BASIL LOUIS D'OLIVERA OBE CBE died on 19 November 2011 aged 80.
He had been suffering from Parkinson's Disease for several years, an illness he had born with his customary courage and dignity.
He will be remembered as a formidable batsman, capable of destroying the very best attacks and a useful bowler of either medium pace or off spin. However beyond the cricket field, he will forever have a place as a man whose treatment by the white South African government and, regrettably by the MCC - then still in control of English cricket - and his own dignified reaction to it, was to be one of the main factors in the dismantling of apartheid.
Born in a poor area of Cape Town that was home to many others of those designated "Cape Coloureds" he was denied anything like proper conditions in which to learn and play cricket but soon dominated the South African non European game. These conditions partly made him the player he was.
He had a short back lift and while he had all the shots, he frequently hit with devastating power through mid on or mid wicket off the back foot. He also missed very little at slip.
His figures in local cricket were outstanding: in the Dahabay Trophy, a tournament for the various non white racial groups in South Africa, he was by far the best player. Thus in the 1952/53 season for example he hit 65 out of a total of 183 against the Malays side in a drawn match, while in a 7-wicket win over the Indian XI he had 38 and 75.
"Test Matches" on a home and away basis were played against the Kenyan Asians. In one such match in August 1958 Basil scored 139, besides picking up 5 wickets in the match for a 165 runs win. These matches against a Kenyan side mark his first contact with what later became Associate Cricket.
He was eventually signed as a professional by the Lancashire League Club, Middleton, thanks to the work of the commentator John Arlott, to whom Basil had repeatedly written asking if there was any chance of playing in England. Arlott found it difficult to persuade a club to employ him but, fueled by his own dislike of the political system in South Africa which he had personally witnessed covering the MCC tour of 1948/49, he eventually succeeded in 1960.
Basil took some time to adjust to strange conditions and also to come to terms with life in England being astonished that he was so well received and treated as an equal. However once he found his form he never looked back and, having greatly impressed Tom Graveney on a Commonwealth XI tour, was qualifying for Worcestershire by 1964, in the side in 1965 and playing for England in 1966.
His performances against the powerful West Indian team led to his being one of Wisden's Five Cricketers of The Year the following season. During his qualifying period he had, in 1964, played for MCC v Scotland at Lord's and scored 68 and 49 in a 2 wickets win. On Worcestershire's World Tour in the 164/65 overseas season, he returned to Kenya and made 162 and 59 against the national side.
He was firmly established in the England side by the summer of 1968 but MCC were due to tour South Africa that winter and his selection became more than a cricket issue. He made 87* in the First Ashes test of the summer - one of the few England batsmen to do well - but was left out from the selected 12 for the Second Test.
One hardly needed to be a conspiracy theorist to see other forces at work. The former British Conservative Prime Minister, Lord Home, an MCC member and one time - very briefly - a county cricketer - held talks with the South African government and communicated the results to MCC.
It was obvious that "Dolly" as he was widely known, would not be a popular choice. A South African millionaire tried to buy him off but he remained calmly aloof from the argument.
He was in poor form that summer, but was recalled to the side for the Oval Test when batsman Roger Prideaux withdrew through illness. Coming in at 238/4, after his friend Tom Graveney had saved England from collapse, he was missed by wicket keeper Barry Jarman on 31 but then batted brilliantly. "He hooked superbly and drove magnificently" according to Wisden. He made 158 and on the last evening, after a thunderstorm had knocked hours off the day, took the vital wicket that precipitated a collapse and allowed England to win with minutes to spare. The next day his name was not included in the tour party! Many people could not believe the accompanying statement that no reasons other than cricket ones had brought this about.
Eventually, of course, he was brought in to replace injured medium pacer, Tom Cartwright. This led to a furious reaction from the South African government and the cancellation of the tour.
Even though the cricket authorities in England, by now the Cricket Council, attempted to press ahead with the planned South African tour of England in 1970, they had to bow to the request of the then Labour government of Harold Wilson and cancel it. The way in which protests had been organised against the 1969/70 rugby tour by the Springboks - by the Stop the 70 Tour Campaign headed by future Cabinet Minister Peter Hain - showed that it would have been impossible to play normal cricket and that civil disorder and race problems might have arisen.
Further the government was opposed to the tour in principle as well as because of the threat it posed to that year's Commonwealth Games. The dispute brought some long friendships to an end, for example between Peter May and the Rev David (later Bishop) Sheppard as well as Arlott and the long time Glamorgan Captain /Secretary Wilf Wooller.
However it led directly to South Africa's isolation from most world sport which Nelson Mandela considers to have been a key factor in bringing about political change.
Basil continued to play for England until 1972, his 44 tests bringing him 2484 runs at 40.06 and 47 wickets. These cost 39.55 but came with an economy rate of 1.95. He continued to play first class cricket until 1980 finishing with 19490 runs at 40.26 and 547 wickets at 27.41.
He hit 45 centuries with a highest score of 227against Yorkshire at Hull in 1974. I will always remember a marvelous hundred for Worcestershire against Middlesex at Kidderminster in 1972, when it seemed that the powerful attack did not know where to bowl at him. As far as his other links with Associate cricket are concerned he played twice more against Scotland but also against The Netherlands.
This latter match, which ended in a draw was played in Amsterdam in 1967 and saw Basil score a second innings 53, besides taking 5/46 in the Dutch first innings. However his best match at his level came for MCC against Scotland at Lord's in 1979. He took 3/27 in the visitors' first innings, then, though by this time he was often virtually batting on one leg as he had done in a memorable Benson and Hedges Final in 1974, proceeded to clatter his way to 85 with 10 fours and two 6s. He then bowled the Scots out to win the match with figures of 19.2 - 14 - 9 - 6.
He later became Worcestershire's coach being in charge in their successful period in late 1980s and early 90s.
To see him walking around the ground and observe the respect in which everybody held him was to learn something of the man.
He was awarded the OBE in 1975 and in 2008 the CBE. Few sportsmen have more deserved such honours.
Edward Liddle November 2011
