Basil D'Oliveira : Sat Nov 19, 2011 11:04 am
Sad news about his death.His life and cricketing career obviously said much about the apartheid regime in South Africa and its effect on sport. But it also paints a fairly unsavoury picture of the power the establishment wielded in this country at the time. It beggars belief that a player could score 158 in a test match and then not be picked for a tour, on supposed cricketing grounds.
One of the amazing facts about him was that his career in English cricket largely covered his late 30's. Apparently he fibbed about his age when he came to this country and had turned 35 when first played test cricket.