By CricketCountry Staff
International Cricket Council (ICC) Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat on Saturday paid tribute to England cricket legend Basil D’Oliveira calling him a role model amongst 'non-white’ cricketing nations.
Published: Nov 20, 2011, 10:41 AM (IST)
Edited: Nov 20, 2011, 10:41 AM (IST)
Basil D’Oliveira, the South African-born England international passed away at the age of 80 on Saturday after a period of ill health © Getty Images
By CricketCountry Staff
Dubai: Nov 20, 2011
International Cricket Council (ICC) Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat on Saturday paid tribute to England cricket legend Basil D’Oliveira calling him a role model amongst ‘non-white’ cricketing nations.
Lorgat was quoted in Yahoo Cricket as saying, “At the time his influence and his legacy in a divided South Africa stretched way beyond the cricket field,” Lorgat said.
Lorgat believes D’Oliveira was a man of dignity and there were many admirers of his humility.
“His improper exclusion from the England tour of his native South Africa in 1968 was to have a profound and lasting effect on those involved in the struggle against a discriminatory regime,” he said.”While he never regarded himself as such, he was a hero to a generation of disenfranchised South Africans,” he added.
Lorgat believes D’Oliveira is a perfect role-model for the underprivileged sections of the society in South Africa. He said, “On the field he had a great cricket brain and his career figures demonstrate that – even though he did not make his Test debut until he was in his mid-30s.
“It is fitting that his memory will live on through the Basil D’Oliveira Trophy which is played for between South Africa and England in Test series. The series next year will have even more meaning.”
“I wish to extend my personal condolences and that of the ICC to the family and friends of Basil. We will all mourn his passing away,” he added.
Basil D’Oliveira, the South African-born England international passed away at the age of 80 on Saturday after a period of ill health.
