Thread by @gulu1959

@VincevdBijl @PJGoedhals Part I: With the passing last month of the legendary S. African all rounder Mike Procter, a small story on the first SA team to visit India in Nov. 1991.

@VincevdBijl @PJGoedhals Part II: For cricket crazy Indian fans in the 1970s we grew up reading of the exploits of Procter, Barry Richards, Graeme and Peter Pollock and others knowing fully well we would never see them in action--they were like forbidden fruit for us.

@VincevdBijl @PJGoedhals Part III: I took a particular fascination reading about both SA cricket and politics from English cricket mags and cuttings sent to me by pen friends in England.

@VincevdBijl @PJGoedhals Part IV: Having moved from Indian Express, Madras in Sept 1991 to join launch team of The Pioneer, came as bolt from blue when was revealed SA team would visit India for 3 ODIs in November, including the 3rd in Delhi. The newspaper was not yet launched.

@VincevdBijl @PJGoedhals Part V: Very few Indian journos back then had knowledge of SA cricket and I was suddenly in demand for brains-picking since the paper would only be launched in Jan'1992. Day before 14 Nov. ODI I gatecrashed a party for the team.

@VincevdBijl @PJGoedhals Part VI: There I met the players and also SA officials, late Joe Pamensky (left) and manager Dr. Aaron (Ali) Bacher who had captain the SA team to a 4-0 whitewash of Australia in their last Test series in 1970

@VincevdBijl @PJGoedhals Part VI: The match at the Nehru stadium (on Nehru's birth anniversary) was sensational with SA recording their maiden ODI victory tho lost the series 2-1. Dr. Bacher's son-in-law gifted me the team tie. (Photos taken by me before the match)

@VincevdBijl @PJGoedhals Part VII: The next day I went to the team hotel and pleaded with Dr. Bacher to allow me to board the team bus to the hotel. He said all seats were occupied. He had raised a storm accusing Manoj Prabhakar of ball tampering.

@VincevdBijl @PJGoedhals Part VIII: Dr. Bacher and the whole team burst out laughing on seeing this caricature by late Sudhir Dar of Pioneer showing him examining the ball Sherlock Holmes style. I told him I was happy to sit on the bus floor and he smilingly waved me in.

@VincevdBijl @PJGoedhals Part IX: So I spent the next hour sitting on the bus floor chatting with Procter, captain Clive Rice, Jimmy Cook and others both about SA cricket and politics. I still remember one of them saying (then President FW De Klerk) "FW is finally talking sense"

@VincevdBijl @PJGoedhals Part X: I was wearing a green jacket and the SA team tie and was waved in by security into the VIP lounge (photo by me shows Cook in the lounge). I walked right up to the steps of the chartered SA team to say goodbye.

@VincevdBijl @PJGoedhals XI, final: When I walked out, the security guy looked shocked--he evidently thought I was part of the SA contingent! Then as I stood outside the airport in the freezing cold, the thought stuck me. I had the scoop of a lifetime--but no paper to wrote for!!

@VincevdBijl @PJGoedhals @Tim32_cricket Sorry forgot to tag you