Date-stamped : 27 May94 - 18:25 SOUTH AFRICAN CROWDS BEING WEANED BACK TO TEST CRICKET John Woodcock -- The Times, March 11, 1994 For all those anxious to see Test cricket securely re- esta- blished in this country, which includes the best cricketers everywhere, South Africa's victory in Johannesburg on Tuesday was especially timely and the attendance reasonably encouraging. Altogether, 86,425 people went to the game. There were more than this when Australia were here last, in 1969-70, but that was before one-day cricket came to milk the market. As the only way of keeping cricket alive during South Africa's isola- tion, and the coffers topped up, the one-day game was understand- ably but inordinately exploited. The return of Test cricket means a period of initiation. As a point of interest, 107,587 watched South Africa win the second test match against Australia at Sydney at the start of the year and 79,637 saw the match at Adelaide three weeks later. So quite a good start was made at the Wanderers, the main disap- pointment being that, except in the inner sanctum, non-white spectators were conspicuous, by their absence. Thanks to the un- tiring and defiant efforts of Ali Bacher, a cricketing candle has been lit in the Johannesburg townships; what is needed now is a role model, a black African made rich and famous through his cricketing prowess. Last week in Alexandra, a twon-ship rife with conflict, I watched one of the local schools playing a school from Soweto. The boys were all under 15. It was on the ground where England A opened their recent tour and it is pretty well the only cricket facility in a community of 350,000. It is very basic but very brave. In the hour that I was there, I saw two boys, a slow bowler and a batsman, who were truly natural cricketers. Conrad Hunte, the old West Indian batsman and as ideal a person you could findto inspire the boys and co-ordinate what is being done for them -- he sees it as the greatest challenge of his life -- made a note to filter them, if he could, into a club near Johan- nesburg, where they would be given a fair chance. Here in Cape Town, the infrastructure of cricket in the town- ships is more advanced. A team from one of them plays in quite a strong local league. They are learning fast and the time will surely come when a black African makes a hundred for South Africa at Lord's -- but not, I think, in this century. Before thenm, the South African side could well consist of a majority of god-fearing Afrikaaners. The Australians, meanwhile, have been licking their wounds in Sun City, with their manager, Cameron Battersby, saying how his players were provoked when fielding on the boundary, but ad- mitting that "their behaviour hasn't been up to scratch ei- ther". If he had said that the crowd had been provoked by Merv Hughes, it would probably have been nearer the mark. Much the most extreme provocation I have seen from a crowd at a Test match was in Perth, when Australia were playing West Indies. Every time Patrick Patterson came down to third man after bowling an over, he was either thrown a banana or barked at or asked where his lead was. He ignored it and bowled a yard faster. He was splendid. The chairman and the chief executive of the Australian Cricket Board arrive here on Saturday, not on an impromptu visit but by a long-standing arrangement. My mind goes back to the appearance of the chairman and chief executive of the TCCB in Pakistan after the Test match in Faisalabad in 1987 had gone badly awry. Rather to their embar- rasment, each member of the England party found himself being awarded #1,000 as a "hardship bonus". It was the 17 first-class counties who were provoked by the promiscuity of that. Contributed by Syed.M.Ali (sma@dcs.ed.ac.uk)