Daily Times

JOHANNESBURG –CliveRice, the first post-apartheid captain of South Africa and a famed all-rounder, finally succumbed to an opponent he could not beat when he died Tuesday, five days after his 66th birthday.

Rice – whohad been suffering from a brain tumour and lung cancer – acknowledgedin a recent interview that he was in the departure lounge but was determined to fight until the end.He underwent robotic radiation treatment for the brain tumour in Indian city Bangalore and said in March that he believed the doctors there had saved him from death after he had been told he couldn’t be treated in South Africa.

But he was admitted to a South African hospital two days ago, suffering from severe stomach pains, and a Cricket South Africa spokesman confirmed that Rice died early on Tuesday.Throughout a 24-year first-class career, Rice was renowned as a tough competitor.He was selected for the Transvaal provincial team at the age of 20 and his potential as a fast bowling all-rounder was recognised two years later when he was selected for South Africa’s scheduled 1971-72 tour of Australia.

The tour did not take place because of opposition to the South African government’s apartheid policy and it was another 20 years before the country returned to official international cricket – withRice, then 42, captaining a team which played three one-day internationals (ODIs) in India.But he was controversially not included in South Africa’s team for the 1992 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, with the selectors believing younger, more athletic players were needed for the big fields of Australia.

Ironically, it was because of Rice’s athleticism and potential on those same big fields that he had been picked as a promising youngster for the cancelled 1971-72 tour.