Tony Becca

Percy Sonn, the bespectacled, warm and well-respected president of the International Cricket Council(ICC), has died and without a doubt, cricket has lost one of its greatest servants.

Born in Cape Town, Sonn died at the age of 57 on Sunday in a hospital in the city of his birth and hopefully, all those who love cricket, all those who detest racism, will not only lift a glass to his memory, but will also remember him for a long time, if not forever.

A lawyer by profession, a man who served as public prosecutor, advocate, acting judge, deputy director of public prosecutions, legal advisor to the police and as head of the police unit called Scorpions - a unit that investigated economic crimes, corruption and drug trafficking, Sonn spent all his days fighting against apartheid in his country.

Greatest contribution

It was in cricket, however, that he made his greatest contribution to the fight against apartheid.

As a cricketer, Sonn served as vice-president of the Western Province Cricket Association, as president of Western Province, as vice-president, for a short while, of the now defunct South Africa Cricket Board, as vice-president of the United Cricket Board of South which was formed in 1991 following the release from prison of Nelson Mandela and as president of the USCBA.

Last year he became, behind Clyde Walcott of the West Indies and Ehsan Mani of Pakistan, the third non-white to be president of the ICC and while holding all those positions, during all that time, he continued the fight.

Because of his stance against apartheid, he was loved by many and hated by many. Such was his personality, however, that he was always happy, there was always a smile on his face and regardless of all the criticisms from those on whose toes he trod, he never wavered in his belief.

He kept fighting for what he called, "the cause".

One such fight was when, as the president of the USCBA, he removed a white player, Jacques Rudolph, from the South African team for a Test match against Australia and replaced him with a black player, Justin Ontong.

It was an unprecedented move and evenmany of the strongest anti-apartheid people, including a number of his greatest admirers, did not agree with the president interfering with the selection process.

Defended his action

SONN

Standing his ground, however, Sonn defended his action and he defended it by saying that he was only ensuring that the rules and regulations governing the selection of the South African team were followed.

At that time, the rules and regulations, as agreed by the USCBA and the government through the sports ministry, stated simply that in the event that a white player and a black player were on par, the black player must be selected and he believed, as did many others, that as cricketers, there was no difference between Rudolph and Ontong.

Sonn, a no-nonsense man, a man who believes in freedom of expression and who enjoyed a drink, will also be remembered as the president of the USCBA who got drunk at Paarl while attending a match during the 2003 World Cup in South Africa, and for which he was strongly criticised by his detractors and especially so by the media.

To those in the fight for equality, however, to those who believe that cricket should be played in good spirit at every level of the game, to those who like a good administrator, to those who like an honest man - a man who tells it as it is, and then moves on and to those who like a man who is friendly to everyone and who, whether it be with a king or with a pauper, always has the time for a chat and a drink, Percy Sonn was a wonderful man and one who will be remembered as one who served the game with distinction - probably as much, probably even more so than Australian Test players Bill Johnston and Ron Archer, one who died two days before Sonn, and one who died on the same day.