Tour of Australia & New Zealand 1971-72             Tour Cancelled

Proposed as:

15th South African Test tour

(October - January  1972)

Would have been the fifth Test-playing tour of Australia by South Africa

(previous tour 1963-64)

At a time when South Africa had the strongest and most entertaining team in international cricket, protests against the apartheid system were edging them into sporting isolation.

This tour of Australia was to have lasted 17 weeks beginning with a match at Perth on 22 October. The New Zealand leg was cancelled at an early stage when the South African Cricket Association learned that several top players would not be prepared to extend the tour there.

The Australian Board chairman Sir Donald Bradman said that the matches would be billed as ‘international’ matches because “Tests” should be a title reserved for fixtures between member countries of the I C C. 

On 2 April 1971 a proposal from the South African Cricket Association (SACA) to include two non-white cricketers in the squad to tour Australia was rebuffed by the Government. The non-white South African Cricket Board of Control called it “apartheid in reverse:  “thirteen players being picked on merit and two because they are not white!”

Next day a government-sponsored match to mark the tenth anniversary of the Republic of South Africa, between Transvaal, the Currie Cup champions, and a Rest of South Africa XI captained by Graeme Pollock was due to take place at Cape Town.

Transvaal won the toss and elected to bat. After Barry Richards played the first delivery from Procter for a single, the two batsmen and the fielding side all trooped off the ground. A statement jointly penned by the two teams was given out:  “We fully support the South African Cricket Association’s application to invite non-whites to tour Australia, if they are good enough; and further subscribe to merit being the only criterion on the cricket field.”

After making their demonstration the players returned to the ground and continued the match.  Frank Waring, the South African Minister for Sport, dismissed their protest as: “merely a gesture for overseas consumption,” and even Hasan Howa dismissed it as a stunt to save the tour.

The Australian Government in Canberra deplored the South African government’s decision to exclude non-whites from its side to visit Australia but did not yet go as far as to ban the tour ϯ.

 When it became clear that political groups, the church and trades unions would boycott the visit or deprive the tourists of the use of facilities, the Australian Cricket Board decided on 8 September 1971 “with great regret” to cancel the forthcoming South African tour of Australia.

The reasons given included that it would create internal bitterness and provoke vociferous disruption from minority groups, as well as place extreme demands upon the police force.

Minister Frank Waring said that he would never allow multi-racial cricket in South Africa despite the cancellation of the Springbok tour.  "Springbok teams have always been white, and will remain so.”

Other South African tours

Previous Tour

England 1965

Next planned tour

England 1975  cancelled

Next tour of Australia

1993-94

ϯ  Norman O’Neill was prominent in a counter movement  to see that the tour went ahead. He was backed by former players Bill Playle, Colin Guest and Lynn Marks but later decided to close his campaign because of disruption to his business and family life.

Members of the Test tour party (15)

Opening batsmen Barry Richards, Dassie Biggs, Arthur Short

Middle-order batsmen   Graeme Pollock, Ali Bacher, Lee Irvine, Hylton Ackerman

Wicket-keeper  Denis Lindsay

All-rounders: Clive Rice, Mike Procter

Spin bowlers  Grahame Chevalier, Peter de Vaal

Fast bowlers  Peter Pollock, Pat Trimborn, Vincent van der Bijl

Representation of teams:   

  Currie Cup teams

EP - Eastern Province (3)

N - Natal (4)

NET - North-Eastern Transvaal (1)

Rh - Rhodesia (1)

Tv - Transvaal (4)

WP - Western Province (2)

⋆  Barry Richards played for South Australia in 1970-71 but had previously played for Natal

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

(November 1971):

       27 yrs  6 months

Test Appearances made before the tour

Barlow 30,  P Pollock 28,  G Pollock 23,  D Lindsay 19,  Lance 13,  Bacher 12,  Procter 7,  Irvine 4,  Richards 4,  Trimborn 4,  Traicos 3,  Chevalier 1,  Ackerman 0,  Short 0,  Watson 0.

Tour Officials

Selectors

Arthur H Coy (Eastern Province – convenor of selectors),  Jack Plimsoll (Western Province),  Roy McLean (Natal) and Eric Rowan (Transvaal).

Selection

Unavailable:  Denis Lindsay announced his retirement from international cricket but six weeks later reversed his decision.

Jack Cheetham, President of the all-white South African Cricket Association (SACA), proposed holding a multi-racial trial prior to selection of the team; and then proposed including two non-whites - Dik Abed and Owen Williams - in addition to the chosen white players. Both suggestions were rejected by the government.

Tour Party Announced :  6 April 1971 at the end of the Cape Town festival match between Transvaal and the Rest of South Africa.

Withdrawal:   Eddie Barlow had to withdraw for business reasons (his wine company) from the original tour party, and his place was taken by Arthur Short.

Time between selection and planned departure from South Africa     x days

( )

Travel

The team was scheduled to arrive in Australia in October 1971

Time planned to be spent in Australia     17 weeks

(October - January 1972)

Planned Fixtures

† not first-class

Tour Summary

F  Fixtures   W  Won   L  Lost  

D Drawn   Canc  Cancelled

Finances

Postscript

As soon as the invitation to South Africa was withdrawn, the Australian Cricket Board of Control started organising a Rest of the World XI tour to take its place.