Britain: Cricket by Checkbook

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Sports-mad South Africans have been desperate for world-class competition since international sporting bodies began banning them 25 years ago and vowed not to readmit them until apartheid was abolished. With the news two weeks ago that a "rebel" English cricket team would play two tours in South Africa, most of the country's whites rejoiced.

Elsewhere, the reaction was outrage. Britain's antiapartheid movement demanded that the rebel players be banned forever. Sports Minister Colin Moynihan advised them not to go, and Tanzanian Foreign Minister Benjamin Mkapa warned that African nations might boycott the 1990 Commonwealth Games.

Under heavy pressure, the two black members of the 16-man squad pulled out. The others, led by captain Mike Gatting, seem intent on going, no doubt spurred by fees of up to $160,000 reportedly offered by the South African Cricket Union.