The Transcript of the Hansie Cronje Interview - Part II

Hansie: I’ve looked back a lot over my career and looked back at the times when the Boje and Cronje family played in the back yard and obviously very keen competition and rugby and cricket and sporting days and weekends and it was great, what was great was the Frans was also very competitive and I always wanted to compete with him, 2 years older it gave me a little bit of an advantage, sort of play with and against him and a bit of and older age and he was great, I mean throughout his career he supported and helped me, and I also think I was a very patient with me, with a younger brother it can sometimes get irritated and impatient, and he was very patient and helped me I can still remember going to beginners cricketing, std 1 or 2 I think, and Frans helped me and showed me a bit of direction which was great.

Mike Haysman: He was always not to far away at the King Commission, Frans?

He has been brilliant, during this time he took off work for 3 or 4 days and was there all the time to give support and lending a hand, he was absolutely fantastic.

Mike Haysman: You mentioned Frans, what about your Dad, what are your earlier memories of your father involved in your sporting development?

Hansie: I believe he played a huge part in our whole upbringing, everything we did was sort of go with that, rugby practices, selection meetings, working on the score board, at the rafflers seeing his dream come alive at Free State, I think he always wanted to give his entire life to sport in the Free State, and wanted to see sport in the Free State grow and also cricket and at the end of the day he did a lot of work for the University of Free State as well as Free State sport itself, our earlier memories I think is of I wouldn't say seeing him in action as he was quite a sportsman himself but more from an administration point of view, seeing the way he does business, there would be times when we would wake up in the night and he would not be in the house and he would be rolling the pitch or getting the covers off for a club meeting on the weekend , his heart was very much into the sport.

Mike Haysman : When did your realize cricket was the game that you wanted to play

Hansie: I always sort of knew that cricket was the game, that I wanted to go into I think I realized rugby was not me , I wanted to play both for as long as I possibly could, I think about 20 level I realized that I was not going to be up to it from a physical point of view. And also my point of mine the seasons were starting to overlap, cricket was a little more professional than rugby at the time, and if you have to make a choice cricket was going to pay for your studies rather than rugby, and that is when I decided to go into cricket. And I also knew in the back of my mind, I thought that I could get further in cricket, more opportunities for me and that I could get further in the cricket point of few

Mike Haysman: Now you always came over as a clinical person at that stage had you basically mapped out your career?

Hansie: Yes and No I wanted to play for Free State and I wanted to be successful, in the side and I wanted to compete with other teams, but I never quite thought we would get to where we were at the time, for us to push a 3 day game into the third day, was a moral victory in itself, we were really battling to compete in 87 and 88 it was first time back into first class cricket for us, and a little later on when it became international cricket it was a little bit easier to set goals for yourself I would not say I mapped out an entire career, and knew exactly where I wanted to go, the aim was always to be successful and a successful part of the Free State setup and to make the side a successful setup.

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Mail Cricket Editor