Hansie Cronje will always be remembered as the man who opened Pandora's Box, when the match-fixing scandal broke so jaw-droppingly in April 2000, but he was a key figure in the development of South African cricket on their return to the international arena in 1991-92. Cronje captained them in 53 Tests between 1993-94 and 1999-2000, of which South Africa won 27 and lost only 11. He was an outstanding captain: rugged and hard-nosed, but in tune with the innovative mentality of his coach Bob Woolmer. He even took to the field wearing an earpiece at Hove for South Africa's first match of the 1999 World Cup.
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As a batsman, Cronje was an unforgiving No. 3 or No. 5. In only his third Test, against India at Port Elizabeth in 1992-93, he made a brilliant 135 to inspire South Africa's first Test victory for 23 years.
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A year later, at The Wanderers in Johannesburg, he pummelled 122 in a famous victory over Australia, his mastery of Shane Warne the first signal of his outstanding ability against spin.
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In 1994-95, in New Zealand's Centenary Test at Auckland, Cronje spoilt the party with an inspired piece of captaincy. In the days when positive cricket was just a glint in Adam Gilchrist's eye, Cronje dangled a tempting declaration carrot in front of Ken Rutherford. He took the bait and New Zealand subsided in pursuit of victory.
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For all his faults, Cronje was a brilliant captain. In South Africa's seismic five-run win at Sydney in 1993-94, he held the fort after Kepler Wessels broke a finger. Cronje had never captained his country before, and, at 24, he was the youngest member of the touring party.
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Four years later, on the same ground, Cronje began his torture of Steve Waugh, who was captaining Australia for the first time in the triangular one-day tournament. South Africa beat Australia five times in a row including in the first of the best-of-three finals, and Cronje made Waugh look like a complete novice. But Australia came back to win 2-1, a recurring theme of Cronje's career as captain. He never got on top of the Australians, a run that culminated in that agonising World Cup semi-final in 1999.
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It was a blot that Cronje could not abide: in 1993-94, when Australia squared the Test series at Adelaide, Cronje refused to comment on a mysterious hole in the dressing-room wall. When South Africa failed to secure a series-levelling draw on the same ground four years later, after Mark Waugh was controversially reprieved, he hurled a stump through the umpires' door.
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As the demands of captaincy took their toll, Cronje's output with the bat declined. Five hundreds came in his first 21 Tests, then only one in his last 47. That came at Trent Bridge in 1998, when Cronje famously massacred Ian Salisbury in a brilliant, pre-planned assault. It wasn't just poor spin bowling that Cronje destroyed, though. With Muttiah Muralitharan turning it square at Pretoria in 1997-98, and South Africa stuttering in pursuit of 226 for victory, Cronje walloped a 31-ball fifty, including 4, 6, 6, 6 off consecutive deliveries from Murali.
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Cronje's gentle medium-pacers were also decidedly useful, and he had an unlikely rabbit: Sachin Tendulkar. Cronje dismissed him five times in Tests, a record exceeded by nobody, and equalled only by Allan Donald and Glenn McGrath.

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