In the
1970 English cricket season, a scheduled
South African tour was cancelled for political reasons. As this meant there would be no international cricket in England that season, a
Rest of the World team was assembled to play a series of five-day matches against
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. At the time, they were played as
Test matches, but that status was later revoked by the
International Cricket Conference
The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the world governing body of cricket. It was founded as the ''Imperial Cricket Conference'' in 1909 by representatives from Australia, England and South Africa. It was renamed as the ''International C ...
(ICC) and they are now termed unofficial Tests, though still officially
first-class matches
First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...
.
The World XI, captained by
Garfield Sobers
Sir Garfield St Aubrun Sobers, (born 28 July 1936), also known as Sir Gary or Sir Garry Sobers, is a former cricketer who played for the West Indies between 1954 and 1974. A highly skilled bowler, an aggressive batsman and an excellent fielder, ...
, convincingly won the first Test by an
innings
An innings is one of the divisions of a cricket match during which one team takes its turn to bat. Innings also means the period in which an individual player bats (acts as either striker or nonstriker). Innings, in cricket, and rounders, is bot ...
but the other four matches were keenly contested and England, captained by
Ray Illingworth
Raymond Illingworth CBE (8 June 1932 – 25 December 2021) was an English cricketer, cricket commentator and administrator. , he was one of only nine players to have taken 2,000 wickets and made 20,000 runs in first-class cricket.Arnold, Peter ...
, performed to a high standard against opponents who were world-class in ability as well as name. The series result was a 4–1 win by the World XI.
Background
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
, who had just defeated
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
four-nil in a
home series, were due to tour
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
during the
1970 season. The controversy created by the
D'Oliveira affair
The D'Oliveira affair was a prolonged political and sporting controversy relating to the scheduled 1968–69 tour of South Africa by the England cricket team, who were officially representing the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). The point of cont ...
in 1968 had escalated in the meantime with increasing opposition to the South African government's
apartheid
Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...
policy. A "Stop The Seventy Tour" campaign was started, its leaders including
Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chance ...
and
Peter Hain
Peter Gerald Hain, Baron Hain (born 16 February 1950), is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 2005 to 2007, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from 2007 to 2008 and twice as Secretary of State ...
, and a
South African rugby tour in early 1970 was disrupted by protests at many of its matches.
[Birley, p. 304.] Prominent opponents of apartheid within cricket included
John Arlott
Leslie Thomas John Arlott, OBE (25 February 1914 – 14 December 1991) was an English journalist, author and cricket commentator for the BBC's ''Test Match Special''. He was also a poet and wine connoisseur. With his poetic phraseology, he bec ...
,
Mike Brearley
John Michael Brearley (born 28 April 1942) is a retired English first-class cricketer who captained Cambridge University, Middlesex, and England.
He captained the international side in 31 of his 39 Test matches, winning 18 and losing only 4. ...
and
David Sheppard
David Stuart Sheppard, Baron Sheppard of Liverpool (6 March 1929 – 5 March 2005) was a Church of England Bishop of Liverpool who played cricket for Sussex and England in his youth. Sheppard remains the only ordained minister to have played T ...
, but a vote among members of the
Cricketers' Association indicated widespread support for continued sporting links with South Africa.
''
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack
''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...
'' described the situation in terms of "a bitter, emotional – sometimes hysterical – aura hanging over English cricket and dividing the nation".
The
Test and County Cricket Board
The Test and County Cricket Board (TCCB) was the governing body for Test and county cricket in Great Britain between 1968 and 1996. The TCCB was established in 1968 to replace the functions of the Board of Control for Test Matches (established ...
(TCCB), who ran English cricket at the time, received a request from Home Secretary
James Callaghan
Leonard James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff, ( ; 27 March 191226 March 2005), commonly known as Jim Callaghan, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1976 to 1980. Callaghan is ...
to cancel the tour "on grounds of broad public policy".
[Birley, p. 305.] The TCCB reluctantly agreed and the invitation to the South African team was withdrawn.
This meant there would be no international cricket in England in 1970 with a concomitant loss of revenue and so, at very short notice, a
Rest of the World team was formed, including five South African players.
[Barclays, pp. 346–347.] Another two South Africans,
Tony Greig
Anthony William Greig (6 October 194629 December 2012) was a South African-born Test cricket captain turned commentator. Greig qualified to play for the England cricket team by virtue of his Scottish parentage. He was a tall () all-rounder w ...
and
Basil D'Oliveira
Basil Lewis D'Oliveira CBE OIS (4 October 1931 – 19 November 2011) was an England international cricketer of South African Cape Coloured background, whose potential selection by England for the scheduled 1968–69 tour of apartheid-era South ...
, who were resident in England, played for the home team.
Guinness
Guinness () is an Irish dry stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness at St. James's Gate, Dublin, Ireland, in 1759. It is one of the most successful alcohol brands worldwide, brewed in almost 50 countries, and available in ove ...
agreed to sponsor the tour and the
County Championship
The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...
clubs agreed to release any of their contracted players who were selected to play for either England or the World XI.
The England v. Rest of the World XI series was initially recognised as
a Test series by ''
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack
''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...
'', but the
International Cricket Conference
The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the world governing body of cricket. It was founded as the ''Imperial Cricket Conference'' in 1909 by representatives from Australia, England and South Africa. It was renamed as the ''International C ...
(ICC) stated at their 1972 meeting that the games should not be regarded as official Test matches. ''Wisden'' continued to include the matches as Tests until removing them for the 1980 edition against the wishes of the editor,
Norman Preston
Norman Preston, MBE (18 March 1903 – 6 March 1980) was an English cricket journalist.
He began his career with the old Pardon's Cricket Reporting Agency in 1933 and served on three overseas tours as Reuters' correspondent. He succeeded h ...
.
Rest of the World squad
Rest of the World, captained by
Garfield Sobers
Sir Garfield St Aubrun Sobers, (born 28 July 1936), also known as Sir Gary or Sir Garry Sobers, is a former cricketer who played for the West Indies between 1954 and 1974. A highly skilled bowler, an aggressive batsman and an excellent fielder, ...
, selected 14 players in the series including five South Africans who, despite apartheid at home, were happy to play alongside five West Indians and three players from the Indian sub-continent.
Several players were already active in England as contracted members of
County Championship
The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...
clubs. Squad details below state the player's age at the beginning of the 1970 season, his batting hand, his type of bowling, his national team and where applicable his county club.
Batsmen
All-rounders
Wicket-keepers
Bowlers
England selections
England selected 21 players for the series. All except
Alan Jones played in official Test matches in other series and Jones is the only man in cricketing history to win a Test cap and then lose it. Other England debutants were
Tony Greig
Anthony William Greig (6 October 194629 December 2012) was a South African-born Test cricket captain turned commentator. Greig qualified to play for the England cricket team by virtue of his Scottish parentage. He was a tall () all-rounder w ...
,
Peter Lever
Peter Lever (born 17 September 1940) is a former English cricketer, who played in seventeen Tests and ten ODIs for England from 1970 to 1975. A fast-medium opening bowler, he took 41 wickets, and was a handy lower-order batsman with a top scor ...
,
Brian Luckhurst
Brian William Luckhurst (5 February 1939 – 1 March 2005) was an English cricketer, who played his entire county career for Kent County Cricket Club. He played for Kent from 1958 to 1976, usually opening the batting, then in 1985, in an emerg ...
,
Chris Old
Chris Old (born Christopher Middleton Old, 22 December 1948) is a former English cricketer, who played 46 Tests and 32 ODIs from 1972 to 1981. A right-arm fast-medium bowler and lower order left-handed batsman, Old was a key feature of the Yorks ...
and
Ken Shuttleworth. The details for each player below state his age at the beginning of the 1970 season, his batting hand, his type of bowling and his
County Championship
The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...
club.
Batsmen
All-rounders
Wicket-keepers
Bowlers
Matches
The Rest of the World XI were 4–1 winners of the five-match Test series but, despite a comprehensive defeat in the opening match, England were not outclassed and won the second Test to level the series with three to play. The World XI won the three remaining matches but in one case by only two wickets and the others by four and five wickets. ''Wisden'' was impressed by the quality of the World XI and said that "possibly only the Australian sides of 1921 and 1948 could have risen to the heights attained by The Rest", and England "proved worthy opponents".
''Wisden'' mentioned "a curious feature being that in all the five matches victory went to the side that fielded first".
First Test
''Wisden'' commented that, with England having been completely outclassed in this opening match, "few could have expected the four following games to be so closely contested".
The match started, unusually, on a Wednesday so that the Thursday could be a "rest day" for the
general election
A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
. The outstanding performer was Gary Sobers who had first forged a bond between his multi-national players so that they became a formidable team rather than, as some had predicted, a collection of star-name individuals.
Sobers then destroyed England's batting on the first morning, taking six for 21. Ray Illingworth batted well for a defiant 63 but, overall, it was a disastrous batting performance with England sorely missing the absent Geoff Boycott and John Edrich. Eddie Barlow with 119 demonstrated the sort of concentration that Boycott and Edrich might have provided. On Friday afternoon, Sobers and Intikhab Alam scored 197 together in the final two and a half hours of the day, the World XI completing a massive first innings lead of 419 on Saturday morning. England did better in their second innings and Illingworth fell (to Sobers) six short of a well-deserved century. Intikhab took the bowling honours with six for 113 and England were well beaten by an innings and 80 runs with a whole day to spare.
Umpire
Syd Buller, who died suddenly on 7 August, officiated in his last international match.
Second Test
''Wisden'' suggested the vagaries of the English weather as the deciding factor in this match which, contrary to expectations, was won by England.
Cool, damp conditions on the first three days favoured the seam bowlers who were able to make the ball "swing freely".
The main exponents were Basil D'Oliveira and Tony Greig (on debut) for England and Eddie Barlow for the World XI. Key innings were played by Clive Lloyd for the World and Ray Illingworth for England which left the match finely poised after completion of first innings, England having a slender lead of three runs. Barlow dominated proceedings on the Saturday and his defiant 142 accounted for virtually half his team's second innings total. D'Oliveira and Greig were again the best of the bowlers. The World innings ended on Monday morning and England had seven sessions in which to score 284. The weather had improved over the weekend and Monday was a bright day which produced a slow-paced pitch. Even so, England were still without Geoff Boycott and their batsmen proceeded with caution, especially Brian Luckhurst who batted for seven hours and played a "dogged innings" of 113
not out
In cricket, a batter is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batter is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress.
Occurrence
At least one batter is not out at t ...
to see England home with four hours to spare on Tuesday.
Third Test
''Wisden'' recalled that there was news off the field during this match because the England selectors met to decide which of Ray Illingworth or Colin Cowdrey, both playing in the match, would lead the team
on the coming winter tour of Australia. Illingworth was chosen and he rewarded their faith in him by leading England to
Ashes victory.
In the current match, however, England struggled against formidable opponents who were determined to avenge their defeat at Nottingham. England were still without Geoff Boycott and fielded an unchanged team at Edgbaston. The World XI selected Peter Pollock and Deryck Murray in place of Graham McKenzie and Farokh Engineer. England were reduced to 76 for four in their first innings but Basil D'Oliveira led a recovery with help from Illingworth and Tony Greig. D'Oliveira made 110 and England reached what seemed a creditable 294. Despite the early loss of Eddie Barlow, the strength of the World XI batting is illustrated by the fact that no less than eight of them scored 40. The highlight was a fifth wicket partnership of 175 between Clive Lloyd (101) and Gary Sobers (80). England made a game of it on the last two days, exemplified by a stubborn last wicket stand of 45 between Alan Knott and John Snow. The World needed 141 to win in 195 minutes and struggled to get them. England reduced them to 107 for five but then Intikhab Alam and Mike Procter took control and quickly scored the remaining 34 runs.
Fourth Test
Geoff Boycott returned to the England team and, with perhaps a nod towards the venue, the selectors also picked his Yorkshire colleagues Don Wilson and the 21-year-old Chris Old. The World XI decided to strengthen their batting and Mushtaq Mohammad replaced Peter Pollock. Gary Sobers won the toss and ''Wisden'' recalled that he gambled by putting England in to bat "on a slow-drying pitch".
Having struggled to reach 209 for four after a very poor start, England disintegrated completely in the face of a remarkable piece of bowling by Eddie Barlow who took four wickets in five balls, emulating the feat of
Maurice Allom
Maurice James Carrick Allom (23 March 1906 – 8 April 1995) was an English amateur cricketer who played in five Tests from 1930 to 1931.
Life and career
Allom attended Wellington College, Berkshire, before going up to Trinity College, Cambridg ...
in New Zealand in 1930–31. Barlow dismissed Keith Fletcher, England's top scorer, and Alan Knott came in to bat. Barlow dismissed Knott second ball and then completed a hat trick by dismissing Chris Old and Don Wilson with his next two deliveries. The World XI's batting was impacted by back injuries sustained by Barry Richards and Rohan Kanhai while fielding. Richards could not open the innings so Deryck Murray was promoted and he scored a determined 95 in five hours but the World XI were on 152 for four when Gary Sobers came in to rally them, in ''Wisden's'' words, "with another splendid century".
Once again, England staged a second innings recovery with half-centuries by Boycott, Brian Luckhurst, Fletcher and Ray Illingworth. Barlow with five for 78 completed a match analysis of twelve for 142. Needing 223 to win with a day and a half to go, the World XI slumped to 62 for five on the Monday afternoon. This brought Sobers and Intikhab together and they survived to the close with the overnight score at 75 for five. They needed another 148 to win and two of their remaining batsmen were the injured Kanhai and Richards. On Tuesday morning, a crucial incident occurred at 82 for five when Tony Greig at second slip dropped Intikhab off John Snow. ''Wisden'' reckoned that England would have won and squared the series if the catch had been taken.
Intikhab and Sobers steadily moved the score forward until both were out shortly before lunch. Kanhai, batting despite his injury, was out immediately after lunch and the World XI were then on 183 for eight with 40 more needed. Richards, who had been out of action since Thursday, came out to join Mike Procter and these two settled the match and the series.
''
ESPNcricinfo
ESPN cricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including liveblogs and scorecards), and ''StatsGuru'', a ...
'' has
World XI team photographfrom this match. The players are: (back row; left to right) Deryck Murray, Barry Richards, Clive Lloyd, Mike Procter, Intikhab Alam, Mushtaq Mohammad; (front row; left to right) Rohan Kanhai, Eddie Barlow, Gary Sobers, Lance Gibbs, Graeme Pollock.
Fifth Test
''Wisden'' remarked on the "quality of the cricket" and highlighted "four notable individual performances in a match which brought a magnificent series to a distinguished close".
England scored 294 in the first innings after winning the toss, Ray Illingworth completing his sixth half-century of the series. Graham McKenzie took three wickets in eight balls to reduce England from 266 for six to 266 for nine. The World XI responded with 355 which featured " a batting spectacle" by Graeme Pollock and Gary Sobers, who added 165 for the fifth wicket.
England's best bowler was Peter Lever whose "command of perfect length and direction" enabled him to take seven wickets on debut. In England's second innings, Geoff Boycott produced a "masterly innings of 157 which gave England a chance of victory".
It was not enough, however, against such world-class opposition and a century by Rohan Kanhai, well supported by Clive Lloyd and Gary Sobers, enabled the World XI to complete a 4–1 series victory. Sobers scored the winning runs to complete a series "in which he had been the dominant figure".
T. N. Pearce's XI v Rest of the World XI (5–8 September)
This was an extra match played at the
Scarborough Festival
{{No footnotes, date=July 2011
The Scarborough Festival is an end of season series of cricket matches featuring Yorkshire County Cricket Club which has been held in Scarborough, on the east coast of Yorkshire, since 1876. The ground, at North Ma ...
but it featured only seven of the players who appeared in the Test matches: Mushtaq, Kanhai, Murray and Gibbs for the World XI; Boycott, Amiss and Old for
T. N. Pearce's XI
{{Use dmy dates, date=April 2022
T. N. Pearce's XI was a scratch cricket team composed largely of Test cricket, Test and other prominent first-class cricket, first-class players.
Between 1951 and 1974, T. N. Pearce's XI played an annual first-clas ...
. Kanhai and
Roger Prideaux were the team captains. The match, played at
North Marine Road Ground, was drawn.
Aftermath
England went to
Australia the following winter and, in a controversial series, won
The Ashes
The Ashes is a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. The term originated in a satirical obituary published in a British newspaper, '' The Sporting Times'', immediately after Australia's 1882 victory at The Oval, its first ...
for the first time since
Richie Benaud
Richard Benaud (; 6 October 1930 – 10 April 2015) was an Australian cricketer who, after his retirement from international cricket in 1964, became a highly regarded commentator on the game.
Benaud was a Test cricket all-rounder, blending l ...
's team had beaten them in
the 1958–59 series. England under Ray Illingworth were actually one of the most successful Test teams of all time. They created a world record in official Test cricket of 27 consecutive Tests without defeat from 1968 to 1971; the record was equaled by Clive Lloyd's West Indies team between 1981 and 1984. At the time, however, the Rest of the World Tests were recognised as official and England's record run has only been confirmed retrospectively. England took sixteen players on tour and fourteen of these had featured against the Rest of the World. The other two were reserve wicket-keeper
Bob Taylor and Yorkshire batsman
John Hampshire
John Harry Hampshire (10 February 1941 – 1 March 2017), also known as Jack Hampshire, was an English cricketer and umpire, who played eight Tests and three One Day Internationals (ODIs) for England between 1969 and 1975. He played first-cla ...
. Alan Ward had to return home because of injury problems and was replaced by the young fast bowler
Bob Willis
Robert George Dylan Willis (born Robert George Willis; 30 May 1949 – 4 December 2019) was an English cricketer, who represented England between 1971 and 1984. A right-handed fast bowler, Willis is regarded by many as one of the greatest fa ...
, who made his Test debut on the tour.
Another scheduled South African tour, this time to Australia, was cancelled in 1971 and the
Rest of the World team was recreated, again under the captaincy of Gary Sobers. Besides Sobers, the squad included six other 1970 team members: Farokh Engineer, Intikhab Alam, Rohan Kanhai, Clive Lloyd and the Pollock brothers. It also included four England players:
Norman Gifford
Norman Gifford (born 30 March 1940) is a retired English cricketer, who played primarily as a left-arm spinner. Gifford played county cricket for Worcestershire, and Warwickshire County Cricket Clubs, and represented England in fifteen Test ...
, Tony Greig,
Richard Hutton and Bob Taylor. The World XI won this series 2–1. As there were no more scheduled South African tours, the need for a World XI lapsed and it was many years before the concept was resurrected. South Africa as a team were banned from international cricket while the apartheid system existed, though many individual South African players were able to take part in the major domestic competitions of other countries. South Africa was reinstated by the ICC in 1991 and returned to Test match cricket in April 1992.
In June 2020,
Alan Jones was recognised as an England Test cricketer by the
England and Wales Cricket Board
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is the Sports governing body, national governing body of cricket in England and Wales. It was formed on 1 January 1997 as a single governing body to combine the roles formerly fulfilled by the Test and ...
(ECB), with the ECB awarding him with
cap number 696, fifty years after the match.
References
Sources
*
*
1971 edition of the ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack
{{1970 English cricket season
1970 in English cricket
Cricket and apartheid
International cricket competitions from 1960–61 to 1970
1970
Events
January
* January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC.
* January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...
South Africa–United Kingdom relations