White South Africans accorded them the same kind of reception received by Lawrence Rowe and his West Indian squad who undertook two rebel tours in the early 1980s. The rebels defied the apartheid-induced sporting boycott upheld by most of the world and, ironically, the visiting blacks were greeted as heroes by whites relishing the chance to see quality international opposition for what was unquestionably a brilliant `lost generation' of local players.

For the majority of black cricket-loving South Africans, who were allowed to watch the matches only from special enclosures with minimal facilities, the rebels were supported as black men trying to beat white men.

A decade and a half on and the first official tour of a West Indian side was greeted as a defining moment in the history of the sport in South Africa.

But thesignificance may not have lived up to the billing. Apartheid has long gone but the predominance of white players throughout the game remains, much to the disapproval of sports minister Steve Tshwete.

``I am worried we will be sending white teams to the rugby and cricket World Cups this year. If that is the case, it will be difficult for me to support them,'' he said last weekend.

It brought a shoot-from-the-hip response from cricket board president Ray White who said: ``To those seeking to interfere with our team, we don't want it and we don't need it.''

His remarks were clearly aimed at Tshwete and brought immediate condemnation from national bodies seeking sports teams more representative of the predominantly non-white population.

White quickly apologised and two days later the United Cricket Board of South Africa (UCBSA) said that next season each provincial side would be expected to field two non-white players each.

``There should be, on a regular basis, 22 players of colour appearing in the 11provincial teams next season and the season after that we will look for 33 and the year after that we will go beyond that,'' said UCBSA managing director Ali Bacher.

In places such as Cape Town and Port Elizabeth there is already a large non-white cricket watching public and in many of the townships-- particularly in the Cape-- cricket is already the summer sport of choice.

``You can't drive down the street in the townships for children playing cricket. I even saw a game in a cemetery the other day,'' said Morgan Mfobo, administrator of the Langa Cricket Club in Cape Town which hosts West Indies in a One-Day game on Saturday.

``We will have 10,000 people at the match and for months people have been coming up to me asking `when are the West Indies coming?'"

Langa Cricket Club is based in the township of the same name on the windswept Cape flats, an area of poverty and high unemployment which is also riven by gang violence.

But 20 corporate hospitality packages have been sold to white companies forthe match although the club struggled to get the telephone company to put in lines to their new press area. Cricket is not a new sport here. Mfobo himself is an off-spinning all-rounder who played for the South African schools in 1990.

A visit from West Indies is still special however. ``They are heroes to black people and it will be an inspiration to have them coming and playing in our own backyard,'' said Mfobo. Whether the Test crowds have turned out to watch the tourists or a winning home team remains a moot point.

Attendances have snowballed during the series and the first two days of the fourth Test in Cape Town were sold out-- something that rarely happens for Test cricket in South Africa

``The public knows that someone like Brian Lara or Shivnarine Chanderpaul can score runs and are really worth watching. But I think South Africans like to see their team winning and they will turn out for that,'' said Hansie Cronje.

And he has got his wish on which way the crowd's support has been going. Evenafter South Africa's return to international sport in 1991, many local supporters, including some prominent celebrities and politicians, openly supported visiting teams in both cricket and rugby.

Cronje referred to this painful irony before the West Indies even arrived saying: ``I hope all South Africans, of all colour and races, will see good cricket from both sides but will support their own country. We are all South Africans.''