In the 1970 English cricket season, a scheduled South African tour was cancelled for political reasons. As this meant there would be no international cricket in England that season, a Rest of the World team was assembled to play a series of five-day matches against England. At the time, they were played as Test matches, but that status was later revoked by the International Cricket Conference (ICC) and they are now termed unofficial Tests, though still officially first-class matches.
The World XI, captained by Garfield Sobers, convincingly won the first Test by an innings. While the other four matches were more keenly contested, the series result was a 4–1 win by the World XI.
Background South Africa, who had just defeated Australia four-nil in a home series, were due to tour England during the 1970 season. The controversy created by the D'Oliveira affair in 1968 had escalated in the meantime with increasing opposition to the South African government's apartheid policy. A "Stop The Seventy Tour" campaign was started, its leaders including Gordon Brown and Peter Hain, and a South African rugby tour in early 1970 was disrupted by protests at many of its matches.Birley, p. 304. Prominent opponents of apartheid within cricket included John Arlott, Mike Brearley and David Sheppard, but a vote among members of the Cricketers' Association indicated widespread support for continued sporting links with South Africa. Wisden Cricketers' Almanack described the situation in terms of "a bitter, emotional – sometimes hysterical – aura hanging over English cricket and dividing the nation".
The Test and County Cricket Board (TCCB), who ran English cricket at the time, received a request from Home Secretary James Callaghan to cancel the tour "on grounds of broad public policy".Birley, p. 305. The TCCB reluctantly agreed and the invitation to the South African team was withdrawn. This meant there would be no international cricket in England in 1970 with a concomitant loss of revenue and so, at very short notice, a Rest of the World team was formed, including five South African players.Barclays, pp. 346–347. Another two South Africans, Tony Greig and Basil D'Oliveira, who were resident in England, played for the home team. Guinness agreed to sponsor the tour and the County Championship clubs agreed to release any of their contracted players who were selected to play for either England or the World XI.
The England v. Rest of the World XI series was initially recognised as a Test series by Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, but the International Cricket Conference (ICC) stated at their 1972 meeting that the games should not be regarded as official Test matches. Wisden continued to include the matches as Tests until removing them for the 1980 edition against the wishes of the editor, Norman Preston.
Rest of the World squad Rest of the World, captained by Garfield Sobers, selected 14 players in the series including five South Africans who, despite apartheid at home, were happy to play alongside five West Indians and three players from the Indian sub-continent. Several players were already active in England as contracted members of County Championship clubs. Squad details below state the player's age at the beginning of the 1970 season, his batting hand, his type of bowling, his national team and where applicable his county club.
Name Birth date Country Batting style Bowling style Ref. Garfield Sobers (c) Left-handed All left arm styles Eddie Barlow Right-handed Right arm medium pace Farokh Engineer Right-handed Wicket-keeper Lance Gibbs Right-handed Right arm off break Intikhab Alam Right-handed Right arm leg break Rohan Kanhai Right-handed Right arm medium pace Clive Lloyd Left-handed Right arm medium pace Graham McKenzie Right-handed Right arm fast Deryck Murray Right-handed Wicket-keeper Mushtaq Mohammad Right-handed Right arm leg break Graeme Pollock Left-handed Right arm leg break Peter Pollock Right-handed Right arm fast Mike Procter Right-handed Right arm fast Barry Richards Right-handed Right arm off break
England selections England selected 21 players for the series. All except Alan Jones played in official Test matches in other series and Jones is the only man in cricketing history to win a Test cap and then lose it. Other England debutants were Tony Greig, Peter Lever, Brian Luckhurst, Chris Old and Ken Shuttleworth. The details for each player below state his age at the beginning of the 1970 season, his batting hand, his type of bowling and his County Championship club.
Name Birth date County club Batting style Bowling style Ref. Dennis Amiss Warwickshire Right-handed Left arm medium pace Geoffrey Boycott Yorkshire Right-handed Right arm medium pace David Brown Warwickshire Right-handed Right arm fast medium Colin Cowdrey Kent Right-handed Right arm leg break Basil D'Oliveira Worcestershire Right-handed Right arm medium pace Mike Denness Kent Right-handed Right arm medium pace John Edrich Surrey Left-handed Right arm medium pace Keith Fletcher Essex Right-handed Right arm leg break Tony Greig Sussex Right-handed Right arm medium pace Ray Illingworth (c) Leicestershire Right-handed Right arm off break Alan Jones Glamorgan Left-handed Right arm off break Alan Knott Kent Right-handed Wicket-keeper Peter Lever Lancashire Right-handed Right arm fast medium Brian Luckhurst Kent Right-handed Slow left-arm orthodox Chris Old Yorkshire Right-handed Right arm fast medium Phil Sharpe Yorkshire Right-handed Right arm off break Ken Shuttleworth Lancashire Right-handed Right arm fast John Snow Sussex Right-handed Right arm fast Derek Underwood Kent Right-handed Left arm medium pace Alan Ward Derbyshire Right-handed Right arm fast Don Wilson Yorkshire Left-handed Slow left-arm orthodox
Matches The Rest of the World XI were 4–1 winners of the five-match Test series but, despite a comprehensive defeat in the opening match, England were not outclassed and won the second Test to level the series with three to play. The World XI won the three remaining matches but in one case by only two wickets and the others by four and five wickets. Wisden was impressed by the quality of the World XI and said that "possibly only the Australian sides of 1921 and 1948 could have risen to the heights attained by The Rest", and England "proved worthy opponents". Wisden mentioned "a curious feature being that in all the five matches victory went to the side that fielded first".
First Test Wisden commented that, with England having been completely outclassed in this opening match, "few could have expected the four following games to be so closely contested". The match started, unusually, on a Wednesday so that the Thursday could be a "rest day" for the general election. The outstanding performer was Gary Sobers who had first forged a bond between his multi-national players so that they became a formidable team rather than, as some had predicted, a collection of star-name individuals. Sobers then destroyed England's batting on the first morning, taking six for 21. Ray Illingworth batted well for a defiant 63 but, overall, it was a disastrous batting performance with England sorely missing the absent Geoff Boycott and John Edrich. Eddie Barlow with 119 demonstrated the sort of concentration that Boycott and Edrich might have provided. On Friday afternoon, Sobers and Intikhab Alam scored 197 together in the final two and a half hours of the day, the World XI completing a massive first innings lead of 419 on Saturday morning. England did better in their second innings and Illingworth fell (to Sobers) six short of a well-deserved century. Intikhab took the bowling honours with six for 113 and England were well beaten by an innings and 80 runs with a whole day to spare. Umpire Syd Buller, who died suddenly on 7 August, officiated in his last international match.
Second Test Wisden suggested the vagaries of the English weather as the deciding factor in this match which, contrary to expectations, was won by England. Cool, damp conditions on the first three days favoured the seam bowlers who were able to make the ball "swing freely". The main exponents were Basil D'Oliveira and Tony Greig (on debut) for England and Eddie Barlow for the World XI. Key innings were played by Clive Lloyd for the World and Ray Illingworth for England which left the match finely poised after completion of first innings, England having a slender lead of three runs. Barlow dominated proceedings on the Saturday and his defiant 142 accounted for virtually half his team's second innings total. D'Oliveira and Greig were again the best of the bowlers. The World innings ended on Monday morning and England had seven sessions in which to score 284. The weather had improved over the weekend and Monday was a bright day which produced a slow-paced pitch. Even so, England were still without Geoff Boycott and their batsmen proceeded with caution, especially Brian Luckhurst who batted for seven hours and played a "dogged innings" of 113 not out to see England home with four hours to spare on Tuesday.
Third Test Wisden recalled that there was news off the field during this match because the England selectors met to decide which of Ray Illingworth or Colin Cowdrey, both playing in the match, would lead the team on the coming winter tour of Australia. Illingworth was chosen and he rewarded their faith in him by leading England to Ashes victory. In the current match, however, England struggled against formidable opponents who were determined to avenge their defeat at Nottingham. England were still without Geoff Boycott and fielded an unchanged team at Edgbaston. The World XI selected Peter Pollock and Deryck Murray in place of Graham McKenzie and Farokh Engineer. England were reduced to 76 for four in their first innings but Basil D'Oliveira led a recovery with help from Illingworth and Tony Greig. D'Oliveira made 110 and England reached what seemed a creditable 294. Despite the early loss of Eddie Barlow, the strength of the World XI batting is illustrated by the fact that no less than eight of them scored 40. The highlight was a fifth wicket partnership of 175 between Clive Lloyd (101) and Gary Sobers (80). England made a game of it on the last two days, exemplified by a stubborn last wicket stand of 45 between Alan Knott and John Snow. The World needed 141 to win in 195 minutes and struggled to get them. England reduced them to 107 for five but then Intikhab Alam and Mike Procter took control and quickly scored the remaining 34 runs.
Fourth Test