Clive Rice (South Africa)
 | South Africa’s isolation barred Clive from test cricket. Yet, he was one of the world’s best all-rounders, combining with Sir Richard Hadlee at Nottinghamshire to terrorize English counties. Clive played for South Africa against various rebel teams, and regularly participates in charity events worldwide. |
Interview with Clive Rice (July 31st, 2006)
Tyler Foundation (TF): First of all Clive, we’re thrilled to be hosting you in Japan in September!!
Clive Rice (CR): And I’m very much looking forward to coming to Japan!
TF: Could you tell us what you’ve been doing since you retired from cricket?
CR: I went and coached Nottinghamshire for four years. I also set up the National Plascon Cricket Academy for the United Cricket Board. And since stopping coaching, I’m now rolling out fax to email, the technology for that. I’m involved with graders that are towed by a tractor and as a result go quicker. I’m involved in a project down at Coega, which is the port that they’ve just built just north of Port Elizabeth, where we are putting in a Rand 2.5 Billion chorine and desalination plant. And I’m involved with WestBank on water machines where you can plug them in, switch the electricity on and it takes the humidity out of the air, puts it in tanks and you get 100% pure water as a result. So, I’ve got quite a lot on my plate at the moment… (Laughs).
TF: That’s quite a diverse portfolio as well… A lot going on!
CR: And cricket-wise, I took the Over 35’s to Bermuda to the World Cup that we played in April. So that’s been my recent involvement in cricket.
TF: Who was in that team?
CR: We had Gary Kirsten. We had Peter Strydom. Derek Crookes. Eric Simons. I had Adrian Kuiper, Hughie Page, Stephen Jack. I had Fanie de Villiers, Meyrick Pringle. And Faiek Davids. And Mark Rushmere.
TF: A lot of the old stalwarts, right?
CR: No, No, No! Over 35’s, you’re not yet in that position. (Laughs).
TF: Clive, thinking back on your career, there were no official tests for reasons of South Africa’s isolation, but you still played for Scotland, Natal, Transvaal, Nottinghamshire and Rest of the World. Thinking back, what were some of your most memorable moments?
CR: One was when we won the championship for Nottinghamshire for the first time in 57 years. That was a very memorable occasion at Trent Bridge. Then, of course, playing in Packer’s World Series Cricket. Those games where suddenly you were up against the very best all the time. That was very tough cricket. And that was fantastic! Then, of course, leading South Africa back into international cricket at Calcutta. There were 100,000 at the stadium and that was quite an experience. Plus all the razzmatazz that went with South Africa getting back into international cricket. Then of course we had the last ball win against Western Province down at Newlands. And to shut the Western Province crowd up just for twenty seconds was unbelievable when we beat them off the last ball!! And then when we beat the Ozzies down in Port Elizabeth in the rebel series where they needed 18 runs of 18 balls and had 8 wickets in hand and we bowled them out!! Then of course wining the Natwest Trophy at Lords. For Nottinghamshire. So there have been quite a few … mind you with 478 first class games and another 470 one day games, there’re quite a lot of incidents that happen!!
TF: We were just recalling that rebel series against the Ozzies. At Wanderers, Garth LeRoux got a hat trick. Do you recall that game?
CR: Oh, we got two hat tricks in that game! Also the Ozzies were chasing around 220 and Garth got a hat trick and I got a hat trick because I got two in the first innings and a first ball wicket in the second innings so there were two hat tricks in that game.
TF: Actually Kim Hughes, who captained the Rebel Australians, was one of the first players we secured to come over here but then he had some other commitments in Scotland. We’d like to have him over next year because we want to do this event annually.
CR: OK. A pity because he’s full of fun!
TF: Clive, just going back to the World Series cricket under Packer. You said you were up against the best all the time. Reflecting on that, was it good for cricket all round?
CR: Actually, I think we need someone like Packer back in the game. It was so good for the game in terms of colored clothing, night cricket, white balls. It just added… put it on the map in terms of being a spectacle. Plus the fact that the quality he demanded was absolutely the best and I’m afraid there’s quite a lot of mediocrity in international cricket at the moment, which is not good for the game. But Packer didn’t have that, he just had the best there.
TF: Talking of the ‘best’, you bowled at thousands of players in your career. Who were some of the most difficult batsmen to bowl at?
CR: My mentor as a batsman was Barry Richards. Barry was fantastic. Then of course Graeme Pollock. He was brilliant. Sunil Gavaskar. Viv Richards. Greg Chappell. Those were the top guys that were around. If you said you got them out, believe me, you had to work hard!!
TF: You were mostly in Graeme Pollock’s team, so…
CR: Thank goodness! (Laughs)
TF: He’s another one that we’re hoping to see here in September though he may have some other commitments. If you see him around, please give him a nudge as we’d love to see him in Japan!!
CR: I will!
TF: Moving to bowlers, who did you least enjoy facing?
CR: I didn’t not enjoy facing them, because it was always such a fantastic challenge when you faced the likes of Dennis Lillee, Michael Holding, Andy Roberts. Or when you were facing the spinners… I played against Lance Gibbs late on in his career but early in mine. But just the experience and the challenge of playing against them… They weren’t easy to face because it was testing your technique out and that’s wanted I wanted to know… that my technique was good and could handle it and I had a platform to work from. And I didn’t not enjoy playing them because, to do this day, I go away and think about it and say, ‘OK, you might have got me out here because this was wrong’ but the challenge of playing against the best… fantastic!
TF: You were an all rounder in an era of many great all rounders. It seems that there are fewer great all rounders in cricket today. Does this represent some kind of shift in the game?
CR: No, I think that when you seem someone like Flintoff in the side, he’s a major factor as to whether England win or lose. Whether he contributes with the bat or ball. And then you go back and say that was the same with Botham, that was the same with Hadlee, with Kapil Dev. And on their day, if they were on song with either their batting or bowling, they made a massive contribution and, in fact, were all match winners. And I think it adds and extra player to a side. At the moment, in South Africa, we’ve got Shaun Pollock and Jacques Kallis but Kallis is not bowling as much as he should do. But if he were focusing on his bowling as well, suddenly you’d effectively have two extra players.
TF: Not particularly good news on the South African front earlier today? (At the time of the interview, South Africa had just lost by an innings to Sri Lanka).
CR: I think that was expected. When they asked me how they were going to do in the two test series, I said ‘we’ll lose three – nil!’ We’ve got no one to compete with Muralitharan. Nobody. And there he is… ten wickets in the game, you say ‘Well, how obvious was that?’ And also, not having Smith, Kallis and Shaun Pollock in the side. There are serious holes in that team now.
TF: So, talking of Muralitharan, he’s is obviously one of the great current players. Who else would you single out as a real talent?
CR: When you see Shane Warne, a guy I never played against personally – I would love to have played against him – but when you see him, he is a fantastic, not only cricket player, but character both on and off the field. And we need those characters in the game. I think Ricky Ponting is a wonderful player as well. And obviously Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar. And those guys, when you have the opportunity of seeing them play… And Kevin Pieterson is coming into that bracket. He needs to get more of a track record of consistency and dominance. Then, you know, him, Flintoff… wonderful players!
TF: Clive, you have a reputation as an aggressive and uncompromising captain. What are your thoughts on captaincy and who were some of the great captains you played with or against?
CR: You know I think Mike Brearley was a very shrewd captain. Psychologically he worked people out fantastically in terms of what he was doing. I thought Ian Chappell was a very good captain. There was no compromising with him. You knew when you were out there, there was a war on. But at the end of the day’s play, walk across the boundary rope. OK that’s fine… the war’s finished and now we can have a drink [Laughs]. Those two and Clive Lloyd were all very astute captains. Viv Richards… he was good. And Barry Richards was good as well. He didn’t have many opportunities but he was an outstanding captain… he knew the game.
TF: It may be that Barry Richards visits for this game or in future years. Another introduction that you made, Clive, which we’re grateful for was Sir Richard Hadlee. We got in touch with him and though he’s traveling at the time of our event, he indicated he could be up for a trip in future years.
CR: He was… I didn’t mention his name. Luckily he was in my side for most of the time. Richard was another all rounder who… he changed the game.
TF: Have you been to Japan before?
CR: Never.
TF: Well, we’re going to keep you pretty busy with a dinner, cricket match and golf day. But it should be fun with a few beers drunk and stories exchanged. And it’s all to raise funds for our Foundation. We’re really looking forward to having you!
CR: Well, I’m only too happy to go along with what you’ve set up and I’ll be delighted to help you guys out!