History has rarely been kind to Hansie Cronje. For most cricket fans, his name is forever intertwined with the match-fixing scandal that shattered one of the game’s most admired careers.
But for Daryll Cullinan, that is not where the story begins. Speaking exclusively to Sports Now, the former South African batter reflects on the remarkable partnership Cronje forged with Bob Woolmer, the tactical revolution they sparked long before the modern game caught up, and why-despite everything that followed-he never allowed one mistake to erase the captain who believed in him when few others did.
“I think Bob was someone who thought out of the box; he was very creative. Bob was a guy that would be talking; he was talking to us about, scoop shots and that sort of stuff. And we just said, ‘Bob, relax, this isn’t going to happen.’ If ever there was a cricketing person smiling down upon us today, it was Bob Woolmer. Bob was talking about this sort of style of cricket,” Cullinan recalled.
“I think Dilshan came out with the scoop. Bob used to encourage us: ‘You need to think along those lines.’ And they did work very well,” the former South Africa batter said.
While talking about his captain Cronje, Cullinan could not stress more on how special he was, and to have got involved in what is possibly the darkest chapters in cricket history, he conceded that it is the sad part, but that doesn’t go on to define the kind of cricketer he was, and what an astute cricket brain he had, and his partnership with Woolmer will probably go down as one of the greatest in history.
“But Hansie was something special. And it’s a sad part. I never ever, and this is something that I’m proud about, I never ever judged him on that,” the 59-year-old confessed.
When Cronje’s involvement in the match-fixing scandal became public, much of the cricketing world turned against him. Cullinan took a different path. While making it clear he never condoned what happened, he also refused to erase everything Cronje had meant to South African cricket-or to his own career.
“I never publicly, which took me by surprise, what some of his, what I would call considered closest friends, were almost at times scathing about him. You know, you can’t condone what he did. But I took the route I stuck with; I felt he was good for my career, and he believed in my game,” he stressed.
“And he was a very good cricketer, a very fine captain. He would have been a tremendous .He would have fit that ball perfectly, hit a long ball, and was more than useful with it,” the South African great believed.
“Where it was happening globally, I don’t know. So if I look back on it, I mean, it’s such a long time ago. I feel very sad for the way the story ended, because Cronje was a very charismatic guy. He had the world at his feet; he was revered everywhere he walked, whatever he did. He was absolutely idolised, he was smart, he was a good-looking guy, he was intelligent, he could work a room, he knew what people wanted to hear, what they wanted to see. He was brilliant,” Cullinan mentioned.
“He was also a very good cricketer. And he was a very good captain. And I think at times, that’s what I think. I knew Hansie when he was a young boy. I was actually friendly with his brother. And we went to rival schools. So I was first introduced to his family as a schoolboy. I had the utmost respect and regard for his father, who was a wonderful man who, in their part of the world, built cricket with his own hands: selector, groundsman, who played a massive role,” he remembered.
To many, Hansie Cronje’s legacy begins and ends with one scandal. To , it is more complicated than that. It is the story of a man who had the world at his feet, played the game in a manner many thought was borderline outlandish, but, with time, became the norm, and, with Woolmer, forged a partnership that represented the future of cricket.