Remembering Clive Rice, a fighter and a genuine lover of the game

Forty-two-years-old when South Africa returned to international cricket, Clive Rice played a total of three ODIs, all against India in India.

“Did you forget something?” The ball had just buzzed past the head when the batsman was faced with this puzzling question. Then again, next ball. Ray Jennings remembers a Gimlet-eyed Clive Rice needling the batsman again with that query. “Like your helmet?” It was the era when the helmets weren’t still in vogue and the batsman instinctively started to duck the next delivery when his toe was crunched by a yorker. Two balls later, he was carried off in a stretcher, arm broken by a nasty bouncer. “Ricey was like that. He was really aggressive, a bowler of ferocious pace and a temperament to match. A really special cricketer. It remains the greatest pity that the world never quite saw him at his best due to apartheid.”

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Rice, South Africa’s legendary all-rounder and captain, died in a Cape Town hospital on Tuesday after a battle with cancer. India met him first in 1991, a floppy hat on a balding head, collars up, and a man who led a national team regally as if he has been doing it for years. By then though he was reduced to bowling medium pace but he was a known name to the 80’s generation. Back then, his name would feature in the popular single-wicket tournaments, the then official battle of all-rounders, and even as Indians awaited news of exploits of a young Kapil Dev, the newspapers would carry the triumphs of Rice. In the mid 80s, in four single-wicket tournaments held between Imran Khan, Ian Botham, Rice and Dev, Rice won three. He also sparkled in the tough environment of the World Series cricket in Australia where many a big name was humbled.

It was that 1991 tour though that India got to see Rice in flesh and blood. A lesser man might have quivered under the pressure of the occasion – it was South Africa’s first cricket tour after decades of isolation from international sport due to their racial policy – but not Rice. Jennings says he wasn’t surprised.

Great sense of belief

“He always had that leadership sense in him. His self belief was something else, and he always fought from the front. Even if it was raining, he would be up there first to train. There was no situation where I have seen him admit defeat. His aggression and confidence spread across our Transvaal team. His leadership with the county Nottinghamshire was well known to everybody then.

“If you remember that 1991 series in India, even though he bowled just medium pace he would make it seem as if he was hurling the ball at a greater speed than what he was capable of then!”

Jennings, luckily, has seen Rice’s better days. “I can tell you he was one of the greatest cricketers I have seen. Jacques Kallis was probably a better batsman but Rice, mind you, too batted in top four. And Ricey’s bowling was way better than Kallis.

“He could be nasty as the West Indian Sylvester Clarke (Known for his horrid bouncers), really quick like Dennis Lillee. I have kept to a young Allan Donald and can tell you Rice was really quick too. He was lethal in fact. His bouncers, his yorkers and his wonderful ability to swing the ball away from the batsman were great. He had a kind of whippy action and so, his bouncers always managed to surprise the batsmen. With a more regular action, a batsman can spot a bouncer a touch early and get away but with his action, they always saw it a touch late.”

The 80’s Wisden Almanacks have captured his exploits in county cricket and how he would regularly chalk up 1000 runs in a season and bag a clutch of wickets, but what about the man?

“He was a very quiet guy. He didn’t drink. He was a serious type of person but who a genuine authentic human being. We see lots of players who ignore the fans but Ricey wasn’t like that. He always had time for the fans and I remember him talking about how the Indians fans touched his heart during that 1991 tour. He was blown away by their affection for cricketers and for the game. The way he handled the fans was always humbling to me. If only they had seen him at his best.”

Jennings says Rice’s handling of the sporting isolation was exemplary as well. “He has this amazing character to take a knock and the ability to let things go. He didn’t sit and weep about the lost glory. For a player of such a caliber, it wouldn’t have been easy – he could have walked in any international team then- but he never complained much.”

It was the same determination that he fought the illness too, according to Jennings. “It was extremely painful to see such a warrior character downed by cancer but even here he fought all the way. When I spoke to him three months ago, he sounded very upbeat. “I doing good. I am fighting and my body is healing. Even though his body had started to get weaker, his brain was active till the end. He was in control of himself. What can I say about him? A perfectionist, a fighter, a great cricketer, and a man who genuinely loved this game of cricket.”