Roy McLean's emotional coming of age took place in the fifth Test of the 1952-53 tour of Australia, when he made an unbeaten 76 in the fourth innings to lead South Africa to an astonishing series-levelling victory after the Aussies had scored 520. A cemented fixture in the middle order thereafter, McLean played through the good times and the bad until the disastrous 1960 tour of England - on which only he and fast bowler Neil Adcock performed well and were named Wisden Cricketers of the Year as a result. South African cricket had reached a nadir. A year later McLean led an unofficial tour to England by a team called the Fezelas. It proved to be the rebirth of South African cricket. No fewer than eight future Springboks were on board, including Eddie Barlow, Colin Bland, Peter Pollock and Denis Lindsay - Graeme Pollock just missed out, although everyone knew he was a future international. McLean is thus credited with being the father of the great Springbok teams of the 1960s that were prevented from testing themselves against the Rest of the World from 1970 onwards because of apartheid-induced isolation.
Neil Manthorp