The unwitting catalyst of the South Africa boycott

For a definitive account of what occurred, and the repercussions, Peter Oborne's book, Basil D'Oliveira: Cricket and Conspiracy, is the place to go. We are all familiar, though, with what happened. And through it all, finger-poking aside, Basil kept his counsel and his dignity. What would have happened had Prideaux been fit (who ironically was soon to make his home in Bloemfontein, the scene of the infamous speech by John Vorster condemning D'Oliveira's subsequent selection as replacement for Tom Cartwright), or if any of the catches squandered during his innings were held, is a matter of conjecture. No doubt the tour would have gone ahead as planned and it would have been left to others to help start the process of sporting boycott and ultimately the dismantling of apartheid.