D’Oliveira helped change the course of history
In the Telegraph , Geoffrey Boycott remembers Basil D'Oliveira as a lovely man who was strong and determined underneath
Kanishkaa Balachandran
25-Feb-2013
In the Telegraph, Geoffrey Boycott remembers Basil D'Oliveira as a lovely man who was strong and determined underneath. He also showed really good temperament before going out to bat.
I used to tease him about it and say each morning “Basil. How old are you today?” When I had regular fallings out with Yorkshire in the 1970s he always used to say to me “come and play with us at Worcester”. My reply was “if I do, you won’t get many knocks, batting at number 4 behind Tom Graveney and me.”
In the Independent, James Lawton writes that D'Oliveira's life was the triumph of a man who helped shape huge, civilising steps for humanity simply because he played cricket superbly well and just happened to have a little more enterprise, and mobility, than so many of his more resigned fellow victims of apartheid.
Going back through the life of the fine cricketer these last 24 hours or so is to be reminded of a man who understood more than anything that he had one life, one talent, and that however hard the pressure, however alien the environment his destiny found for him, he had an obligation to do all that he could to make a different kind of life for himself and his family.
Kanishkaa Balachandran is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo