South African Rebel Tours - West Indian Tours, 1982/83 & 1983/84

West Indian Tours, 1982/83 & 1983/84

The West Indian players were mainly talented understudies struggling to break into the great West Indian Test team of the period, or men past their prime as Test players. First-class cricketers in the West Indies were then poorly paid and the participants, many of whom had irregular or no employment in the off-season, received between US$100,000 and $120,000 dollars for the two tours. West Indies cricket was so strong that Clive Lloyd had little need for the likes of Lawrence Rowe, Collis King and Sylvester Clarke. Rowe has since stated that he and several other players were disillusioned with the West Indies Cricket board for not selecting them despite good performances

The strength of Caribbean cricket was evidenced in the ‘international’ matches, where South Africa received their first real test. A fiercely contested four-week series in 1982-3 took ‘unofficial internationals’ to new heights, the Springboks winning the one-day series 4-2 while the ‘Test’ series was drawn 1-1. The dominant theme of the match-ups was West Indian fast bowling. Colin Croft was one of four World Cup winners in the party. Their pace battery, featuring Clarke, Croft, Bernard Julien and Ezra Moseley, terrified Springbok batsmen who were forced to wear helmets for the first time.

The frantic first series, again organised in secret and conducted on the hoof, set up a fierce battle when the West Indians returned for a full tour the following season. Clarke was by now the dominant player on either side, claiming four five-wicket hauls in the 2-1 ‘Test’ series win. The West Indian XI also won the one-day series 4-2, helped slightly by the Springboks weakening: Barry Richards and Vince van der Bijl retired in 1983, and Mike Procter, 36, played only a single ‘one-day’ international over both tours. Henry Fotheringham, Ken McEwan, Rupert Hanley, Dave Richardson and Mandy Yachad made their debuts for South Africa. Clive Rice was handed the captaincy for the 3rd and 4th "Tests" after the sacking of Peter Kirsten for the ‘ODI’ series defeat. Kirsten maintained his place in the team and top scored in the next match. Graham Gooch played against the West Indies team during both tours as a member of a South African provincial side.

The improvement in the on-field action was in strict contrast to the off-field environment. South Africa stood permanently on the brink of civil war as PW Botha’s brutal government repressed the black majority and excluded them from a new ‘multi-racial’ parliament. This oppression was met with violent reprisals while the rebels were controversial figures in the townships that had worshipped West Indian cricketers only to see them collaborating with the apartheid enemy.

The participants received a life ban from Caribbean cricket in 1983. In many instances, they were ostracised socially and professionally, such was the hostility toward players that complied with the South African apartheid system. In contrast, the players commented on a warm reception from both blacks and whites in South Africa and the tour may have been a positive influence on relations between races. It was one of the few occasions when white and black people had played sport together in South Africa. The players' bans were lifted in 1989 (although Lynch appeared in ODI's for England a year earlier against the touring West Indians) but the only tour member who played for West Indies again was Moseley, at the age of 32. Stephenson and Clarke had very successful first-class careers in South Africa.

A fierce battle raged – and continues to rage – over the wisdom of the West Indian tours. Were the rebels, as they themselves insisted, showing white South Africa that black men were their equals as the republic stumbled towards democracy? Or, as their detractors still maintain, had they sold themselves and their dignity to extend the life of a disgraced and barbarous government?

• 1982-3 squad: Lawrence Rowe (captain), Richard Austin, Herbert Chang, Sylvester Clarke, Colin Croft, Alvin Greenidge, Bernard Julien, Alvin Kallicharran, Collis King, Everton Mattis, Ezra Moseley, David Murray, Derick Parry, Franklyn Stephenson, Emmerson Trotman, Ray Wynter, Albert Padmore (player/manager).

• 1983-4 squad: Lawrence Rowe (captain), Hartley Alleyne, Faoud Bacchus, Sylvester Clarke, Colin Croft, Alvin Greenidge, Bernard Julien, Alvin Kallicharran, Collis King, Monte Lynch, Everton Mattis, Ezra Moseley, David Murray, Derick Parry, Franklyn Stephenson, Emmerson Trotman, Albert Padmore (player/manager).