On This Day: Former South Africa Captain Hansie Cronje Killed in a Plane Crash in 2002

On this day in 2002, international cricket witnessed a tragic day with the sudden death of Hansie Cronje, the former South African captain, in a plane crash.The world remained aghast when the news of Cronje (aged 32-years), one of the world’s best skippers, poured in. He was in the AirQuarius cargo flight that crashed on Cradock Peak in the Outeniqua mountain range.

It has been 19 years since the unfortunate incident that cut short Hansie’s life in the wee hours of a Saturday morning.

In 2000, 2 years before his unfortunate death, Cronje had confessed to match-fixing in front of the King’s Commission, which led to his lifelong ban from cricket.

According to media reports, Cronje had missed a flight (on Friday evening of May 31, 2002), as he was late from a business meeting in Swaziland.

It was supposed to be the transport back to his home on Fancourt estate, a luxury golf resort at George in the Western Cape.

His former secretary at Bell, Pam Jooste, had mentioned that since Cronje had to take an urgent detour to the offices of Bell Equipment, where he worked as an account manager since his cricket-ban; it caused the delay. This was a company that dealt with earth-moving machinery.

Cronje seemed restless and worried at having missed the flight and looked for alternative arrangements. Pam’s statement recorded that Cronje had asked if anyone needed coffee on that freezing cold day.

Soon, the ex-skipper had found out a way to return home in a small charter airline AirQuarius. But it allowed only solo passengers in its cargo plane.

Hansie had a prior long-standing arrangement with AirQuarius and he didn’t have to pay for the (1500-mile) trip to meet his wife Bertha. In exchange for the free trip, the pilots lodged in the wing of his house overnight.

The plane crashed and that fatal flight took away Cronje’s life.

The news reached however, during the afternoon on June 1, 2002. Many theories of murder directed to his death surfaced soon after his death.

He passed away ironically at a time when he was on the verge of revamping his life.

Cronje was undoubtedly a great, charismatic leader whose one lapse of judgement cost him his career.It was under Cronje’s captaincy that the South African team revived its form in international cricket in 1991.He was only 24 when he led his team against Australia.

He was the fourth highest ranked captain in Test history. Under his successful leadership South Africa saw 27 victories in 53 Tests.

In 2000, he had hit six centuries, scored 3,714 runs at an average of 36.41, against India. He was deemed to be one of the world’s finest players of spin bowling.

The South Africa skipper, a devout Christian is fondly remembered by many as a fantastic, enthusiastic team mate, supportive captain.

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