Cronje had confessed in 2000 to accepting $140,000 from Indian bookmakers, and was banned by the South African board for life.
The London court’s verdict against three Pakistan cricketers over last year’s ‘spot fixing’ scandal has led the family members of Hansie Cronje to reveal almost a decade after his death how the former South African skipper was filled with regret and was ‘embarrassed to go out in public’ over his role in a similar scandal that had shaken international cricket years ago.
Cronje, one of cricket's original spot-fixing cheats, had to deal with the shame of having betrayed the game and the country for almost two years before becoming a victim of a plane crash near his home town of George.
And nearly after a decade of his death, his family remains shattered by his passing, at the age of only 32.
However, after the convictions of Pakistan cricketers Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir in London, they offered a rare insight into the final months of Cronje's life and behind the scenes of his rise and fall.
"There was a period of a year to 18 months where … I've never seen a guy so down and distraught," the Sydney Morning Herald quoted Cronje's brother-in-law and a former cricketer Gordon Parsons, as saying.
"I don't think, unless you were close to him, you actually realised how it really did affect him. People don't realise how sorry he was that he made the mistake. He was embarrassed to almost go out in public and that was sad, really, because he felt so bad. It hit him a lot harder than I think some people realise," he added.
Cronje had confessed in 2000 to accepting $140,000 from Indian bookmakers, and was banned by the South African board for life.
Recently, a London court had jailed Salman Butt for 30-months, while fast bowler Mohammad Asif was sent to prison for one year. Besides, teenage fast bowler Mohammad Amir was sentenced to six months of prison term for deliberately bowling no-balls during a Test against England last year.
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