Barry Richards — The Genius Lost to Apartheid
Barry Richards' tragic cricket story: 4 Tests, 508 runs at 72.57, considered one of cricket's greatest-ever openers, and 20 years of his peak career lost to South Africa's international ban.
Frequently asked questions
How many Tests did Barry Richards play?
Barry Richards played only 4 Test matches for South Africa — all in the 1969-70 series against Australia. He scored 508 runs at an average of 72.57. South Africa was then banned from international cricket in 1970 due to apartheid, and Richards never represented his country again despite being considered one of cricket's greatest openers.
What did Barry Richards do after the cricket ban?
Barry Richards played first-class county cricket for Hampshire from 1968 to 1978, scoring over 28,000 first-class runs at 54.74 with 80 centuries. He also played for Natal in South Africa and in World Series Cricket. He has often spoken about the psychological difficulty of maintaining motivation without international cricket to strive for.
Was Barry Richards better than Sunil Gavaskar?
This comparison is impossible to make definitively since Richards played only 4 Tests. Contemporaries who faced or played alongside both — including Clive Lloyd, Mike Procter, and others — generally considered Richards the superior pure talent. Gavaskar, with 10,122 runs in 125 Tests, has the statistical record; Richards has the testimonials from those who knew both.