It is with a heavy heart that the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic and Paralympic Committee (SASCOC) has learnt of the passing of Hoosain Ayob. They acknowledge and appreciate the hugely important role he played in cricket during the apartheid era.
Ayob, who was 80 at the time of his death, spent his formative years as a teacher and he excelled in sport in general and in cricket in particular.
“On behalf of SASCOC, we wish to express our sincere condolences to his family, friends and his community,” said SASCOC president Mr Barry Hendricks. “Another giant tree has fallen. Hoosain’s contribution to society as an educator and cricket is acknowledged and appreciated,” he said.
Hoosain’s father died when Ayob was 10, and his family moved to Mia’s Farm, in what is now Midrand. There was a keen interest in sport at the farm and Hoosain was inspired; he went on to become both a provincial soccer player and a legendary cricketer.
He thrived as a fast bowler, becoming the first bowler to tally 100 wickets in the non-racial interprovincial matches of the 1960s. He would ascribe his success to tips gleaned while reading cricket books, and this characteristic studiousness carried through to his career as an educator.
Ayob received his BA from Unisa in 1975. He served as a teacher, headmaster and cricket coaching director, and became the International Cricket Council’s Director of Development for Africa in 1998.
He was the author of the book, Crossing Boundaries. “Hoosain became one of the greatest South African fast bowlers of the century, yet he was never selected for our country. He was a great sportsman who never gave up,” the Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, Nathi Mthwethwa, said of the book.