Devika Chhibber
With the cricket season reviving itself for a zesty feel, the two major teams of the cricketing fraternity, India and South Africa seem to bring promising new dimensions for the game`s enthusiasts. Coming as it is after India’s tri-series win and before the start of IPL, the three Test match series between India and South Africa assumes much significance.
Both teams have the impetus to win applauds. Where on one hand Indian team have the air of intensity and the success of cricket Down Under. The Proteas on the other side had sufficient time in the sub-continent, having just toured Bangladesh. The only place where Indians are lacking, are in their recovery and preparations as they barely had two weeks to plan their momentum.
Now lets take a Sneak peak in the history of the visiting team.
Early History of SA
South Africa resumed official cricket in 1991 with a short tour of India, and participation in the 1992 Cricket World Cup in Australia and New Zealand but the early history of the country’s cricket is worth reading.
SA`s first test with England was played in 1889. Cricket in Africa has always gone through the ups and downs of politics. Earlier cricket was only confined to the white population because of the then governments Apartheid policy
The situation began to crystallise after 1961 when South Africa left the Commonwealth of Nations and so, under the rules of the day, its cricket board had to leave the International Cricket Conference (ICC- now read International Cricket Council).
Cricket`s opposition to apartheid intensified in 1968 with the cancellation of England`s tour to South Africa by the South African authorities, due to the inclusion of "coloured" cricketer Basil D`Oliveira in the England team. In 1970, the ICC members voted to suspend South Africa indefinitely from international cricket competition.
Ironically, the South African team at that time was probably the strongest in the world.Starved of top-level competition for its best players, the South African Cricket Board began funding so-called "rebel tours", offering large sums of money for international players to form teams and tour South Africa. The Government of South Africa sponsored a number of touring international teams organised by the South African Cricket Union, led by Dr Ali Bacher. The tours were strongly opposed by the ANC and other anti-apartheid groups The ICC`s response was to blacklist any rebel players who agreed to tour South Africa, banning them from officially sanctioned international cricket. As players were poorly remunerated during the 1970s, several accepted the offer to tour South Africa, particularly players getting towards the end of their careers for whom a blacklisting would have little effect. Breakaway teams from England, Australia, West Indies and Sri Lanka played “unofficial Test matches”. However they were highly criticised and even banned by the national authorities
While Graham Gooch led the English “rebel” team, Archbishop Desmond Tutu led the fight against the Apartheid regime in South Africa. The rebel tours continued into the 1980s but then progress was made in South African politics and it became clear that apartheid was ending. In 1970, after South Africa`s tour of England was cancelled, a Rest of the World team toured instead. It was captained by Gary Sobers and included other non-white players from the West Indies, India and Pakistan. It also included four of the greatest South African players (Eddie Barlow, Graeme Pollock, Mike Procter and Barry Richards) who clearly had no problems about sharing a dressing room with other cricketers whose skin was a different colour to their own. Players like Graham Pollock and Barry Richards who were regarded as best batsmen in 1971 were turned redundant as a result of the International ban due to Apartheid leading to the isolation of SA from International cricket for over 20 years in 1971.
Omar Henry became the first ever-black South African to play for the country when they met Sri Lanka in the 1992 World Cup. It regained its test status in 1994.South Africa, now a "Rainbow Nation" under Nelson Mandela, was welcomed back into international sport in 1991.
With the collapse of the Apartheid regime, cricket was readmitted to the international arena, with the birth of the new South Africa in 1994. It was in 1994 that new South Africa returned to play Test cricket in England at Lords under skipper Kepler Wessells. SA first series win was against Pakistan in 1998.
Cronje-Gate
Multi-racial South Africa is today seen as the one of the strongest teams in the world. Within the last decade they have recorded a series of wins over every Test playing nation, apart from Australia. There have been defeats too during the last ten years. Hansie Cronje, long regarded as an icon of the “gentlemen’s game” was banned for life following an inquiry into match fixing who was later killed in a plane crash. This was the most noted incident in the history of cricket following the removal of players like Azharuddin from the Indian team as well.
