ICC has stepped up the fight but the proliferation of franchise cricket has made the job of stopping corruption even harderIt was, almost everyone agreed, a deft and handsome bit of cricket. Twenty years ago this week, on the fifth day of a dead Test spoiled by three days of rain, Hansie Cronje made an irresistible offer to England’s Nasser Hussain.
South Africa, he said, would declare on 248 a half hour before lunch, both teams would forfeit an innings, and
England would have the rest of the day to try and win the game. They did, by two wickets.
“I hope Hansie gets the credit he deserves” Hussain said later. He did. It was “a refreshing, populist gesture,” in one paper, “a triumph for all too rare positive thinking,” in another, “brave, positive, and brilliant,” in a third.