Author Description

For more than a dozen years South African cricket has been ostracized by all the countries where the game is played but the spotlight has never left the Springboks. There has been a bitter and ongoing debate with many feeling that South African cricket has become integrated and should be re-admitted to the international arena. Others are as adamant that all race laws, whether they pertain to sport or not, should disappear from the South African statutes before the Springboks will become acceptable.For a long time it seemed like a fairly comfortable deadlock with the South Africans, deprived of international competition, the only real losers, should one discount the loss all cricket lovers have suffered by being deprived of seeing in action some of the most exciting cricketers in the world.BuJ a new dimension has been introduced to the situation; a development which has rocked the foundations of the game. In 1982 a strong team of England cricketers accepted the financial lure to play in South Africa. They were followed by players from Sri Lanka and in 1983, in a sensational act of defiance, a team of internationally-known West Indian cricketers toured South Africa.These Rebel Tours caused wide ripples in all cricket-playing countries. Players were given savage suspensions but all the indications are there that other such tours will follow.In this handsome and topical book, South African cricket authority Brian Crowley crisply recaptures the events which have led to the present situation. With text and rare photographs he tells the story of Springbok cricket in triumph and defeat, leading right up to the final tragedy when they were thrown out of international competition at a point when they could field their strongest team in history.