``These players have been a great inspiration to us during the dark times,'' Morgan Mfobo, administrator of the Langa Cricket Club and a former South African Schools representative, said yesterday. ``Now they're coming to play here on our ground. It's fantastic.''
The West Indies have already had three One-day matches in the disadvantaged township areas where the legacy of apartheid significantly set back interest in cricket and its development. They opened the tour in Soweto and played later in Zwinde outside Port Elizabeth and the mainly Indian area of Chatsworth in Durban.
In Langa, they will see the future of South African cricket in six non-white players, among them two black teenagers included in the South African Under-19 team to tour Pakistan later this month.
Thami Tsolekile and Albert Nkomo, both 18, are especially talented all-round sportsmen who have already represented South Africa schools at cricket and hockey. Tsolekile, a wicketkeeper batsman, has been named captain of the team, his close friend Nkomo is a fast bowler whose immediate ambition today is to meet his role model, Curtly Ambrose.
``The West Indies have always been my favourite cricketers,'' Nkomo said. ``I like the attitude and actions of their fast bowlers and Curtly Ambrose has to be No. 1 for me.''
Some West Indians will come across a familiar figure in Allison Johnson, the former Barbados Cricket League (BCL) fast bowler who has been coach at Langa for three years.
It will be another experience of the contrasts of South Africa for the West Indies team. Langa is similar to a Caribbean club ground, a far cry from the grand facilities of the Newlands Test ground and other former all-white clubs.
The team made the pilgrimage yesterday to Robben Island, internationally known as the location of political prisoners during the apartheid era, an hour's boat trip from Cape Town.
``It was a moving and fascinating experience for us all,'' manager Clive Lloyd said afterwards.
The team, minus its many casualties, later practised at Newlands. Ambrose, Courtney Walsh, Franklyn Rose and captain Brian Lara were missing. Lara has been the latest addition to the injury list with a recurrence of an old knee injury. He is expected to rest it for the Langa outing and the three-day match against Boland at Paarl, starting tomorrow.