RSA: Clive Rice Captain Of Imaginary Best South African Team (23 Jun 1996)

23 June 1996

Clive Rice captain of imaginary best South African Team

By Colin Bryden

From the Sunday Times - 23/06/96

Clive Rice, who never played Test cricket, is the choice of batting legend Barry Richards to captain an imaginary best South African team for the past 75 years.

Invited to select his best XI for the 75th anniversary issue of the English magazine the Cricketer, Richards went for Rice as his skipper ahead of such distinguished Test captains as Jackie McGlew, Ali Bacher and Jack Cheetham.

Bacher and Cheetham would not have qualified on playing ability for an all-time XI but Richards paid tribute to McGlew who`s pugnacious batting "won admiration from all his opponents" and who as a captain was "an outstanding role model for the young guns of the early 1960s" - not least of them being the young Richards.

Richards says Rice was one of the South Africans most seriously affected by his isolation but says his record of 24 000 runs and nearly 900 wickets, together with his success as a captain of Transvaal and Nottinghamshire, win him the nod.

Starting with the premise that the ideal teams was 11 allrounders, including the wicketkeeper, Richards has picked a side which includes "eight batsmen and seven bowlers".

The only specialist batsmen without a second string to their bow are Richards himself, Graeme Pollock and Dudley Nourse, while the only bowlers not regarded as front-line batsmen are Hugh Tayfield, his only spinner, and fast bowlers Alan Donald and Neil Adcock.

Although Richards` XI would be a mighty force, it is sure to spark debate, not least for his choice of Denis Lindsay as wicketkeeper ahead of John Waite or David Richardson. Donald and Brian McMillan are the only current players. Rhodes is 12th man.

Richards XI... Eddie Barlow Barry Richards Dudley Nourse Graeme Pollock Clive Rice (captain) Denis Lindsay Mike Procter Brian McMillan Hugh Tayfield Alan Donald Neil Adcock

12th man: Jonty Rhodes