Geoff Boycott, then 41 and one of England's leading run-scorers, joined the SAB rebel tour to South Africa in March 1982 — the three-year ban that followed effectively ended his Test career.
Boycott was 41, with 8,000+ Test runs and a record number of overs faced; he had been on the 1981-82 India tour.
He left the India tour citing illness and reappeared with the SAB rebel squad in Johannesburg.
Boycott was finishing England's 1981-82 tour of India when he flew home, citing illness, and reappeared days later in Johannesburg with the rebel squad. The TCCB, which had already privately criticised his behaviour on the India tour, imposed the standard three-year ban. By the time the ban expired in 1985, Boycott was 44, his form had declined and he was not selected. He retired from Test cricket without playing again. He finished with 8,114 Test runs at 47.72 — at the time among the top run-scorers in Test history — but the rebel tour took the late three years of what would otherwise have been a longer career. Boycott himself was unrepentant: 'A man has the right to earn a living', he said in 1982. He returned to Yorkshire and played first-class cricket until 1986, but the SAB ban is the effective end of his international career.
Leaves India tour citing illness
Reappears with SAB squad
Three-year TCCB ban
Never plays for England again
Retires from first-class cricket in 1986
Late Feb 1982
Leaves India tour
March 1982
Joins SAB tour in Johannesburg
TCCB ruling
Three-year ban
1985
Ban expires; not recalled
1986
Retires from first-class cricket
“A man has the right to earn a living.”
“I do not regret what I did. I regret what came after.”
Boycott moved into broadcasting and became one of the most recognisable cricket commentators in the world.
A self-inflicted exit that closed one of the great Test batting careers of the modern era.
The rebel tour bookend is the unfortunate footnote at the end of one of the most disciplined Test batting careers in history.
England
1932-08-12
In August 1932 the MCC selectors confirmed Douglas Jardine as England's captain for the 1932-33 tour of Australia, a decision contested at the highest levels of English cricket and one that — combined with Plum Warner's appointment as tour manager — would set the conditions for the Bodyline series.
England
1934-03-21
On 21 March 1934 Douglas Jardine wrote to The Cricketer that he had 'neither the desire nor the intention' of playing in the upcoming home Ashes series. The announcement, taken as a quiet resignation, removed the architect of Bodyline from the field before Australia returned to England — a precondition Australia's Board had implicitly demanded.
England / Gloucestershire
1937-11-15
In November 1937 Wally Hammond — the leading professional batsman of his era — was accepted by MCC as an amateur, opening the door to the England captaincy he received six months later for the 1938 Ashes. The change crystallised inter-war debates about the amateur-professional divide and the unwritten rule that England's captain be amateur.