South Africa cricket legend Mike Procter dies at 77

JOHANNESBURG: South Africa cricket legend and former national coach Mike Procter died on Saturday at the age of 77, his wife told AFP.

“He suffered a complication during surgery, became unconscious and never woke up,” Maryna Procter said.

Procter was an outstanding allrounder who became South Africa’s first coach in the post-isolation era and had a controversial stint as an International Cricket Council (ICC) match referee.

On Monday his family revealed that he had suffered a “cardiac incident” while recovering in a hospital intensive care unit following routine surgery.

Procter was being treated in a hospital near his hometown, the coastal city of Durban. Procter’s international playing career with South Africa was cut short in 1970 when his country was banished from world cricket because of its apartheid government. However, he refused to feel bitter over being deprived of a lengthy Test career.

“Yes, I lost a Test career. But what is a Test career compared to the suffering of 40 million people? Lots of people lost a great deal more in those years, and if by missing out on a Test career we played a part in changing an unjust system, then that is fine by me,” he famously said.

Before the ban, South Africa won six of the seven Tests in which he played, all against Australia. Procter was renowned primarily as a fearsome fast bowler, taking 41 wickets at an average of 15.02 runs in his seven Tests.

But he was also a flamboyant batsman, and equalled a world batting record when he hit six first-class centuries in successive innings.