It turns out, Graham Dilley, the England fast bowler mourned in this blog last night and who is being mourned across the cricket landscape today, was part of Mike Gatting’s rebel tour of South Africa in 1990.
That’s right, Mr. Dilley, along with several other English cricketers, defied the ECB, the English government, and most of the right thinking world, and toured Apartheid South Africa.
I am not going to speak to the reasons why the players chose to go on the tour, but it does put a bit of a damper on what would have been a wonderful, albeit short, career of a first class cricketer. I am not calling him a racist – I am just saying that maybe it was not the best decision, career wise.
However, what do I know, as Mr. Dilley did okay for himself after his playing days (and his three year ban) were over. Television, coaching…etc. Maybe this just goes to show how quickly we all forget, or maybe I could learn a thing or two about forgiveness.
There are quite a few black eyes on the sport of cricket (one of them is being played out at Southwark Crown Court as I type), but it is no different in that aspect than any other sport. Cricket might have to try to forgive and forget the rebel tours of South Africa, but FIFA is still failing at curbing the disgusting racist chants that drift down from the terraces throughout Europe. And baseball has steroids. As does cycling, and track & field. The NBA has a match fixing scandal of its own. And on and on and on.
Some days, it is hard to be a sports fan.
Either way: rest peace, Graham Dilley. I apologize if this felt like I was stomping on your grave.
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There are several domestic tournaments happening right now throughout the world. The namesake of this post, the Castle Logan Cup, is a competition in Zimbabwe. I plan on writing a short bit on each of them over the coming days.
This tournament, well, it doesn’t really even have its own Wiki page, which I find a little strange. It runs now through the first week of February and is a first class, 4-day match competition. There are five clubs involved: Mashonaland Eagles, Matabeleland Tuskers, Mid West Rhinos, Southern Rocks, and Moutaineers. All of which are great cricket names.
The Mashonaland Eagles (should the “the” be there? not sure) are currently at the top of the table on 13 points after two matches.
That is all I could really find on the competition. I know cricket is in its infancy in Zimbabwe, but one would think there would be a touch more history available out there. Or maybe I am just lazy.
Other competitions to explore in the coming days: The CSA Provincial Three Day Challenge and The SuperSport Series.
Until tomorrow, come on you Tuskers!
Limited Overs 