Forgive Hansie

YOU have no doubt received so many letters regarding the most recent scandal surrounding the Australians’ ball tampering and I am thus not going to prolong the issue by adding my thoughts, which must be the same as everyone else’s.

That the Aussies have admitted to cheating is a given and the powers that be must mete out the punishment accordingly. But let the punishment be consistent with the crime, something that has not been evident in past incidents.

And that brings me to the point I wish to raise. One of our greatest cricket captains, Hansie Cronje, was ostracised by the cricket world for his actions, he was dropped like a hot potato by the South African cricket authorities and was labelled a cheat and a crook by all and sundry.

There were very few cricket commentators who would dare mention his name when commentating and the public in general preferred to forget his achievements on the field of play.

Only a few people stood by him during the troubling time he went through and I shall never forget Hansie in tears before the King commission during his match-fixing trial.

It is my considered opinion, bearing in mind the way his name was dragged through the mud, how he was considered an outcast by world cricket (including South Africa) and eventually was involved in that tragic plane crash in the mountains surrounding George, that his passing was indirectly the result of the manner in which he was treated during and after his trial.

I feel that we, as sports-loving South Africans, and cricket in particular, should insist on Cronje being restored into the annals of our record books where he rightly belongs, that he may be spoken about with pride among the cricket fraternity and that we remember him openly for the great cricketer and gentleman that he was.

Rest in peace Hansie, I will not forget you. Brian Pittman Fish Hoek