Barry Richards

Barry Anderson Richards (born 21 July 1945) is a former South African first-class cricketer. A right-handed "talent of such enormous stature", Richards is considered one of South Africa's most successful batsmen.^[1][2] He was able to play only four Test matches – all against Australia – before South Africa's exclusion from the international scene in 1970. In that brief career, against a competitive Australian attack, Richards scored 508 runs at the high average of 72.57. Richards' contribution in that series was instrumental in the 4–0 win that South Africa inflicted on the side, captained by Bill Lawry. His first century, 140, was scored in conjunction with Graeme Pollock's 274 in a famous 103-run partnership.^[1][3] Mike Procter, whose South African and English career roughly paralleled that of Richards, was prominent in that series as a bowler.

When the apartheid South African Government allowed for non-whites to play cricket with whites in 1974, Richards suggested that only one member of the side should be black, and the rest white. A sarcastic comment implying that the then selectors would just include one token black player to comply with the new regulations.^[4]

With such limited international exposure, Richards plied his trade in first-class cricket between 1964 and 1983, becoming a prolific batsman with 28,358 runs. He scored 80 centuries, including a best of 356, at an overall average of 54.74. He also scored 8,506 one day runs, with 16 further centuries. Wisden Cricketer of the Year for 1969, Richards scored runs for Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Natal, South Australia, Transvaal and in World Series Cricket, and has been described as "one of the finest talents of the 20th century", and it is jokingly said that "the merest suggestion that he does not belong among the definitive all-time greats will spark violence in most bars in South Africa."^[1][2]

In 2009, Richards was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.^[5]