Basil D'Oliveira
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| Personal information | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Basil Lewis D'Oliveira | |||
| Born | 4 October 1931 Cape Town, South Africa |
|||
| Nickname | Dolly, Bas | |||
| Batting style | Right-handed | |||
| Bowling style | Right arm medium | |||
| Role | All-rounder, coach | |||
| International information | ||||
| National side | England | |||
| Test debut (cap 432) | 16 June 1966 v West Indies | |||
| Last Test | 10 August 1972 v Australia | |||
| ODI debut (cap 3) | 5 January 1971 v Australia | |||
| Last ODI | 28 August 1972 v Australia | |||
| Domestic team information | ||||
| Years | Team | |||
| 1960 – 1963 | Middleton C.C | |||
| 1964 – 1980 | Worcestershire | |||
| Career statistics | ||||
| Competition | Test | ODI | FC | LA |
| Matches | 44 | 4 | 367 | 187 |
| Runs scored | 2484 | 30 | 19490 | 3770 |
| Batting average | 40.06 | 10.00 | 40.26 | 24.96 |
| 100s/50s | 5/15 | 0/0 | 45/101 | 2/19 |
| Top score | 158 | 17 | 227 | 102 |
| Balls bowled | 5706 | 204 | 41079 | 7892 |
| Wickets | 47 | 3 | 551 | 190 |
| Bowling average | 39.55 | 46.66 | 27.45 | 23.56 |
| 5 wickets in innings | 0 | – | 17 | 1 |
| 10 wickets in match | 0 | n/a | 2 | n/a |
| Best bowling | 3/46 | 1/19 | 6/29 | 5/26 |
| Catches/stumpings | 29/– | 1/– | 215/– | 44/– |
| Source: Cricinfo, 10 April 2008 | ||||
Basil Lewis D'Oliveira CBE (born 4 October 1931) is a retired cricketer. Born and raised in Cape Town, South Africa, he was classified as 'coloured' under the apartheid regime, and hence barred from first-class cricket. He captained South Africa's national non-white cricket team, and also played football for the non-white national side.[1]
With the support of John Arlott, he emigrated to England in 1960, where he played first in the Central Lancashire League, for Middleton, before joining first-class county Worcestershire in 1964 and becoming a British citizen. By 1966, he was being selected for the English national team, as an all-rounder, and he was one of the Wisden cricketers of the year for 1967.
D'Oliveira played the first Test of the 1968 series against the Australians at Old Trafford, he was then dropped for the subsequent three Tests. He was recalled by the selectors for the final Test at the Oval and a century (158 runs in the first innings) against Australia seemed to have guaranteed his place in the side to play the 1968-69 Test series in South Africa. He was left out of the touring party under the pretext that his bowling would not be effective in his native country. South African cricket officials, realising that the inclusion of D'Oliveira would lead to the cancellation of the tour and probable exclusion fromTest cricket, exerted pressure on the MCC hierarchy and the decision not to pick him was felt by many[who?] to be a way of keeping cricket links with South Africa open. There was dissent in the press to this course of events and when Warwickshire's Tom Cartwright was ruled out because of injury D'Oliveira was called up into the squad. South African prime minister BJ Vorster had already made it clear that D'Oliveira's inclusion was not acceptable and despite many negotiations the tour was cancelled. This was seen as a watershed in the sporting boycott of apartheid South Africa.[2]
D'Oliveira was a successful batsman with a low backlift and powerful strokes. When he toured Australia in 1970-71 on the night after they won the series 2-0 he pushed his forefinger into the chest of the every Australian he met, saying "We stuffed you".[3].
In 2000, he was nominated as one of 10 South African cricketers of the century, despite not having played for South Africa.[4]
In 2004, a perpetual trophy was struck for Test series between England and South Africa, and named the Basil D'Oliveira Trophy. In 2005, he was awarded a CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours.[5] In the same year, journalist Peter Oborne wrote a well-received biography, entitled Basil D'Oliveira: Cricket and Conspiracy.
In 2004 a stand at Worcestershire's New Road ground was named in his honour.
Basil's son, Damian D'Oliveira, also played first-class cricket for Worcestershire and his brother Ivan played fleetingly for Leicestershire.[1]
It is reported that Basil now suffers from Alzheimer's disease.[6]
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b Thicknesse, John. "Player Profile: Basil D'Oliveira". CricInfo. ESPN. http://www.cricinfo.com/link_to_database/PLAYERS/ENG/D/DOLIVEIRA_BL_01001283/. Retrieved 2009-06-11.
- ^ Jon Gemmell (2004). The Politics of South African Cricket. Routledge (UK). ISBN 0714653462. http://books.google.com/books?visbn=0714653462&id=CTIZdi9DjBQC&pg=PA146&lpg=PA146&ots=4_AU4URPbt&dq=%22Basil+D%27Oliveira%22&ie=ISO-8859-1&output=html&sig=dtGOC75WQEjDJmTPnN1V8KTr0yM.
- ^ p95, John Snow, Cricket Rebel, Hamlyn, 1976
- ^ Gough, Martin (November 29, 2004). "D'Oliveira exposed apartheid disgrace". BBC News Online (BBC). http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/3818857.stm. Retrieved 2009-06-11.
- ^ "D'Oliveira 'proud' to get honour". BBC News Online (BBC). June 10, 2005. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/4078158.stm. Retrieved 2009-06-11.
- ^ Morgan, Brad (October 2008). "Not just cricket: Basil D'Oliveira". South Africa.info. http://www.southafrica.info/about/sport/greats/doliveira.htm. Retrieved 2009-06-11.
