Did you grow up in South Africa wanting to be a professional cricketer, knowing that the country was out of the world game? Well, growing up one doesnt really fully understand firstly the politics of the day, and that there was a bigger game in terms of international cricket. We are pretty much isolated. You knew about it, but I would say your primary goal was to do well in first-class cricket. There was the ambition of playing county cricket because that could offer you a living.Growing up I really enjoyed squash more, but my father said, no, no, you wont make a living out of playing squash, stick to your cricket. But we always had the intention to go on and study. So cricket became the means to get to university and qualify. But international cricket, no, didnt know much about it.Here you are, a teenager, emerging and starting to catch the eye of coaches. You obviously had talent and a feel for the game, but you are saying you had no idea that there existed a higher plane of the game, the highest level of the game? I grew up in a town called Queenstown. It was named after Queen Victoria. I went to a school named after her as well, Queens College. We had a really good, strong cricketing tradition. It was the school of Tony Greig, Kenny McEwan.I had a longer relationship with professional cricketers from Sussex. So they would come over and spend the summer with us. Once a year, perhaps, we would see, I think it was a NatWest final, if it was still called that in those days. So that was the sum total of what we knew as international cricket, and that wasnt even Test cricket.I remember our professional, Bob Jones, and he was at one stage head coach of the Lords indoor school. And he really obviously loved cricket. So we formed a cricket society, and what he would do is, hed bring over the old VHS tapes and we paid 50 cents in those days to be a member of the cricket society, and we sat there and we watched the highlights of whatever Test cricket had been there that summer. I think we got a cricket monthly at that stage - I think it would probably be what we know as the Wisden these days, a magazine?So we were entirely cut off. Black people lived there, white people lived here, and you went to your own schools. There was no integration. Television only arrived, I think, in 76, 77, 78, and that was controlled. So we were conditioned to believe a certain thing. That probably played a role in, you know, doing well at first-class level and wanting to do well, because that in many ways was all the cricket someone like me knew. What I aspired to be was a very good first-class cricketer.In 83, we went to England on a schoolboy tour. Which then would have been the South African Under-19 side, but we were known as the Albatross XI. We were not allowed to take any equipment - not even a shirt, nothing. We were just a group of young students travelling to the UK on a sightseeing, cultural, educational tour. Jimmy Cook was with us on that trip. It was a good side. We had Salieg Nackerdien, I think he was the only non-white cricketer we had in those days, and Shukri Conrad, he was the other one.There was this great South African team, the last team that played international cricket before the isolation years began - Graeme Pollock and Ali Bacher and Mike Procter and names of that kind. As a young man, what were those influences like on your cricket? Were they big heroes in South Africa? Well, my sort of era, its early 70s, we were young kids, so we knew of them. Graeme Pollock was the icon. Barry [Richards] had left - he played most of his cricket in Australia and England, which Graeme never did. So he was the player that everyone looked up to, wanted to be, and was a true star. And we didnt quite understand and appreciate how good he was, when I speak of my generation. I played against him and he was at the end of his career then. Once we had got back into international cricket, you actually realised and appreciated them.I remember our first tour to England. As an England tour goes, theres a lot of functions, and the major one was at a hotel at Piccadilly Circus. Mike Procter was the coach and Graeme had been following the tour. So they were invited to this luncheon and the team was introduced, and when Mike Procter was introduced, they stood up, and when Graeme was introduced, the audience stood up. They obviously knew who Barry was, and they remembered Graemes innings at Trent Bridge when he got that brilliant 120-odd under those conditions, which was an exceptional knock. But in terms of influence, in terms of where we were going, not knowing that wed ever get back into international cricket, it was not something that you believed was going to happen. It was: well, thats it, thats just our lot, and if you wanted to play international cricket, you would look elsewhere - either England or New Zealand or Australia, which I seriously considered.So I think to answer your question, its not like a kid growing up today, who is growing up with international cricket. He knows who the superstars are and its a different world.Here you are, an extremely talented batsman and already comparisons with Graeme Pollock start to come about. What was that like for a 15- or 16-year-old, to suddenly be compared to the greatest batsman South Africa has produced? Yes, I think to a large degree it was because of isolation - they were looking for heroes. I was 16 when I broke his record [South Africas youngest first-class century-maker], so obviously that caught the attention and comparisons were made, but it didnt take long to realise that those comparisons were a little bit unfair. It just was the nature of our cricket, but it kind of made me sit up and say, look, youve got a future, you can play, so, right, where does it take me? Lets talk a little bit about apartheid. Were you inherently aware that this is a white mans sport, divided along those lines, that cricket is a very much what white boys do, and other members of society are actually kept away from the game? Was that very much part of the culture of how you grew up in South Africa? Very much part of the culture. If you looked upon it, thats just the way it was. Being white, I went to a white school and played cricket at that school, played all our sports. Black kids grew up in the townships, and thats where they played. We always grew up with the belief that there was equality in our society, thats what you thought.You didnt think it was unfair? I didnt know better, to be honest with you. At school, politics of the day were taught as per the nationalist government. Even when I got to university and there were rumblings - that was the middle 80s, when things were really starting to hot up and there was unrest in the township, and I had friends whod done their military training.It was like I said to people: I have two halves in my life, two halves in my career - grew up in that era and now I grew up in this one. And if people say, tell me about your career, Id say, Well its been a very interesting one, but as a young white South African growing up, no, and we didnt see anything abnormal about that. We didnt think we needed to do something about [apartheid], because around you, what you read, what you saw, who you interacted with - thats just the way it kind of was.Did you never play cricket with black kids? Were there any black kids? Never.You never came across anyone, any coloured kids? None of them came and played cricket with you? No. I often think about it today. Where I grew up, the public playing facilities, which are now part of the school that I went to, was called the recreational ground, and they had two rugby fields. In summer it was a cricket field and alongside it was a soccer field. It was literally 100 metres down the road, and with nothing better to do during the holidays, our days were sport.So you went out and whatever you found, you could play, whether it was cricket, tennis, squash. And it was winter time, so wed pick up a game of rugby among a couple of friends and I would have been ten, 11 at that stage. Touch rugby - wed play for an hour. I remember one holiday, there were about four black kids who came and played with us. They joined in and we spent an hour or two playing and then went home and my Mum would have a lunch for us and that sort of thing. And they were brilliant and their company was great, and we, like kids, had a fantastic time. And then we would sort of arrange, you know: are you guys coming the next day? And we would say 10 oclock and they would come at 12, and I couldnt understand why, so it was very disappointing for us, and [we thought] perhaps they didnt want to play with us or this and that.But then in time I got to understand that it was because they would be coming into a white area. That was a boiling pot of South African politics. There was the ZAPU, which was the real right wing of the [anti-apartheid] movement. Late 80s they planted a few bombs. So I understood later that they [the black kids] would be dodging the police, and if they got caught, theyd be chucked in the back of a van and maybe given a hiding or driven back to the townships. And there were times in the afternoon when they said, weve got to go now. We were, Well, come on, play. No, no, we have to go now. Because there would be a curfew, so they didnt want to be caught after dark. It left an impression on my mind, and when I think back on it, you [realise] how shameful it was, how hurtful it would have been. It was a huge, huge travesty really. And in many ways we lost so much talent.All these years later that now seems to be a grotesquely unfair time, but back then, as a 14- or 15-year-old, it was just the way things were - is that what youre saying? When you tell people that, they say, No, come on. But it was, you know, it was indoctrination. Thats just the shadow that we grew up under, not knowing better, not understanding better, your parents not knowing better. It was the - in Afrikaans it was the swart gevaar, the black danger. PW Botha was then the prime minister and there was a war going on in Angola [involving] our troops, who supported South West Africa, which is Namibia today. And friends of mine fought in that. You had the swart gevaar, the black danger, and there was the whole, you know, it was communistic and [there was the idea that] they were coming in to, like, take over the country. Because things were so tightly controlled and segregated, there was no violence in those days. But with the political uprising in the middle 80s, you started to be aware, and at that stage I was at university. Suddenly it was a whole new world. What was the arrival of the rebel-tour cricketers like for you? What kind of impression did it leave, especially because some of them were truly world-class, top-notch players? The Sri Lankans arrived, Tony Opathas touring squad. He arrived as the manager and by the third Test was their best bowler, because they really battled. I ran into guys like [Graeme] Pollock, who were still hungry, and we had a good team around then. The national broadcaster televised all those games. Then, once the West Indians arrived, I was in my final year at school and got out to watch quite a bit of that. It was like, suddenly here are black cricketers so skilled and so good. Was that an eye-opener? Well, absolutely. We thought, hang on, theres going to be bombs going off here. These guys are now going to travel around the country. Where are they going to stay? They cant stay in white hotels. What are the extremists going to say? So they actually became honorary whites and they were so loved, but all these sorts of things, it was like guys arriving from outer space. And Im not exaggerating.But we were so hungry for cricket. I think that was the huge excitement: come on, lets just play cricket. I mean, guys like Collis King, he was - in 76, I think, he was a hero - the brand of cricket they played. I mean [Sylvester] Clarke - in my second season with Border, I batted against him with half a helmet, not much of a thigh pad, as a kid. I get cold today when I think about it.They created enormous excitement. We were so hungry. We could have watched anything. Lawrence Rowe, and the style of cricket they played…Do you remember that time as being particularly challenging? There was, of course, a lot of opposition to the idea of playing any kind of cricket against a regime such as South Africa, but within the country itself? We werent made aware of that. It wasnt spoken about, certainly not on television and in the media, because it was state-controlled. The resistance that you saw when [Mike] Gattings tour came [in 1989-90] and I played in Pietermaritzburg… There was a huge black crowd, and we can get to that because thats an interesting story, but again the opportunity or the platform for those who were against those tours, for that particular tour and the Sri Lankan tour and the first English tour [to make themselves heard], it wasnt there. With the clampdown it was just not going to happen.So there was no idea that these guys were risking their international careers, they were going to get banned in their country… No, we kind of got that. But it wasnt sort of a struggle between whats right and wrong, and should we or not. Theyve given us the best cricket present in 25, 27 years, this is fun, lets get going to play cricket, you know. The resistance to it, we werent aware of it, because it wasnt reported, it wasnt seen. You were just in that sort of space, not knowing - we werent sort of totally blind to it but did not really know what was actually happening.Watch and read part two of the interview hereWatch ESPNcricinfo Talking Cricket at 9.30pm IST on Fridays and the repeat on 12 noon on Sunday on SONYESPN Adidas Continental 80 Sverige . Scott Kazmir allowed four hits in seven shutout innings, Michael Brantley hit a two-run homer in a three-run first inning and the Indians maintained their hold on an AL wild-card spot with a 4-1 win over the Houston Astros on Saturday night. Adidas NMD R1 Rabatt . -- The proud fathers huddled near the Dallas Stars dressing room, smiling, laughing and telling stories while wearing replica green sweaters of their sons team. http://www.nmdsverige.com/nmd-cs2-adidas-skor.html . It is a cliché dragged out by fans and pundits regularly when discussions take place around which teams are better than others. Adidas NMD R1 Herr Rea . Numbers Game looks into the Canadiens securing the services of Thomas Vanek in a trade with the New York Islanders. The Canadiens Get: LW Thomas Vanek and a conditional fifth-round pick. NMD Skor Billigt . In what the team had called a retirement, Ryan said Thursday that he is resigning as chief executive of the Rangers in a move effective at the end of this month. NEW YORK -- In the last week, the Brooklyn Nets have faced two elite point guards in the Western Conference.Their meetings with Russell Westbrook in Oklahoma City and Chris Paul in Los Angeles did not go well.On Sunday, the Nets return home and face another top point guard when they host Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers.The Nets return from their five-game trip with a 4-8 record and a three-game losing streak, partially because they could not stop Paul and Westbrook.On Monday, Paul had 21 points and nine assists in Brooklyns 127-95 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers. A night later, second-year point guard DAngelo Russell shredded Brooklyns defense by scoring 32 points in a 125-118 loss.We stopped moving the ball offensively and stopped making the extra pass, and that fueled their transition, Nets coach Kenny Atkinson said. Defensively, weve slipped in these past three games.The road trip ended Friday when Westbrook torched the Nets for 30 points in a 125-104 loss. If Westbrooks performance was not frustrating enough, the Nets were within three points and then gave up a 12-1 run while Westbrook was relaxing on the bench and enjoying his latest triple-double.It was a continuation of a trend against opposing point guards for the Nets. Brooklyn has allowed an opposing point guard to get at least 20 points in six games and has lost each time.If those were not bad enough for Net fans, Lillard is a sore spot from 2012. The Trail Blazers used their sixth overall pick in the 2012 draft to get him and the pick was obtained from the Nets for Gerald Wallace, who eventually was traded to the Boston Celtics along with three first-round picks in the ill-fated Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce deal.Lillard is averaging a career-high 28.7 points per game while also shooting a career-best 45.5 percent. He scored 27 points Friday but shot 8 of 24 from the field in a 113-101 loss at New Orleans as Portland dropped its third straight.I feel like soon its going to go in that direction, Lillard told reporters. We just have to stay true to it, stay true to what we do.During its slide, Portland has lost by an average of 18 points per game. Lillard is shooting 34.9 percent (22-of-63) while Portlands defense has allowed 117 points and been outscoredd by 36 points in the last three opening quarters.ddddddddddddIts a long year, were not in panic mode, Portland forward Ed Davis said. I mean it is an 82-game season. We just finished with game 14. We are still working on things.We obviously are not playing the best basketball right now, but we are still .500. Its not like we are on an eight-game losing streak, but we are on a three-game losing streak. We just need to take it one day at a time, stay together and see what happens.One thing that will not happen Sunday is Jeremy Lin returning from a strained left hamstring. Lin was injured in the first half of a 105-100 win over the Detroit Pistons Nov. 2 and the Nets are 3-4 without him.Lin was re-evaluated Thursday and the Nets did not have a further timetable. He accompanied the Nets on the trip and did some running and shooting after not participating in Fridays morning shootaround.Just progressing as planned. Hes on target. Im not going to give exact dates but hes progressing on schedule. Atkinson told reporters Friday. Im going to listen to the performance team. Were going to be smart about this, take a long term approach.Without Lin, the Nets have tried different things at point guard. Rookie Isaiah Whitehead started the first two games before getting a concussion, Sean Kilpatrick shot 14-of-49 while starting the next four and Randy Foye played 15 minutes as the starter Friday.However, the starting point guard matters little if the Nets are unable to rebound effectively. Brooklyn was outrebounded 46-30 Friday and while it is around the middle of the pack with 44.2 rebounds per game, the Nets had a minus-30 rebounding differential in their last three games.Weve got to do a better job protecting the rim. I thought they were getting to the rim, and we didnt protect it like we should, and we need to do a better job, Atkinson said.Portland has won five of the last six games with the Nets and six of its last nine road games in the series. Lillard has scored at least 30 points in his last three games against the Nets while Brook Lopez has scored at least 20 points in his last five games against Portland. ' ' '