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Full name Basil Lewis D'Oliveira
Born October 4, 1931, Signal Hill, Cape Town, Cape Province, South Africa
Current age 76 years 295 days
Major teams England, Worcestershire
Nickname Dolly, Bas
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm medium
Other Coach
Relations Brother - I D'Oliveira, Son - DB D'Oliveira

Batting and fielding averages

Mat

Inns

Runs

Ave

100

Tests

2484

158

40.06

ODIs

10.00

69.76

First-class

367

575

19490

227

40.26

101

215

List A

187

171

3770

102

24.96

Bowling averages

Mat

Inns

Balls

Runs

Wkts

BBI

BBM

Ave

Econ

Tests

5706

1859

3/46

5/62

39.55

1.95

121.4

ODIs

204

140

1/19

46.66

4.11

68.0

First-class

367

41079

15126

551

6/29

27.45

2.20

74.5

List A

187

7892

4478

190

5/26

23.56

3.40

41.5

Career statistics

Test debut

England v West Indies at Lord's, Jun 16-21, 1966 scorecard

Last Test

England v Australia at The Oval, Aug 10-16, 1972 scorecard

Test statistics

ODI debut

Australia v England at Melbourne, Jan 5, 1971 scorecard

Last ODI

England v Australia at Birmingham, Aug 28, 1972 scorecard

ODI statistics

First-class span

1964 - 1980

List A span

1965 - 1979

One of broadcaster-writer John Arlott's most worthy deeds was saving Basil D'Oliveira from half-life as a Cape Colored in South Africa by persuading Middleton, the Central Lancashire League club, to take him on as their professional in 1960. This led to Worcestershire (in 1964) and England (in 1966) acquiring a readymade allrounder of formidable physical and mental strength, which was never better illustrated than when England were in trouble. Arlott's initiative was the making of D'Oliveira, and a source of joy to all who loathed apartheid. When you watched "Dolly" flaying the opposition's bowlers with meaty back-foot clumps, or frustrating their batsmen with outward-drifting medium-pace of cloying accuracy (his economy rate in Tests was 1.95 runs per over) there was one sharp regret ... if only he'd been spotted at 19 rather than 29. Then D'Oliveira would have put the runs and wickets in the book that would have shown future generations what he unmistakably was - one of cricket's greats.
John Thicknesse

May 18, 2006

Basil D'Oliveira by Peter Oborne © Little, Brown

May 1, 1972

Basil D'Oliveira © Cricinfo Ltd

Jul 11, 1970

Basil D'Oliveira pulls for four on his way to 110 © The Cricketer International

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