Apologies for the long silence, but I’ve had a flood of commissions of late - including a return to writing about Formula 1 for Autosport. (My run-down of the current team principals here is but one example.) Having worked on that self-same website at the very dawn of the internet, it’s bizarre to be back. And amazing to compare current publishing and analytics to our stab-in-the-dark work back then. The core skill of researching and writing up a story, however, is exactly the same. Hoping this doesn’t get automated in my lifetime…
I’ve also been quietly gathering some interview material for various purposes, including a South African cricket history feature — can’t reveal too much! — for Cricbuzz. (My last story for them is here.) Among others, it was my pleasure to speak to Omar Henry, who has one of cricket’s most unique tales to tell. Following my Brian McMillan interview earlier in the year, this is the second audio interview ‘podcast’ I’m posting here.
For those who don’t know, Henry was a rarity in that he played ‘white’ cricket in Apartheid South Africa despite being classified ‘coloured’. He also moonlighted for Scotland during his country’s isolation era in the 1980s. And then, finally, having waited until his 40s for South Africa to be re-admitted to international cricket, he earned a call-up that turned out to be all-too-brief.
In this interview — which is in fact only the second half of our extended chat! — we talk about the Scotland adventure, how he ended up crossing the ‘colour line’ in South Africa, life in the unique composite Impalas team in the old Benson & Hedges Night Series during the 1980s, and why his move from Boland to Free State, where he played with a young Hansie Cronje, was such a frightening prospect at first!
Next up will be none other than Allan Donald. If you’d like to not miss that, then hit the button below.
The Omar Henry Interview: Part 2