Basil d'Oliveira

Rest in peace.

d'Oliveira was a superb all-round cricketer for Worcestershire and England in the sixties and early seventies. In particular he was a brilliant player of fast bowling: like all great players of ball games, he seemed to have so much more time to play the ball than the merely good. I had forgotten that he had not been picked for England until past his athletic prime, at 35. Yet still he played 44 test matches with a batting average of 40.06. For those who are not in the know, a test career average of 40 or above marks out an outstanding international batsman from a very capable one. It would surely have been much higher if he'd been picked at 25 rather than 35. He batted with minimal back lift, but was able to punch the ball through the gaps with powerful, well-timed strokes. Although Dolly was a batsman who could bowl, rather than a genuine strike bowler, he was often called upon to winkle out batsmen who were set. He could swing the ball either way (at modest pace) and was extremely accurate and therefore economical.

I remember him too for being a sportsman in the fullest sense of the word, a fierce competitor but true gentleman, demonstrating grace under pressure on and off the field. Certainly, an example that modern professional sportsmen would do well to follow.

Of course, the reason he was not picked earlier was that, as a Cape Coloured, he was in essence an economic refugee from apartheid South Africa, where opportunities were denied to non-white sportsmen. The South African government's outrageous refusal to allow him to tour with the English team in 1968 led to more than twenty years of cricketing isolation for them—at a time when South Africa, with greats such as Graeme Pollock, Barry Richards and Mike Procter, would have been world beaters. So many careers wrecked in the name of politics. Conceivably, that shortened the life of the apartheid regime and led to a relatively bloodless transition.

I am slightly aggrieved that the BBC News bulletins today have only dealt with the impingement of politics on d'Oliveira's career. That is to dwell on the man's circumstances rather than his character and achievements, which were exemplary.