Today marks exactly 25 years since South Africa’s first Test match appearance following their return to international cricket in 1991, in a historic match against West Indies at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, on Thursday, 18 April, 1992.

Despite an all-white selection, it was a newly-united South Africa’s first international encounter, and significantly presented our nation’s first encounter against a black team.

It was a Test that South Africa probably should have won after commanding performances in the Test’s first four days, which included a commanding century by Andrew Hudson and Richard Snell’s 8 wickets in the match.

But it was not to be, as an Ambrose/Walsh combination inspired our fourth-inning collapse, dashing SA hopes built on a promising 96-run partnership between skipper Kepler Wessels and Peter Kirsten after being set 201 runs to win.

Despite the loss, I had developed a crush on Test cricket. I was already in love with the 50-over format, but there was something about this longer format. To this day, I prefer Test cricket over all other formats.

Cricket has been the platform that allowed me – a non-white woman journalist – to be regarded on equal footing with white men, the long-regarded custodians of this remarkable sports code.

My love for cricket, as with my love for South Africa, is undiminished. I savour each Cricket Tuesday on Radio 2000 as another chance to draw closer to something with an unparalleled opportunity to pull us together, in my experience.

Join me alongside Andile Ncube every Tuesday, 6 to 7pm on Radio 2000, for an hour of frank cricket talk with some of the biggest stars in the game.

 

Photo 1 caption: A montage of images from South Africa’s first Test against the West Indies at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, on Thursday, 18 April, 1992. West Indies won by 52 runs in a match that sparked my love for for the greatest form of cricket.