Omar Henry

Henry moved to Scotland in his mid-20s to play club cricket. He appeared for numerous clubs including Poloc, West Lothian, Arbroath and Stenhousemuir and scored over 14000 runs with 29 centuries in club matches.[7] He was first picked for Scotland in 1981 against the touring Australians at Titwood and took two wickets on his debut. He played for Scotland 62 times, including 14 matches as captain, with his final appearance being in 1992.[8][9] At the time, Scotland were not considered an international team, and would appear in English domestic competitions such as the Benson & Hedges Cup and NatWest Trophy, along well as tour matches against visiting international sides.

As well as playing in Scotland until 1992, Henry also played domestic cricket in South Africa, representing Western Province, Boland and Orange Free State. He notably turned out for whites-only club Orange Free State in 1970s and became a regular in South African first-class matches from 1978.[6] He represented South Africa in 1980s against the rebel touring sides at a time when South Africa was still banned from international cricket due to apartheid. He was picked in the 14-member South African squad for the 1992 Cricket World Cup, which marked the return of South African team after readmission, at the age of 40 as the only player of colour. He made his ODI debut against Sri Lanka on 2 March in a group stage match, returning figures of 1/31 in ten overs in a losing cause.[10] It was the only match he played during the tournament. At the age of 40 years and 34 days, he was the second-oldest debutant for South Africa in ODI cricket, as well as first player of colour to play for South Africa in limited-overs cricket.[11] He was controversially overlooked for the group stage match against hosts New Zealand, despite the match being played on a slow pitch which would have suited his left-arm spin bowling.[12]

He was part of the Orange Free State team which won the 1992/93 Currie Cup, defeating Western Province in the final, and winning their first ever Currie Cup title. In the final, he won the man-of-the-final award for his all-round performance, scoring 104 in first innings and taking 7 wickets in the match.[6] Following this, he was selected for the home Test series against India at the age of 40 and subsequently made his Test debut on 13 November 1992 during the first match of the series at the Kingsmead Cricket Ground in Durban.[13] He became the oldest Test debutant for South Africa in test cricket at the age of 40 years and 295 days.[14] He was dropped from the Test team following the series against India, having picked up only three wickets at a mediocre average of 63.[15]