Outcasts; The West Indian Rebels

Colin Croft was one of many who fell out of favour back home after touring as a rebel.

After more than a decade of isolation, South African cricket was suffering from a lack of competition. Arguably the world’s best team in 1970, how good were they by the early 1980’s? In order to answer that question and to give local fans something other than domestic cricket, the authorities set about recruiting a number of so-called ‘rebel’ teams to tour the country. Teams from England, Sri Lanka and Australia undertook visits. But none achieved the controversy generated by the two tours carried out by the West Indies in 1982-83 and 1983-84.

The West Indies were the best team in the world, and to get them to tour racially segregated South Africa would be a huge coup for the authorities, following on the heels of a tour by Sri Lanka and one the previous season by an England side led by Graham Gooch. Major figures such as Clive Lloyd and Viv Richards would not have contemplated being involved in such a venture that might have been seen as supporting apartheid, but former South African captain and leading administrator Ali Bacher was able to assemble a strong team. West Indian cricketers were not the richest in the game and the lure of the rand proved too much for a number of them, particularly ones on the edge of Lloyd’s team.

All the negotiations and recruiting had to be conducted in complete secrecy, because it was thought that some Caribbean nations might ban the players from travelling if they got wind of what was happening. Through much subterfuge the team finally arrived.

Captain was the gifted batsman Lawrence Row, who, like many of his teammates saw the tour as an opportunity to show white South Africans that coloured cricketers had equal, if not superior skills. Batsman Alvin Kallicharran, all-rounder Collis King and fast bowler Colin Croft were other big names to take part.

Opposition throughout the cricket world was immediate and strong, none more so than in the Caribbean where the players were handed life bans. Words such as traitors and mercenaries were frequently used.

Wicket-keeper David Murray believes his decision to tour negatively impacted his life.

The political nature of the tour tended to obscure the cricket played over the two summers. In the first the two four-day matches were shared 1-1, while the locals convincingly won the one-day series 4-2. The second tour was of much longer duration, and the visitors performed well, taking the one-dayers 4-2 and the four-day games 2-1 with one draw. The South Africans were pleased that in spite of their isolation they remained competitive, but a number of batsmen struggled against the West Indies’ pace. The key figure was not Colin Croft, who was beset by injuries, but Sylvester Clarke who bowled with fearsome speed and a desire to inflict as much pain and discomfort on the batsmen as possible.

The consequences for the West Indians proved to be considerable. While the life bans were ultimately lifted, only one player, fast bowler Ezra Moseley, played Test cricket after the tours, and then only for two games, in 1989-90. A number; including the fearsome Clarke, returned to South Africa to play first-class cricket for varying periods; alternating that with spells with English counties. Those who returned to the West Indies felt the full weight of ostracism. Unwanted at home, captain Lawrence Rowe was just one who chose to move to the United States. He was not alone.

For a few; there were particularly dark days. Opening batsmen Richard Austin ended his life living on the streets, going by the name ‘Danny Germs’, prior to his death early in 2016. Keeper David Murray was another who suffered from substance issues. How much the South African visit was responsible will never be known, but it must have contributed.

Franklyn Stephenson signs autographs during one of the rebel tours.

Franklyn Stephenson, a brilliant all-rounder and the last man to do the double of a thousand runs and a hundred wickets in an English season, felt that the tours helped to end apartheid because South Africans could see coloured people competing with whites on even terms.

The South Africans achieved their aims of providing international cricket, but, after two Australian tours and another ill-fated English visit in 1989, it was clear that only the abandonment of apartheid would suffice for the rest of the cricketing world, something which finally became fact in 1992.