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The Unforgiven, by Ashkey Gray is available
Kaieteur News – ‘The Unforgiven’, by Australian writer Ashkey Gray, is an interesting and informative book which covers the two West Indies rebel tours of South Africa at a time when that nation was banned from international cricket due to the apartheid system.
The front cover of the book ‘The Unforgiven’ by Australian writer Ashkey Gray.
It is an insightful record of a time when West Indies had just began a period invincibility in test cricket.
In an era described as the ‘glory years’ in which they did not lose a single test series in 15 years (1980-1995), it was difficult to break in to the West Indies team.
So for many of the fringe players, the opportunity to earn a handsome payday – in the region of US$100,000 each – was enough to lure them to ‘sell out’ their black and coloured brothers and sisters in the Caribbean.
The author, Sydney-based Ashley Gray, travelled all over the West Indies to meet the rebels – now in their 60s and 70s- and find out their motives for touring the pariah republic.
Ashkey Gray
For Guyanese players like Faoud Bacchus, who was struggling to cement his place in the team after West Indies’ shock defeat to India in the 1983 world Cup final and Surrey batsman Monte Lynch it was an offer that was hard to resist.
However, fellow Guyanese Alvin Kallicharran and Colin Croft were senior members of the West Indies team. Kallicharran was disgruntled at not being retained as captain when Clive Lloyd’s team returned from the controversial Kerry Packer series after he had led a young West Indies team to India.
Croft wanted to become a commercial pilot and took the opportunity to finance his studies in that career.
I recommend this book, which has historical value especially for the young West Indians fans and is an enlightening and educational read for every cricket fan.
Should the rebels have taken the money or stuck to their principles? Did they have the right as professional cricketers to earn money anywhere in the world? These are the questions that will linger with the reader long after he has turned the last page.
The Unforgiven, by Ashkey Gray, Pitch Publishing, available from: https://www.amazon.com/Unforgiven-Missionaries-Mercenaries-Cricketers-Apartheid/dp/1785315323.
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