Basil D'Oliveira's 158 at the Oval — August 1968

D'Oliveira, born in Cape Town in 1931, had qualified for England in 1965 after years in the Lancashire League. The 1968-69 South Africa tour was scheduled regardless of South Africa's apartheid laws, which classified D'Oliveira as 'Coloured'. Vorster had warned MCC privately through 1967 that D'Oliveira would not be welcome.

England had drawn the first Test, lost the second, and the third and fourth had been ruined by rain. The Oval was the last chance to level the series. Prideaux's pleurisy created the vacancy.

D'Oliveira had been dropped earlier in the summer despite scoring 87 in the first Test at Old Trafford. The conventional view inside the MCC was that his place in the tour party for South Africa later in the year — and South African Prime Minister B.J. Vorster's open hostility to a 'Coloured' player visiting — had made the selectors cautious. He was not in the Oval squad until Prideaux fell ill; manager Doug Insole called D'Oliveira at home in Worcester two days before the Test.

England won the toss and batted. D'Oliveira came in at 113 for 4 with John Edrich on 130 and the Australian seamers swinging the ball. He drove Connolly through the covers for his first boundary; from there he played one of the most fluent innings of his career. He reached his hundred in 195 minutes, his 150 in 281, and was finally bowled by Connolly for 158 with England on 451. England declared at 494, then bowled out Australia for 324.

Forced to follow on, Australia rebuilt to 86 for 5 on the final afternoon when a thunderstorm flooded the Oval at 2.20 pm. Captain Colin Cowdrey appealed to the spectators to help mop the outfield with their own towels and newspapers; the ground staff worked with mops and forks. Play resumed at 4.45 pm with 75 minutes left. Derek Underwood took 4 wickets in 27 deliveries on the spongy surface; his last wicket — John Inverarity LBW — fell with six minutes remaining. England won by 226 runs.

D'Oliveira's 158 placed his name back at the top of the South Africa selection list. On 28 August the MCC announced its tour party. He was not in it. Within three weeks Tom Cartwright withdrew injured, D'Oliveira was named as his replacement, and the Vorster government refused to receive the team. The tour was cancelled. The expulsion of South Africa from international cricket followed in 1970.

“We are not prepared to receive a team thrust upon us by people whose interests are not in the game but to gain certain political objectives.”

On 16 September Cartwright withdrew; D'Oliveira was named as replacement; Vorster denounced the team as a 'team of the anti-apartheid movement'. The MCC cancelled the tour on 24 September. South Africa would not play another official Test for 22 years.