Inside the Republic, many non-whites resented "normal" cricket, which was seen as a feeble concession in the wider context of life under apartheid, and declined to take part.
In 1979, Doug Insole, an English representative on the ICC, had told SACU's Ali Bacher: "Until apartheid goes, you can forget about getting back into world cricket.
In the earliest rebel tours, Mike Procter and Peter Kirsten captained home teams featuring Barry Richards, Graeme Pollock, Clive Rice and Garth Le Roux.
Initially, at least, overseas opponents could not prove otherwise, while inside South Africa, non-white opposition, as under apartheid more generally, was barely heard due to restrictions on freedoms of press, speech and assembly.
These suspensions ended the careers of more than half the squad including Geoffrey Boycott, the world's leading Test run-scorer at that time.
Emburey, in fact, went on England's second rebel tour in 1989, served another three-year ban for it, and was selected again for some matches between 1992 and 1995, though no longer as a regular fixture in the side.
Bandula Warnapura's side were beaten by seven wickets against an experienced visiting team and would fail to win four further Tests as the year progressed.
The team would be called Arosa Sri Lanka after the initials of their player manager Anthony Ralph Opatha and the host nation.
A full-strength Sri Lankan team was some way off international competitiveness so it was little surprise that a makeshift rebel outfit was utterly humiliated, failing to win a single tour match.
Lawrence Seeff, who replaced the injured Barry Richards, and Graeme Pollock made 188 and 197 respectively in the second 'Test' but protested that the matches could not be classed as international cricket.
West Indies cricket was so strong that Clive Lloyd had little need for the likes of Lawrence Rowe, Collis King and Sylvester Clarke.
Their pace battery, featuring Clarke, Croft, Stephenson, Bernard Julien and Ezra Moseley, considerably unsettled the Proteas batsmen, who were forced to wear helmets for the first time.
The frantic first series, again organised in secret and conducted on the hoof, set up a fierce battle when the West Indians returned for a full tour the following season.
The West Indian XI also won the one-day series 4–2, helped slightly by the Proteas weakening: Barry Richards and Vince van der Bijl retired in 1983, and Mike Procter, 36, played only a single 'one-day' international over both tours.
[27] Henry Fotheringham, Ken McEwan, Rupert Hanley, Dave Richardson and Mandy Yachad made their debuts for South Africa.
South Africa stood permanently on the brink of civil war as PW Botha's brutal government repressed the black majority and excluded them from a new 'multi-racial' parliament.
This oppression was met with violent reprisals while the rebels were controversial figures in the townships that had worshipped West Indian cricketers only to see them collaborating with the apartheid enemy.
[29][30][31] In contrast, the players commented on a warm reception from both blacks and whites in South Africa and the tour may have been a positive influence on relations between races.
The squad included several players who represented Australia at Test level, such as fast bowlers Terry Alderman, Rodney Hogg and Carl Rackemann, spinners Trevor Hohns and Tom Hogan opening batsman John Dyson and Steve Smith, weakening the official Australian Test side by depriving it of several of its best players.
"[36] Hughes accused the Australian Cricket Board of fostering dissatisfaction among the players, making recruitment for the rebel tours easy.
Newspaper revelations in January 1986[38] revealed what non-white leaders in South Africa and anti-apartheid campaigners worldwide had been claiming for years: the tours were not funded by business, as Ali Bacher and SACU had always insisted, but by the apartheid government through enormous tax breaks.
The team included former and contemporary England players such as batsmen Tim Robinson, Bill Athey and Chris Broad, wicketkeeper Bruce French, and the fast bowlers Paul Jarvis, Graham Dilley and Neil Foster.
Gatting served a three-year ban from Test cricket before his recall to the England side for the tour of India and Sri Lanka in 1992–93, along with John Emburey and Paul Jarvis.
Vintcent van der Bijl, Rupert Hanley, Denys Hobson, Kevin McKenzie, Alan Kourie, Brian Whitfield, Kenny Watson, Roy Pienaar, Hugh Page, Ray Jennings, Henry Fotheringham, Lawrence Seeff, Stephen Jefferies, Ken McEwan and Garth Le Roux all retired or were beyond their prime before official international cricket resumed for South Africa.
Clive Rice (3), Corrie van Zyl (2), Dave Rundle (2) and Mandy Yachad (1), only played in official ODIs for South Africa.