A Great Test Match But FIXED - by Altaf Khoja

by Viresh Tue 20 Dec 2011, 3:35 pm

In these days of testing times where there lies a danger to the existence of Test Match cricket, lets recall a Test which was very controversial but unique in its own way that it produced a result with only 2 days of play and teams batting for only 1 innings each..
It was in the later part of the 1999-2000 season that Nasser Hussain led England toured South Africa for a 5-Match Test series..
With Southafrica winning the 2 tests and the other two tests going for a draw, the Fifth Test was merely a dead rubber..
England won the toss and Nasser Hussain, the then England Captain asked the Hansie Cronje led Proteas to bat first..
The Test begin innocently though with the Proteas at 155 for 6 when rain came down and play could be possible only for 45 overs on the First Day..

Nasser Hussain works as a commentator now
The Next 3 days of the Test went playless and were washed out due to rain..
Following three consecutive playless days due to rain, the test seemed to be ending in a dull draw….
But, history was made on the final day when the match was brought back to life by the captains…
The sun came out on the Fifth Day and some 30 minutes into play, a rumor came out into the media that Cronje had approached his opposite number, Hussain, half an hour before the start and offered to “make a game of it”.
Nasser Hussain later in 2006 recalls this test and says,
“It had rained for four days but the fifth was a lot better, Alec Stewart had crossed Hansie Cronje on the stairs of the pavilion and Hansie asked him if we wanted to play a game.”
Hussain adds, ”I thought ‘no’ because it was Test cricket and game cannot be decided based on declarations and forfeiting the Innings”
Hussain declined. “The wicket might have been sweating under those covers for three days. It might have been unplayable. I couldn’t take that chance”
South Africa were 155/6 and Hansie Cronje’s offer was South Africa could score another 100 runs in 30 overs on the extended final morning, and england would have a target of 255 runs in 73 overs..
This meant that England would have to give up their first innings and South Africa would forfeit their second..
The sun came out on the final morning and since Nasser was not ready for the offer, South Africa continued their first innings and reached 248 for 8.. Klusener got some quick runs with an unbeaten 61 that included 7 boundaries and a six..
Having seen how the pitch played so well on the 5th day aided by the fast outfield, Nasser thought why not to chase a score down….
Few minutes into the session, Hussain brokered a deal. He says in his own words, ”I told the umpire I needed to go to the loo and I nipped round the back of the pavilion to meet Hansie,” ”Is the offer still open?” he enquired to Hansie. The answer was “Yes”
Hussain adds, ”I deliberately aimed low at first and said, ’How about us chasing 250?’,” he said.
“Hansie just said, ‘Fine’. I couldn’t believe it. No haggling. No banter. No bartering, No mention of how many overs we would face.”
“I thought he would want us to chase 300 so I opened up with 260 and I was taken aback by how easy he was about it. I took Phil Tufnell in with me and he said afterwards: ‘He’d have agreed to anything you asked for Nass.’
Thats it, so the deal was done and England had to chase 249 in 76 overs to win the match and reduce the series defeat to 2-1,
South Africa declared and forfeited their second innings. England forfeited their first and it was game on. England came into bat, And were already reduced to 102 for 4 with Atherton, Butcher and even Hussain back to the Pavillion….
Alex Stewart and Vaughan stuck around there and made a 126 run partnership…
England wer 228/4 when Pollock and Hayward brought about a dramatic collapse with Stewart fell at 228, followed by another 3 wickets and Poms were 240 for 8… 4 wickets fell within the course of 12 runs…
With 2 overs to go in the day, Finally England needed 9 runs required of 13 balls, this turned out to be a nail-biting finish.. Darren Gough and Chris Silverwood, no.9 and no.10 batsman were in the middle and this went right down to the wire…

The whole cricketing world felt betrayed when Cronje was exposed
9 of 12 balls,
Silverwood got a couple of the first ball, But then failed to score of the next 4 deliveries..
It went down to 7 of 7,
Of the Final delivery, Silverwood drove to the covers,
Misfield from Peter Strydom and the Poms got a boundary..
What could have been Two become Four..
3 runs were required of the penultimate over with only 2 wickets left,
Still this was anybody’s game..
But Gough then showed nerves of steel as he smacked the first ball of penultimate over for a pull over the square leg,
England went on to win the game, an unexpected cliff-hanger with two wickets and five balls to spare.
What a Finish!!! See the scorecard here..
The Proteas were unbeaten for 14 games, and their unbeaten run of 14 games came to an end..
England win, all went well, Nasser Hussain was delighted and thanked Hansie and paid a tribute saying, ””It was a very special thing that Hansie did and I hope he gets the credit he deserves. It certainly was a great finish to be a part of.”
Hansie said, ”As Test cricketers we have a duty to entertain and get full houses and this was far better than seeing spectators sitting there with long faces.”
Proteas lost the test but won the series 2-1, the cricket fraternity welcomed this decision of Hansie Cronje..
Mark Nicholas was quoted in a Newspaper calling this as “the golden age of the game“. Bob Woolmer, then South Africa coach, said: “Hansie did the game
the biggest favour imaginable at the dawn of the new century.”
But, Alas! This was not the end of the story, Few months later the sad details that made the circumstances possible emerged. On April 12, four months later,
It came out that corruption had played its part in the making of this test match..
A Commission called the King Commission was appointed and Investigations were done, and those suspicions had proved to be valid.. It emerged that on the evening of the 4th day, A book-maker met Cronje and was going to get face massive losses if the game ended in a draw, he wanted to get a result and so he made an offer to Cronje to get the result…
Cronje revealed this to the King Commission.
He said, ”A bookmaker urged me to speak to Hussain about an early declaration, He said if we declared he’d give 150,000 rand to charity.”
Cronje added, ”After the game, he visited me where we were staying, and gave me a leather jacket and 50,000 rand in two cash amounts on consecutive days..
He said it was in consideration of me giving him information in the future. The 150,000 rand which had been promised to a charity did not materialise and was never mentioned again.”
Nasser Hussain later recalled this test in 2006 and spoke about Hansie, ”Our fans loved it and everyone was right behind Hansie,” Hussain says.
“I walked down the stairs of the pavilion and said to him: ’What you did was a great thing.’
“He had made a lot of friends that day but now I feel a bit tarnished. I don’t like to be sucked in to things by other people and I know that one of my Test match wins as England captain is meaningless. I sat there thinking ‘what a great man’ but, in the end, I was proved to be a sucker.”
Atherton described the victory as “the cheapest win of his Test career”
This Test if it was played clean and within the Spirits of the Game, it could have been called the ‘Greatest Test Match Ever’ in the history of Cricket,
But sadly now it will now forever be remembered and known as the ‘leather jacket Test‘ as Cronje had been paid 50,000 rand and a ‘leather jacket’ to ensure there was a result from the match….
Cronje played two more Test matches and he was caught on tape by Indian police when he was talking to a Indian bookmaker. He was subsequently banned for life. He was killed in a plane crash in June 2002. Rest in Peace :- Hansie Cronje