D'Oliveira left out of England cricket tour of apartheid South Africa
Theguardian.com, Wednesday 29 August 2012 16.30 AEST
English selectors deny bowing to South African pressure to exclude non-white player Basil D'Oliveira, the Worcestershire all-rounder and a hero of England Test victory over Australia this week, has been excluded from the MCCcricket party to tour South Africa this winter. The absence of Colin Milburn (Northants) and the inclusion of John Murray, Middlesex's wicket keeper, and Keith Fletcher of Essex, would normally be cause for argument in cricketing quarters. But the omission of D'Oliveira - born a Cape Coloured and now naturalised Englishman - is likely to draw comment from many who normally take little interest in the game. |
At the suggestion of his captain, Tom Graveney, D'Oliveira, who broke down when he heard the news, left the ground at Worcester yesterday half an hour before the close of play in the match against Sussex - in which he scored a century. Before he left he said: "It is a bitter disappointment. I have nothing else to say. I don't want to discuss it, thank you.
A statement issued on behalf of Worcestershire County Cricket Club by Mr Joe Lister, the club secretary, condemned the exclusion of D'Oliveira. The statement said: "To hear that Basil was not chosen for South Africa is quite the most astounding piece of news I think I have ever heard. We have been told all along that the best side would be chosen and internal politics would not be brought into it."
Before the announcement of the tour party yesterday, Mr Griffith, the MCC secretary, gave the basis on which it was chosen: "The team choice was that of the selection committee under the chairmanship of DJ Insole. It was approved in its entirety by the MCC committee this afternoon. No preconditions as to the selection of the touring party have ever been laid down by the South African Cricket Association. The team has been picked solely on the basis of providing the best players in cricketing sense to beat the South Africans.
Douglas Insole then explained why D'Oliveira was omitted: "I think we have got players rather better than him in the side. As far as the selectors are concerned he is regarded from an overseas tour point of view as a batsman rather than an all-rounder as he is in this country."
The Anti-Apartheid Movement has sent three telegrams in response to D'Oliveira non selection. One is to the MCC, protesting at the omission and demanding that the tour be cancelled. A second asks the Prime Minister to intervene to ensure that representative teams are not selected on the basis of racial discrimination, and where they are for such tours to be cancelled. The third asks Sir Alec Douglas-Home to resign from the MCC if the tour goes ahead. The movement is also asking all selected players to withdraw so as not to be part of "racialist" team.
In South Africa, officials declined to comment on the make-up of the touring party.
D'Oliveira's father said in Cape Town last night that many Cape coloured supporters would boycott the MCC Test match at Newlands ground because of his son's exclusion from the touring team.
"Had Basil been in the team the Coloured community would have been at Newlands in their thousands - now we are shocked and disillusioned, and dozens of our friends have told us they will boycott the Test match. Mr D'Oliveira said: "We think we know why he was excluded, but we don't want to discuss it, he added.
[Relations between the two teams broke down and the tour was cancelled. The "D'Oliveira affair" had exposed South Africa to the world as a racist state, leading to its exile from international cricket until the fall of apartheid in 1994.]
A statement issued on behalf of Worcestershire County Cricket Club by Mr Joe Lister, the club secretary, condemned the exclusion of D'Oliveira. The statement said: "To hear that Basil was not chosen for South Africa is quite the most astounding piece of news I think I have ever heard. We have been told all along that the best side would be chosen and internal politics would not be brought into it."
Before the announcement of the tour party yesterday, Mr Griffith, the MCC secretary, gave the basis on which it was chosen: "The team choice was that of the selection committee under the chairmanship of DJ Insole. It was approved in its entirety by the MCC committee this afternoon. No preconditions as to the selection of the touring party have ever been laid down by the South African Cricket Association. The team has been picked solely on the basis of providing the best players in cricketing sense to beat the South Africans.
Douglas Insole then explained why D'Oliveira was omitted: "I think we have got players rather better than him in the side. As far as the selectors are concerned he is regarded from an overseas tour point of view as a batsman rather than an all-rounder as he is in this country."
The Anti-Apartheid Movement has sent three telegrams in response to D'Oliveira non selection. One is to the MCC, protesting at the omission and demanding that the tour be cancelled. A second asks the Prime Minister to intervene to ensure that representative teams are not selected on the basis of racial discrimination, and where they are for such tours to be cancelled. The third asks Sir Alec Douglas-Home to resign from the MCC if the tour goes ahead. The movement is also asking all selected players to withdraw so as not to be part of "racialist" team.
In South Africa, officials declined to comment on the make-up of the touring party.
D'Oliveira's father said in Cape Town last night that many Cape coloured supporters would boycott the MCC Test match at Newlands ground because of his son's exclusion from the touring team.
"Had Basil been in the team the Coloured community would have been at Newlands in their thousands - now we are shocked and disillusioned, and dozens of our friends have told us they will boycott the Test match. Mr D'Oliveira said: "We think we know why he was excluded, but we don't want to discuss it, he added.
[Relations between the two teams broke down and the tour was cancelled. The "D'Oliveira affair" had exposed South Africa to the world as a racist state, leading to its exile from international cricket until the fall of apartheid in 1994.]
http://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2012/aug/29/archive-1968-cricket-basil-d-oliveira-apartheid