SK Flashback: Hansie Cronje and Bob Woolmer's cunning ploy of using earpieces

Editor's note: Hi writer. The flow and the context of the article are too similar to the one in the below link. It can be categorised under plagiarism. We won’t be going ahead with this piece and will be drafting it. If you’re found to plagiarise again in the future, you will be banned from writing for the website.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/844455.html

On this day, in 1999, late South African cricketer Hansie Cronje was caught wearing an earpiece to receive instructions from coach Bob Woolmer. The infamous incident happened on the eve of the 1999 World Cup, during South Africa’s first World Cup fixture against India at Hove.

We take a recap of the incident and what followed thereafter.

Communication between a coach and his player is integral to any team. And, thus for more than a year prior to the tournament, Woolmer was trying to devise new ways to make that successful. He had already witnessed that in some American sports, where it was common practice for players to wear small earpieces to allow them to hear instructions from coaches.

He tried the equipment in a couple of benefit matches during the year. It went almost unnoticed and did not even breach the tournament regulations. Woolmer and co made their final test during one of their warm-up matches to convince themselves of their newly found technique. He then approached Cronje and asked him to try it out in the tournament itself.

Cronje agreed and soon even Allan Donald was on board. However, it was not long before their camouflaged device was spotted by the television commentators and then by the Indian batsmen on the field, Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar, who brought it to the attention of the on-field umpires Steve Bucknor and David Shepherd shortly before the drinks break.

The umpires inquired about the earpiece to Cronje who spoke out clearly. Eventually, they could not reach a decision regarding the legitimacy of what was transpiring and whether it was in the spirit of the game and the match referee, Talat Ali was called upon.

Even Ali could not give a ruling and contacted the ICC as he was unsure. The chief cricketing board responded by saying that although using earpieces were not against any of the rules, it was unfair. As the drinks break was announced, and the trolleys came out, Ali came down to the ground as well and made it clear that the earpieces had to go.

Most of the spectators in the stands were left bemused at why the match referee was out on the ground. Of course, the earpieces being very small, it was impossible for them to be spotted from such a distance. The audience watching from home, though, were privy to the happenings, courtesy of the TV commentary.

It was Bob Woolmer’s idea

The seemingly small incident did not affect the South Africans as they went on to win the match. Afterward, Woolmer did not show any signs of repentance as he said, "All I was trying to do was give help and advice. I'm sorry if I've upset anyone. I've tried to be innovative; the idea was to take the game forward. Where we erred was, I should have asked the ICC for permission. Perhaps I'm naïve, but it didn't occur to me. I felt it was a really good idea and I would like to discuss it with the ICC.

"I'm not trying to disturb the batsman or the captain, I'm just wanting to offer some advice. They use it in American football and I believe the French used it in their World Cup campaign, so I felt it was a really good idea. Hopefully, it will make life easier for the cricketer."

He even proceeded to expand on it and claim that the system was not at all used for passing instructions that would affect the game directly. "If Donald, for example, is not bowling with the rhythm I could tell him to run in harder or more softly. It is a way of addressing technical faults by looking at the game from a different angle."

Cronje, as well, admonished all the criticism, “There's nothing in the rules to stop us from using it and it's very disappointing it's been stopped," he was quoted saying. "The coach sits at a different angle from me and he can give me different options when we're batting or bowling. It's always nice to hear another voice." He also sarcastically questioned whether the ICC was going to put a ban on batsmen changing his gloves midway through the innings "in case a message from the coach is sent with them".

The media, probably, was hoping that Azharuddin would be vocal about the incident and lash out at the Proteas. However, they were left disappointed. "It's going to happen," he said. "It does in other sports."

South Africa failed in the semi-final hurdle against Australia

Clive Hitchcock, an ICC spokesman, gave a statement saying that the body had made its position clear when they said that the World Cup was not the event to experiment with new devices. They were willing to listen to what the South Africa management had to say, but all the countries would have to be brought together to discuss the issue. “There may be nothing in the rules banning them but neither is there anything there saying that they can be used," he had concluded.

Later on, Ali Bacher, the chief executive of the United Cricket Board of South Africa, had admitted that he was aware of the new innovation. The South African team would leave Hove, still planning to use the technology in the upcoming games but the ICC did not budge and that was the end of the saga.

Consequently, the chief body would go on to ban the use of such devices but this did not deter Woolmer. “I believe that technology is the way to go forward and we will be using earpieces in the nets at Warwickshire so that I don't have to keep interrupting players to make my point. But I am also hopeful that I can persuade the ECB to allow the use of earpieces in second team cricket to show that they can be a real help to captains and players," he would go on to famously say.

As for Cronje, the Proteas captain was uncovered as a match-fixer less than a year after this incident and was handed a lifetime ban from the game. In 2002, he died in a tragic air crash. Woolmer suffered an untimely death during the 2007 World Cup under suspicious circumstances.