Clive Rice

Clive Edward Butler Rice (23 July 1949 – 28 July 2015) was a South African international cricketer.[1] An all-rounder, Rice ended his First Class cricket career with a batting average of 40.95 and a bowling average of 22.49. He captained Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club from 1979 to 1987.

Clive Rice
Personal information
Full name
Clive Edward Butler Rice
Born(1949-07-23)23 July 1949
Johannesburg, South Africa
Died28 July 2015(2015-07-28) (aged 66)
Johannesburg, South Africa
BattingRight-handed
BowlingRight arm fast-medium
RoleAll-rounder
RelationsPhilip Bower (grandfather)
International information
National side
ODI debut (cap 7)10 November 1991 v India
Last ODI14 November 1991 v India
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1970/71–1991/92Transvaal
1975–1987Nottinghamshire
1988–1989Scotland
1992/93–1993/94Natal
Career statistics
Competition ODI FC LA
Matches 3 482 479
Runs scored 26 26,331 13,474
Batting average 13.00 40.95 37.32
100s/50s 0/0 48/137 11/79
Top score 14 246 169
Balls bowled 138 48,628 17,738
Wickets 2 930 517
Bowling average 57.00 22.49 22.63
5 wickets in innings 0 23 6
10 wickets in match 0 1 0
Best bowling 1/46 7/62 6/18
Catches/stumpings 0/– 401/– 175/–
Source: CricketArchive, 18 January 2008

His career coincided directly with South Africa's sporting isolation, and his international experience was limited to his post-prime days. He played three One Day Internationals for South Africa following the country's return from sporting isolation. He was controversially left out of the squads for the one-off Test against West Indies and the 1992 Cricket World Cup. Despite this he is widely regarded as one of the best all-rounders of his generation, alongside Imran Khan, Ian Botham, Kapil Dev and his county team-mate Richard Hadlee.[2][3][4][5]

On 28 July 2015, Rice died in hospital at the age of 66, suffering from a brain tumour.[6]

Early and personal life

Rice was born to Patrick and Angela[7] on 23 July 1949 in Johannesburg, Transvaal Province, Union of South Africa. Rice's grandfather Philip Salkeld Syndercombe Bower played cricket for Oxford University while his brother Richard was selected for Transvaal but was unable to play due to exams.[7]

Rice worked for a street-lighting company called Envirolight in Johannesburg and his wife Susan heads a Sports Tour and Bush safari company. The couple have two children.

Career

Domestic career

Rice began his career with Transvaal in 1969 and was called up for South Africa's (ultimately cancelled) tour of Australia in 1971–72. In South African domestic cricket he successfully led the 1980s Transvaal, known as the "Mean Machine",[8] to three Castle Currie Cups and other one-day competition victories. Toward the end of his playing career, he played for and captained Natal.

He became the first cricketer to score 5000 runs and to take 500 wickets in List A cricket history[9]

Career in English domestic cricket

Rice played for Nottinghamshire in the English County Championship in a side that also featured internationals Richard Hadlee and Derek Randall. As captain, he led the side to the County Championship title in both 1981 and 1987, winning the prestigious award of being named a Wisden cricketer of the year for his exploits in 1981.[10] He later played for Scotland.

International cricket

Along with other South African players, excluded from international cricket by the sporting boycott of South Africa due to his country's policy of apartheid, Rice joined the controversial World Series Cricket setup.

During the 1980s, a number of rebel cricket teams visited South Africa to play unofficial "Test" matches. Rice captained the home side for the majority of these fixtures.

Rice was able to make his debut in official international cricket in 1991, when, aged 42, he played in—and captained—South Africa's first One Day International, in a match against India at Eden Gardens, Calcutta.[11] Rice finished with averages of 13 with the bat and 57 with the ball from his three One Day International matches.[12]

Later career

After retirement Rice worked as coach for Nottinghamshire and encouraged Kevin Pietersen to leave South Africa to qualify for England.[13][14][15]

Opinions about match fixing

In September 2010, Rice claimed in an interview to Fox News that betting syndicates were involved in the deaths of Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer and former South African captain Hansie Cronje. Fox Sports quoted Rice as saying: "These mafia betting syndicates do not stop at anything and they do not care who gets in their way." Former Pakistan coach Geoff Lawson had earlier told Fox Sports that match-fixing "might not be about money, it might be about extortion, and all the things that go on".[16]

Illness and death

Rice was diagnosed with a brain tumour in September 1998 and received treatment in Hanover, Germany.[17] In February 2015, Rice collapsed at his house in Johannesburg and scans at a local hospital found that, as his tumour was located deep down, it could not be removed by a neurosurgeon by invasive surgery.[18] Rice then went to Health Care Global in Bangalore, India and received robotic radiation treatment to have the tumour removed. The surgery was successful and Rice returned home in March 2015.[19] On the morning of 28 July 2015, Rice died from sepsis in the Morningside hospital in Johannesburg.

References
  1. Mason, Peter (28 July 2015). "Clive Rice obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 July 2015.
  2. Vijaya Kumar, K.C. (8 March 2015). "Can't doesn't exist, the word 'can' does: Clive Rice". thehindu.com. Retrieved 8 March 2015.
  3. "Titans hail Rice's contribution to the game". Sport24. 28 July 2015. Retrieved 28 July 2015.
  4. Culley, Jon (28 July 2015). "Clive Rice: Inspirational cricketer who was denied an international career by apartheid but led Nottinghamshire to glory". independent.co.uk. Retrieved 28 July 2015.
  5. Berry, Scyld (28 July 2015). "Clive Rice: Best cricketer who never played a Test". telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 28 July 2015.
  6. "Clive Rice dies aged 66". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 28 July 2015.
  7. Sproat, p. 341.
  8. Player Profile, Cricinfo, Retrieved on 29 March 2009
  9. "Records | List A matches | All-round records | 5000 runs and 500 wickets | ESPN Cricinfo". Cricinfo. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  10. Wisden's Five Cricketers of the Year, Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, Retrieved on 29 March 2009
  11. India v South Africa, South Africa in India 1991/92 (1st ODI), ODI no. 686, Cricinfo, Retrieved on 16 April 2009
  12. Player Profile, Cricinfo, Retrieved on 16 April 2009
  13. South Africa's decline because of 'apartheid in reverse', Cricinfo, Retrieved on 29 March 2009
  14. Rice furious at 'apartheid in reverse', The Telegraph, Retrieved on 24 July 2011
  15. Richard Williams (8 January 2009). "Just not cricket ... the most un-English of England captains heads for the pavilion". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
  16. "Cronje, Woolmer murdered by mafia betting syndicates: Rice – Thaindian News". Thaindian.com. 8 September 2010. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
  17. "Clive Rice diagnosed as having a brain tumour (28 September 1998)". ESPNcricinfo. 27 September 1998. Retrieved 28 July 2015.
  18. "Clive Rice confident laser knife can remove new tumours". news24.com. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 28 July 2015.
  19. "Clive Rice successfully returns home to SA from India after getting brain tumour treated in HCG". Business Standard. 24 March 2015. Retrieved 28 July 2015.

Sources
  • Sproat, I. (1988) The Cricketers' Who's Who 1988, Willow Books: London. ISBN 0 00 218285 8.
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