THE freedom of the City of Worcester is to be award posthumously to cricketing legend Basil D'Oliveira CBE at a ceremony next week.

Mayor, Councillor Jabba Riaz, will present the Freedom of the City Certificate to Shaun D’Oliveira, son of the legendary cricketer and Basil's name will be inscribed on the Honorary Freeman Panel in the Guildhall, which will be unveiled at the ceremony on the night of Friday, September 14.

The accolade will be made 50 years after the so-called D'Oliveira Affair, which prompted a sporting boycott of apartheid South Africa after Basil's exclusion from the England cricket team ahead of a tour of South Africa in 1968.

Councillor Riaz said: “Basil D’Oliveira became a symbol of the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, linking Worcestershire cricket to international politics in the process.

"Millions of people around the world owe him a debt of gratitude – it will be a great honour to posthumously award the Freedom of the City of Worcester to his family.”

Born in South Africa, Mr D’Oliveira moved to England in 1960 and settled in the city in 1964. He played for Worcestershire between 1964 and 1980 and represented England in 44 tests.

Mr D’Oliveira has become only the fourth recipient of the honour in the last decade following Cecil Duckworth in 2008, former mayor of Worcester Mike Layland and members of the Queen’s Royal Hussars regiment in 2014.