CRICKET: Paul Martin
OLD Father Time, the most famous weather-cock in the world, swivels gently about the grandstand at Lord’s, the planet’s most famous cricket ground. The message for cricketers and spectators alike is that time catches up with us all, though judging from his still well-muscled physique, it has been kind to Michael John Procter.
The South African coach is undoubtedly one of the greatest purveyors of this art never to have struck a ball at the Home of Cricket in a test match. Nor, for that matter, did Barry Richards.
Yet I swear Procter could not be more sincere when he says: “It doesn’t bother me. When I look back and see what happened in South Africa, a guy’s test career pales into insignificance.”
He was too young to play in the 1965 test side that won the series 1-0 in England. In his very first first-class game, though, Procter made a portentous impact, scoring more than 70 runs — for Gloucestershire against the South African tourists. Another teenage South African joined him to bat at 60/4. Barry Richards made a half-century too.
Procter played only two test series at home against Australia; Richards was only picked for the four 1970 tests.
Now Procter is back where he belongs: the team he coaches is doing battle with Ye Olde Enemy on a ground where, in his own playing days, he held a 100 percent record. Not the kind jocularly boasted of in the banner welcoming South Africa back to international cricket at the 1992 World Cup: “South Africa: World Champions 1970-1992 (Unbeaten)”.
No. Procter led his Gloucestershire team to real victory in all three finals they played at Lord’s, once getting there by taking four wickets in five balls in the semi-finals (to this day he is convinced the fourth lbw in a row was the plummest of them all).
“Proccie” was also in the Rest of the World XI, alongside the likes of Sobers, Gibbs and Kanhai, that destroyed England in 1970. It was, of course, the tour that had replaced the cancelled one due by South Africa, only months after the 4-0 whitewash of Australia by Ali Baacher’s glorious team.
“The team of that era had more natural talent,” recalls Procter. “It was great to be batting after the likes of Barlow, Richards, Bacher, Pollock and so on. And to bowl at sides on the defensive. Now to win games our team has to work very hard. But I’ll tell you, in all my years in cricket, this is the side that has the most character. They really guts it out.”
To state, as Procter does, that this occasion is something special is to repeat the obvious. As Joe Slovo said after the Presidential Inauguration: “I’ve run out of cliches.”
But Procter struck a more sublime note. “It’s special because for the first time we can truly say that this is the team representing the whole of South Africa. The boys really feel it, now that the elections have brought us real democracy. It started right at Heathrow airport when black guys shook our hands and said genuinely: ‘Have a nice tour’.”
The Queen, too, was pleased to see the South Africans, and Procter enjoyed his chat with Her Majesty at their first tour match. Besides her pleasure at seeing South Africa returning to her Commonwealth, the Queen and Procter discussed another mutual passion: horse racing.
Procter has a 30 percent share in a young horse, renamed Michael John. It is due to run its first race in South Africa in a fortnight. He also loves golf, his greatest victory being a few years back — over Ian Botham.
Politically, it has been a long journey towards to light for Procter. “When I first came to England I was still a brainwashed white kid who believed that apartheid was natural and right. When I got here it didn’t take long to realise things were not right. The boycott campaign helped open my eyes.”
Now that the dust of the South African political struggle has settled, Procter admits: “Seeking changes through bringing black cricketers to South Africa was not bringing about fundamental change. I didn’t see that at the time. But now, looking back, I can see quite clearly the sports boycott was right. A total boycott was fully justified. And it worked.”
Procter’s own odyssey is chronicled in his new book, South Africa: The Years of Isolation and the Return to International Cricket, published this week in London and soon available in South Africa. In it he confesses to naivete in seeking to bring out teams to South Africa that included some of the best black players from around the world.
He is still mystified today as to why the South African Cricket Association (Saca), under Jack Cheetham, vetoed one such scheme. He assumes it was yielding to government pressure.
Even the much-heralded walk-off at Newlands in 1971, courageous though it clearly was, took place in what he now recognises was a dubious quest: to support Saca’s request to include two black cricketers (plucked from obscurity) in a team to tour Australia.
But all that is water under the bridge. “I am very confident about South Africa’s future,” says Procter. “The vibes have been fabulous.” And in the dressing room? The vibes, as they say, are relatively cool.
“Of course the boys are nervous, but I’m trying to put them at ease. I emphasise that they should really enjoy the game. They must make the most of this special occasion. Cricket is supposed to be enjoyed, not endured.”
That’s Procter. That’s the spirit of the new South Africans.