5 South African players who were unlucky not to have played more for their country

#1 Barry Richards

In a parallel universe, Barry Richards would have been the greatest batsman of all time

Those who have watched him play will avow that Barry Richards was in the uppermost echelon of batsmanship. Delectable natural timing helped him combat the hostility of myriad fast bowlers in cricket's gladiatorial era. However, his graceful technique against spin turned the right-hander into arguably the most complete batsman during the 1970s.

Owing to his country's unavoidable hiatus which pretty much coincided with the entirety of his halcyon days, Barry played just four Tests. All of those came in South Africa's phenomenal domination of the visiting Australian team in the 1970 series. His tally of 508 runs, containing two centuries and as many fifties, headlined a 4-0 rout of Bill Lawry's men.

339 first-class matches and 233 List-A games yielded 28,538 and 8506 runs respectively. Barry's stroke-play, filled with intent, endeared him to the spectators. In a utopian scenario, many more would have gotten the opportunity to witness his greatness at the international level.