The story of Basil D'Oliveira transcends that of common or garden sport.
Here was the under- privileged man in apartheid South Africa, already
too old for professional sport when he came to England to play club
cricket, who not only rose to the heights of Test cricket but also
precipitated the world crisis that brought down the evil empire. If
Nelson Mandela was the architect of the Rainbow Nation then the man
everyone knew as Dolly first sketched the idea on the back of a fag
packet.
Both D'Oliveira and his wife cried when he got the call for
England in 1966. Much of the free world cried with them. In his second
Test at Trent Bridge against West Indies he scored 76 and 54 and took
two wickets with his wobbly medium pacers. He was out of the England
side for much of the 1968 Ashes tour, but returned at the Oval with a
triumphant 158 as well as the vital wicket that set up England's
nail-biting win.
His subsequent non-selection, then re-instatement to
the England team set to tour South Africa that winter was probably the
normal selectorial shambles rather than a conspiracy, but South Africa's
refusal to accept him and the cancellation of the tour set in motion
events that were to rumble on for 20 years. D'Oliveira went on to score
114 not out in Dacca - then in Pakistan, now capital of Bangladesh - in
1968-69, 110 and 81 in one of the unofficial Tests against the Rest of
the World in 1970 and 117 in Melbourne on the Ashes tour of 1970-71.
He
continued to play for England until 1972 and bid farewell to county
cricket in a Lord's final with a gallant half-century when he had
damaged his leg so badly he could barely stand. (Bob Harragan)
D'Oliveira had Parkinson's disease in later life. He died aged 80 in England, on 19 November 2011.
In September 2018 he was posthumously awarded the Freedom of the City of Worcester in recognition of his contribution to the city. The award was accepted by his son Shaun at a ceremony in the Guildhall in Worcester on 14 September 2018.
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Test Career Batting and Fielding (1966-1972)
M I NO Runs HS Ave 100 50 Ct
England 44 70 8 2484 158 40.06 5 15 29
Test Career Bowling (1966-1972)
Balls Mdns Runs Wkts BB Ave 5wI 10wM SRate Econ
5706 318 1859 47 3-46 39.55 0 0 121.40 1.95