The spirit of the game

Now that Andy Murray is out of Wimbledon, we can turn our sporting attention to the coming Test series between England and South Africa. It should be a cracking series, as the South Africans probably have the slightly better side, but England have home advantage. After two rather unsatisfactory series against New Zealand, it will hopefully demonstrate why Test cricket is both the most skilful and most entertaining form of the game.

The two teams will be playing for the Basil D’Oliveira trophy; it was South Africa’s refusal to accept D’Oliveira’s inclusion in an England touring party that led to the breaking of sporting links with the apartheid regime forty years ago. Pete Oborne’s splendid Basil D’Oliveira: Cricket and Controversy has a detailed account of this whole episode including the cricketing establishment’s initial desire to kow-tow to the South African government. With the cricketing world once more having to decide how to confront