Sir: As a result of grave mishandling of every stage
of preparation for a cricket tour of South Africa, the MCC committee has forced that tour to be cancelled at the eleventh hour, causing severe disruption in the life of the cricketers selected, serious doubt over the honesty of the committee as a whole, dismay among the Eng- lish cricketing public, distrust of English cricket among other peoples and a loophole through which Mr Vorster can escape flaunting his dis- graceful policy of apartheid.
The SPECTATOR gives space to an article by Christopher Hollis (27 September) which not only contains judgments of dubious quality, but worse, no mention of those really responsible —the MCC committee. This committee, which must not be confused with the selection com- mittee, includes politicians, soldiers, financiers as well as eminent ex-cricketers. It is, surely, well known that one of its number, Sir Alec Douglas-Home, has advised it throughihe prob- lems leading up to the cancellation of the tour. It must be known, too, that -the committee re- ceived no assurance from the South African Cricket Association last January when they sent a letter asking whether Basil d'Oliveira would be acceptable. It was, therefore, in this state of uncertainty that the MCC committee, its eminent adviser within its ranks, blundered on to what with hindsight we can see to be an inevitable conclusion.
Mr Hollis is, surely, naive in thinking that we can go on as before, that the politics of South Africa, where 28,000 non-white cricketers are allowed no chance of playing for their country, can be nudged out of sport. It is clear to me that the MCC members must question the propriety of their committee having such responsibility, when they have shown themselves unable to cope, and that a clear policy with regard to any future cricket with South Africa, there or here, must be laid down now.
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