The controversy created by the D'Oliveira affair in 1968 had escalated in the meantime with increasing opposition to the South African government's apartheid policy.
[6] This meant there would be no international cricket in England in 1970 with a concomitant loss of revenue and so, at very short notice, a Rest of the World team was formed, including five South African players.
Squad details below state the player's age at the beginning of the 1970 season, his batting hand, his type of bowling, his national team and where applicable his county club.
The details for each player below state his age at the beginning of the 1970 season, his batting hand, his type of bowling and his County Championship club.
Wisden was impressed by the quality of the World XI and said that "possibly only the Australian sides of 1921 and 1948 could have risen to the heights attained by The Rest", and England "proved worthy opponents".
The outstanding performer was Gary Sobers who had first forged a bond between his multi-national players so that they became a formidable team rather than, as some had predicted, a collection of star-name individuals.
On Friday afternoon, Sobers and Intikhab Alam scored 197 together in the final two and a half hours of the day, the World XI completing a massive first innings lead of 419 on Saturday morning.
[49] The main exponents were Basil D'Oliveira and Tony Greig (on debut) for England and Eddie Barlow for the World XI.
The World XI selected Peter Pollock and Deryck Murray in place of Graham McKenzie and Farokh Engineer.
England made a game of it on the last two days, exemplified by a stubborn last wicket stand of 45 between Alan Knott and John Snow.
[50] Geoff Boycott returned to the England team and, with perhaps a nod towards the venue, the selectors also picked his Yorkshire colleagues Don Wilson and the 21-year-old Chris Old.
Gary Sobers won the toss and Wisden recalled that he gambled by putting England in to bat "on a slow-drying pitch".
[51] Having struggled to reach 209 for four after a very poor start, England disintegrated completely in the face of a remarkable piece of bowling by Eddie Barlow who took four wickets in five balls, emulating the feat of Maurice Allom in New Zealand in 1930–31.
Richards could not open the innings so Deryck Murray was promoted and he scored a determined 95 in five hours but the World XI were on 152 for four when Gary Sobers came in to rally them, in Wisden's words, "with another splendid century".
Wisden remarked on the "quality of the cricket" and highlighted "four notable individual performances in a match which brought a magnificent series to a distinguished close".
The World XI responded with 355 which featured " a batting spectacle" by Graeme Pollock and Gary Sobers, who added 165 for the fifth wicket.
[52] England's best bowler was Peter Lever whose "command of perfect length and direction" enabled him to take seven wickets on debut.
[52] It was not enough, however, against such world-class opposition and a century by Rohan Kanhai, well supported by Clive Lloyd and Gary Sobers, enabled the World XI to complete a 4–1 series victory.
Alan Ward had to return home because of injury problems and was replaced by the young fast bowler Bob Willis, who made his Test debut on the tour.
Another scheduled South African tour, this time to Australia, was cancelled in 1971 and the Rest of the World team was recreated, again under the captaincy of Gary Sobers.
Besides Sobers, the squad included six other 1970 team members: Farokh Engineer, Intikhab Alam, Rohan Kanhai, Clive Lloyd and the Pollock brothers.