1983 West Indies Rebel Tour: Rare Signed Team Sheet

1983 West Indies Rebel tour to South Africa, team sheet signed by both teams, with 28 signatures including Lawrence Rowe, Collis King, Peter Kirsten, Jimmy Cook & Clive Rice. A rarely seen collection of signatures. The West Indian players were mainly talented understudies struggling to break into the great West Indian Test team of the period, or men past their prime as Test players. First-class cricketers in the West Indies were then poorly paid and the participants, many of whom had irregular or no employment in the off-season. West Indies cricket was so strong that Clive Lloyd had little need for the likes of Lawrence Rowe, Collis King and Sylvester Clarke. Rowe has since stated that he and several other players were disillusioned with the West Indies Cricket Board for not selecting them despite good performances. The strength of Caribbean cricket was evidenced in the 'international' matches, where South Africa received their first real test. A fiercely contested four-week series in 1982?3 took 'unofficial internationals' to new heights, the Springboks winning the one-day series 4?2 while the 'Test' series was drawn 1?1. The dominant theme of the match-ups was West Indian fast bowling. Colin Croft was one of four World Cup winners in the party. Their pace battery, featuring Clarke, Croft, Bernard Julien and Ezra Moseley, terrified Springbok batsmen who were forced to wear helmets for the first time.