The lost boys
Players from South Africa who took their talents elsewhere or didn't get to play at the highest level
Robert Houwing
16-Oct-2008
Some missed out during the years of Test isolation. Some went overseas to get a chance. Others just got fed up with the politicking and quit. And, this week, Kent's Ryan McLaren withdrew his South African contact. A look at the ones that got away
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Barry Richards
Apartheid muzzled a genius. South Africa's only man in Don Bradman's dream team, Richards spent most of his career butchering bowlers for Hampshire or South Australia - a bit like it would be if Lionel Messi were mesmerising defences for Mansfield Town. He thoroughly exploited his only four Tests, averaging 72 in South Africa's 4-0 romp against Bill Lawry's 1969-70 Australians.
Apartheid muzzled a genius. South Africa's only man in Don Bradman's dream team, Richards spent most of his career butchering bowlers for Hampshire or South Australia - a bit like it would be if Lionel Messi were mesmerising defences for Mansfield Town. He thoroughly exploited his only four Tests, averaging 72 in South Africa's 4-0 romp against Bill Lawry's 1969-70 Australians.
Frank Roro
Pronounced "gggogggo" in the guttural South African manner, Roro was a black icon of Ntini-like proportions, albeit more renowned as a graceful batsman. Flying in the face of the blinkered view that black Africans "didn't do" cricket, he was the standout African player for most of the 1930s and '40s, bowing out aged 53 by playing in the first official inter-racial tournament.
Pronounced "gggogggo" in the guttural South African manner, Roro was a black icon of Ntini-like proportions, albeit more renowned as a graceful batsman. Flying in the face of the blinkered view that black Africans "didn't do" cricket, he was the standout African player for most of the 1930s and '40s, bowing out aged 53 by playing in the first official inter-racial tournament.
Allan Lamb
Resolute in never surrendering his South African accent, Lamby made a habit of scoring centuries for England against West Indies' bruisers: six of his 14 in Tests came against them. But he was born at Langebaanweg up the Cape's sparse west coast and spent several patient years with Western Province before exploiting his British parentage to move to Northamptonshire. He would soon be joined in the England squad by Durban-born Chris Smith, and later by Smith's brother Robin.
Resolute in never surrendering his South African accent, Lamby made a habit of scoring centuries for England against West Indies' bruisers: six of his 14 in Tests came against them. But he was born at Langebaanweg up the Cape's sparse west coast and spent several patient years with Western Province before exploiting his British parentage to move to Northamptonshire. He would soon be joined in the England squad by Durban-born Chris Smith, and later by Smith's brother Robin.
Kevin Pietersen
Nobody in South Africa is sure who to blame for Pietersen slipping the net. The truth is that he seemed a bog-standard offspinner who batted around No. 8 for KwaZulu-Natal and hardly axed down the door to become a Test contender. Later he became a red rag to Graeme "Biff" Smith, but Pietersen's claims that he was a victim of racial quotas seem to have mellowed after marriage. This summer will tell whether such bonhomie now extends to his ex-compatriots.
Nobody in South Africa is sure who to blame for Pietersen slipping the net. The truth is that he seemed a bog-standard offspinner who batted around No. 8 for KwaZulu-Natal and hardly axed down the door to become a Test contender. Later he became a red rag to Graeme "Biff" Smith, but Pietersen's claims that he was a victim of racial quotas seem to have mellowed after marriage. This summer will tell whether such bonhomie now extends to his ex-compatriots.
Jacques Rudolph
In 2001-02 his first Test was stripped of official status after the Indians refused to play under the match referee Mike Denness. Later that summer he was withdrawn from South Africa's XI for the Sydney Test courtesy Percy Sonn and racial quotas. Finally, on debut proper, he lashed an unbeaten 222 in Chittagong. A yo-yo man in 34 subsequent Tests, Rudolph signed a three-year Kolpak deal with Yorkshire in 2007, indicating his wish to return to South Africa a wiser cricketer. But he then extended the deal to 2011, when he will be 30, seemingly severing ties with his land of birth.
In 2001-02 his first Test was stripped of official status after the Indians refused to play under the match referee Mike Denness. Later that summer he was withdrawn from South Africa's XI for the Sydney Test courtesy Percy Sonn and racial quotas. Finally, on debut proper, he lashed an unbeaten 222 in Chittagong. A yo-yo man in 34 subsequent Tests, Rudolph signed a three-year Kolpak deal with Yorkshire in 2007, indicating his wish to return to South Africa a wiser cricketer. But he then extended the deal to 2011, when he will be 30, seemingly severing ties with his land of birth.
Basil D'Oliveira
The exile who shook the world. Dolly left behind relative poverty and oppression in Cape Town's coloured community to play 44 Tests as a batting allrounder for England. His first came in 1966 when he was already 34. Selected for the England tour of South Africa in 1968-69, he was refused re-entry to his homeland by the poker-faced Prime Minister John Vorster. The tour was cancelled and the sports boycott of South Africa gained unstoppable momentum.
The exile who shook the world. Dolly left behind relative poverty and oppression in Cape Town's coloured community to play 44 Tests as a batting allrounder for England. His first came in 1966 when he was already 34. Selected for the England tour of South Africa in 1968-69, he was refused re-entry to his homeland by the poker-faced Prime Minister John Vorster. The tour was cancelled and the sports boycott of South Africa gained unstoppable momentum.
Vincent Barnes
A wiry, slingy strike bowler, South Africa's assistant coach tops the all-time averages in the Howa Bowl, the anti-apartheid equivalent of the Currie Cup, with 287 wickets at 11.32, impressive even allowing for ill-prepared pitches. By the time unity came he was in his 30s and beyond Test claims, though he did squeeze in five one-dayers for Western Province, including deserved exposure to a full Wanderers for the 1991-92 B&H Series final.
A wiry, slingy strike bowler, South Africa's assistant coach tops the all-time averages in the Howa Bowl, the anti-apartheid equivalent of the Currie Cup, with 287 wickets at 11.32, impressive even allowing for ill-prepared pitches. By the time unity came he was in his 30s and beyond Test claims, though he did squeeze in five one-dayers for Western Province, including deserved exposure to a full Wanderers for the 1991-92 B&H Series final.
Charl Langeveldt
A Cape-coloured bowler, he believed race - not ability - was the reason he was included for this year's tour of India tour at the expense of his white friend Andre Nel. His subsequent withdrawal turned him into a minor martyr for the merit-only lobby and earned him scorn elsewhere. Weary of it all, the ageing swing bowler shunned his national contract for a Kolpak deal with Derbyshire.
A Cape-coloured bowler, he believed race - not ability - was the reason he was included for this year's tour of India tour at the expense of his white friend Andre Nel. His subsequent withdrawal turned him into a minor martyr for the merit-only lobby and earned him scorn elsewhere. Weary of it all, the ageing swing bowler shunned his national contract for a Kolpak deal with Derbyshire.
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Vince van der Bijl
The towering seam bowler gave deadly Currie Cup service to Natal and then to the imperious Transvaal "Mean Machine". His father Pieter played in the Timeless Test of 1938- 39, but Big Vince was not as lucky, thanks to his country's two decades out of official international sport. A solitary, dazzling 1980 season with Middlesex (85 first-class wickets at 14.72) illustrated what might have been.
The towering seam bowler gave deadly Currie Cup service to Natal and then to the imperious Transvaal "Mean Machine". His father Pieter played in the Timeless Test of 1938- 39, but Big Vince was not as lucky, thanks to his country's two decades out of official international sport. A solitary, dazzling 1980 season with Middlesex (85 first-class wickets at 14.72) illustrated what might have been.
Eric Majola
Hailing from Port Elizabeth's impoverished New Brighton township, and the figurehead of what would become an illustrious sporting family, Majola illuminated non-racial sport in the 1950s and 60s. He earned "Bantu Springbok" colours at both cricket and rugby and was a record-breaking allrounder over 17 seasons. His elder son Khaya played cricket in the 1970s, while the younger, Gerald, is Cricket South Africa's chief executive.
Hailing from Port Elizabeth's impoverished New Brighton township, and the figurehead of what would become an illustrious sporting family, Majola illuminated non-racial sport in the 1950s and 60s. He earned "Bantu Springbok" colours at both cricket and rugby and was a record-breaking allrounder over 17 seasons. His elder son Khaya played cricket in the 1970s, while the younger, Gerald, is Cricket South Africa's chief executive.
Denys Hobson
A product of an era that produced many outstanding batsmen, Hobson was the fizzing legspinner who never got to experience Indian or Australian pitches for his country, or indeed, to have a crack at Sunil Gavaskar, David Gower or Javed Miandad at his helpful Newlands stronghold. Instead Hobson became legendary for his last-day, match-winning achievements at the ground under the daredevil late-1970s captaincy of Western Province's Eddie Barlow.
A product of an era that produced many outstanding batsmen, Hobson was the fizzing legspinner who never got to experience Indian or Australian pitches for his country, or indeed, to have a crack at Sunil Gavaskar, David Gower or Javed Miandad at his helpful Newlands stronghold. Instead Hobson became legendary for his last-day, match-winning achievements at the ground under the daredevil late-1970s captaincy of Western Province's Eddie Barlow.
Robert Houwing is chief writer for www.Sport24.co.za in South Africa. This article first appeared in the August 2008 issue of The Wisden Cricketer. Subscribe here