest dreams would have suspected that Hanse Cronje would change the way we looked at cricket and cricketers - forever!

 

[MenInG]

Reminder of a tragic day in world cricket.

 

[The_Odd_One]

Was probably one of the best and most innovative captains of all time

Such a shame he was a sell-out.

 

[Savak]

He is a classic example of someone who had the world at his feet and threw it all away for a few quid. The sad part is that the guy was regarded as the best captain in the world. A very strong win ratio. The players who played with him vouch for his leadership qualities and rate him as the best captain they played with. Heck he even turned around the fortunes of a weak Scotland or Ireland team he agreed to captain, that is the impact he had on the sport.

 

[Gabbar Singh]

Although he was a big time fixer I actually admire the way he handled the situation once exposed. Within days of the original allegations being made he admitted he was guilty to Ali Bacher. And within a couple of months he admitted everything to the King Commission. In the end he even admitted to additional cases of fixing that the Indian police/media/King Commission didn't even know of.

It was as if being caught was a weight off his shoulders and he was, in some way, happy that it happened.

 

[Hasan123]

Was a good captatin, but cricket will unfortunately always remember him as a match fixer first than a good captatin.

 

[MenInG]

Another year goes by.

 

[Joseph Gomes]

Maybe his demise will lessen the memory of his bad deeds in people's mind?

 

[Gabbar Singh]

Wasn’t it pilot error that led to the plane crashing? The likelyhood of someone convincing the pilot to partake in a suicide mission is slim. Sure if there was sabotage involved the murder theory would make more sense.

Judge Siraj Desai said the air crew had not followed procedures on their second attempt to land at George airport.

"The complacency of the pilot in command was surprising and ... the co-pilot failed under the circumstances to do what a reasonable pilot would have done," the Cape High Court judge said at the conclusion of the inquest on Monday.

"It is the court's view that the death of the deceased Wessel Johannes (Hansie) Cronje was brought about by an act or omission prima facie amounting to an offence on the part of pilots," Judge Desai said.

Warnings ignored

During the inquest it emerged that the pilots Willie Meyer and Ian Noakes - apparently believing they were flying over the sea - had ignored 13 ground proximity warnings given by navigation equipment on the Hawker Siddeley light aircraft.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4790609.stm

 

[Abdullah719]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">16 years ago you left us my brother. Every time when this day comes along I think about you and the times we had together as kids playing backyard cricket and rugby test matches. Missing you always Hansie you will never be forgotten. RIP &#55357;&#56911;&#55356;&#57340; <a href="https://t.co/wx0Z7RSJJI">pic.twitter.com/wx0Z7RSJJI</a></p>— Allan Donald (@AllanDonald33) <a href="https://twitter.com/AllanDonald33/status/1002636904729366534?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 1, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[CadPakFan]

I know people may think I am crazy but I feel like I'm feeling the effects of the Mandela Effect I can almost promise you that I had a friend last year, show me a picture they had with Hansie Cronje from 2016. I know most people will think that I probably just remembered the wrong person but I also clearly remember Hansie Cronje tweeting something a couple days ago!

 

[SERVO7711]

Hmmm interesting ... Are you serious it was him ?

 

[W_hussain]

Interesting cricketer career

 

[sshakir411]

Hansie paid the price. What came out of his whole fixing saga was just the tip of the ice berg...a lot of it was never found out.

 

[pratiktc]

Very sad for him. Even though evidence nailed him pretty much, there is some small dignity in the fact that he openly and fully confessed. Perhaps he could have repented and made some contribution to reconcile himself to cricket.

Personally reckon quite a few people - notably Azhar, Jadeja, Wasim, Waqar got away with minimal long term reputation damage what with bans being overturned/never applied and all.

 

[Markhor]

Hansie Cronje's father died yesterday after a battle with stomach cancer.

RIP father and son.

 

[MenInG]

Sad day today - But the shame on cricket would be bigger

 

[Bhaijaan]

Hansie, we love you.

You were a good cricketer and a great Captain, arguably the best captain of your era.

You disgraced yourself and your country by match fixing which has tarnished your legacy as a cricketer but it has been 16 years, you would have served your ban by now and the cricket world would have welcomes you back with open arms because everyone deserves a second chance.

 

[Savak]

Players who played with him will profess to him being the best captain they played with. He was an excellent man manager. He even captained a weak Scotland and Ireland team once and he led them to victory. He was an example of how a good leader can make a difference to a weak unit. He had the same kind of players Keppler Wessel's did but was able to get a lot more out of them.

 

[MenInG]

Sad anniversary this but had the lessons been learnt from his situation, maybe Amir/Butt/Asif saga may not have taken place?

 

[Kroll]

20 years already, ooft time flies.

 

[James]

Very sad.

 

[Hitman]

Still remember that day. It still hurts.

 

[sweep_shot]

I have a feeling he was assassinated.