Dead Basil D'oliveira

[Crispy 5]

There was an article in Sunday's The Mail regarding the very poor health of 73 year old Basil D'Oliveira.

 

At present he's in a nursing home in Worcestershire. His wife is quoted as saying "Basil is very poorly"

 

I doubt he'll make it through the year!!!

[Tuber Mirum 125]

In case anyone else hasn't heard of him:

 

Basil

[Josco 49]

Not the Basil with a hotel on the south coast then?

[Teddy 21]

Not the Basil with a hotel on the south coast then?

No, that was Basil Brush

[The Four Horsemen 26]

I think Teddy may have stumbled on the Deathline if he does go - "Basil Given Brush Off"...........

[Cerberus 302]

Anyone with an interest in sport, as opposed to just football, should know something about Basil D'Oliveira. He was a "Cape Coloured" South African cricketer who came to England in the 1960s and, following a match-winning hundred for England against Australia in 1968 (those were the days, my friend) was selected to tour South Africa with the MCC that winter. Not surprisingly, the South African government made it clear he would not be welcome. So the tour was called off, and the apartheid-era South Africa was isolated from virtually all international sport for the next 22 years.

 

Times have changed, of course, and England and South Africa have just been playing for the "Basil D'Oliveira Trophy".

 

Basil has been a fighter all his life and I'm sure he'll pull through this.

[Tuber Mirum 125]

Basil has been a fighter all his life and I'm sure he'll pull through this.

On the other hand, no amount of fighting spirit can protect him from the inevitable. It comes to us all.

[Allan_D 0]

Not the Basil with a hotel on the south coast then?

No, that was Basil Brush

In fact it was Basil Fawlty in "Fawlty Towers" the endlessly-repeated (for UK digital TV viewers) 12-episode series about the manic Torquay hotelkeeper played by John Cleese made in 1975. There is a connection though as D'Oliveira's name does crop up in a conversation between Fawlty and the eccentric Major (a permanent resident throughout the series) as the latter refers to him as having made a century:

 

http://www.sportinglife.com/cricket/news/s...ual_115623.html

 

Oddly, 1975 was his only complete domestic season in which he didn't score a hundred- his top score being 97*. Still it's nice to see he's being bumped up from an OBE (which he got in 1969) to a CBE today. Although that is usually a sign of worse to follow. His son, also a cricketer, had to say thankyou on his behalf. The silverware for which England and South Africa now compete (since 2004-5) when they play Test Matches against one another is called the Basil D'Oliveira Trophy- a rich irony due to the fact that he never got to play first-class cricket in South Africa, the country of his birth, owing to, first, apartheid and, secondly, the cancellation of the MCC Tour to South Africa due to have been held in 1968-9 and in which he would have taken part after he had been reinstated in the England side due to public protest over his original non-selection.

[grobler 35]

Not the Basil with a hotel on the south coast then?

No, that was Basil Brush

In fact it was Basil Fawlty in "Fawlty Towers" the endlessly-repeated (for UK digital TV viewers) 12-episode series about the manic Torquay hotelkeeper played by John Cleese made in 1975. There is a connection though as D'Oliveira's name does crop up in a conversation between Fawlty and the eccentric Major (a permanent resident throughout the series) as the latter refers to him as having made a century:

 

http://www.sportinglife.com/cricket/news/s...ual_115623.html

 

Oddly, 1975 was his only complete domestic season in which he didn't score a hundred- his top score being 97*. Still it's nice to see he's being bumped up from an OBE (which he got in 1969) to a CBE today. Although that is usually a sign of worse to follow. His son, also a cricketer, had to say thankyou on his behalf. The silverware for which England and South Africa now compete (since 2004-5) when they play Test Matches against one another is called the Basil D'Oliveira Trophy- a rich irony due to the fact that he never got to play first-class cricket in South Africa, the country of his birth, owing to, first, apartheid and, secondly, the cancellation of the MCC Tour to South Africa due to have been held in 1968-9 and in which he would have taken part after he had been reinstated in the England side due to public protest over his original non-selection.

[grobler 35]

does anybody know if Basil was well enough to collect his award from Good Ol' Liz at Buck House this year ?

I've not heard...so presumably he was too poorly to attend ?

[Phantom 2,531]

He's made it through 2005 and 2006, who knows if this could be his last year.

[Death Watch Beatle 41]

Ever so slightly off topic, but i found this quite impressive.

 

DWB

[Guest Guest_Thomas_*]

If I was going to pick a cricketer for the Deathlist I would have had Alec Bedser, who'll be 90 this year.

[Rotten Ali 600]

In some ways Parkinsons is not the killer thing to have. So for me D'Oliveira's numbers did not stack up as well as for some other people. That's not to say he is a bad choice, I think 2008 very well could be his last year but its one of those 50/50 calls that I could not make this time.

[Guest Guest_Thomas_*]

Are you talking about Basil or Alec?

[maryportfuncity 10,639]

In some ways Parkinsons is not the killer thing to have. So for me D'Oliveira's numbers did not stack up as well as for some other people. That's not to say he is a bad choice, I think 2008 very well could be his last year but its one of those 50/50 calls that I could not make this time.

 

I bow to your scientific approach to deadpooling RA, whaddya reckon to this 2008 sleeper being a reasonable 2009 pick? Right now his thread is duller than.......a game of cricket.

[Rotten Ali 600]

This thin thread, just goes to show how little we really know! Again it's a toss up, but I think I'll put my money on the non-small cell cancer types for next year. This year I lost my father-in-law to lung cancer and it was a quiet a fast downhill for him - not the "50/50" will he wont he? type thing D'Oliveira has.

[maryportfuncity 10,639]

Sorry to hear about your loss, but I concur totally with your thinking re D'Oliveria.

 

All of which means he'll probably top himself on Jan 1st, at which point his secret porn-star past will be revealed and someone else will clean up with a points bonanza.

[halleluyahjohntudor 5]

Sorry to hear about your loss, but I concur totally with your thinking re D'Oliveria.

 

All of which means he'll probably top himself on Jan 1st, at which point his secret porn-star past will be revealed and someone else will clean up with a points bonanza.

 

You mean there was a time when Dolly was straining every sinew to deliver a full toss?

[themaninblack 2,112]

In some ways Parkinsons is not the killer thing to have. So for me D'Oliveira's numbers did not stack up as well as for some other people. That's not to say he is a bad choice, I think 2008 very well could be his last year but its one of those 50/50 calls that I could not make this time.

 

I think you might have called this one right for this year, RA. I still have him on my provisional list for 2009, but I might go for Biggs instead. We do have very little on Dolly's health, whereas we have a running commentary on ol' Ronnie...

[maryportfuncity 10,639]

You mean there was a time when Dolly was straining every sinew to deliver a full toss?

 

Yeah, but he always came with medium pace, which is how come nobody remembers them movies.

[Banshees Scream 110]

I have to be honest about not having the grapefruits to put D'Oliveira on my DDP team. I see him as a selection worth the profit but I have another candidate who is more promising.

 

I'm in a very giving mood tonight so we are going to have a little trivia. I'm doing what St. Nicholas would do if he were a member. I'm thinking about a candidate who has Parkinson's disease and is older then Basil. This individual has a name which is almost as unusual and I'm hoping he can manage to be a unique pick come next year. Who is this individual?

[Octopus of Odstock 2,186]

I'm in a very giving mood tonight so we are going to have a little trivia. I'm doing what St. Nicholas would do if he were a member. I'm thinking about a candidate who has Parkinson's disease and is older then Basil. This individual has a name which is almost as unusual and I'm hoping he can manage to be a unique pick come next year. Who is this individual?

 

Does he have anything to do with Star Wars? If so, I think I know who you might mean. I didn't pick him for my 2009 DDP team, so you're safe as far as I'm concerned

[Banshees Scream 110]

Cricketer Basil D'Oliveira is now suffering from Alzheimer's disease says the Wikipedia. His "DDP scouting report" changes from being a bold pick to now a very obvious one. Alzheimer's + Parkinsons = Not a very good combination.

[The Miser 18]

Cricketer Basil D'Oliveira is now suffering from Alzheimer's disease says the Wikipedia. His "DDP scouting report" changes from being a bold pick to now a very obvious one. Alzheimer's + Parkinsons = Not a very good combination.

 

 

It's a shame... she had great tits in National Lampoon's Vacation.