Ebrahim’s smile does a gleeful jig as he recalls a Masters Series game, played 10 years ago, in which he starred for an SA Masters team against a West Indian side.

There’s no mention of the fact that, yet again, he was playing for an XI that was not the country’s national side.

Ebrahim, who celebrates his 63rd birthday on Thursday, was regarded as one of the best left- arm spinners of his time, and if not for racism, isolation and all of apartheid’s other ugly step- sisters, he would have probably played international cricket.

He was given few opportunities to showcase his skill, but when he was , the results were magnificent, such as when he claimed six wickets in the second innings of a match against the International Wanderers in 1976 to bowl South Africa to a series-levelling win.

The twinge of regret expected from someone who was robbed of a career by a corrupt system is starkly absent.

Instead, Ebrahim is grateful that he has been able to enjoy the sport in spite of and after the restrictions he faced.

“I am thankful that I have been able to travel through cricket,” he said.

Ebrahim has played in several veterans tournaments in the past few years, and his most recent appearance was in the 20- 20 Classic Competition in Bermuda, alongside Adrian Kuiper and Gary Kirsten.

While Ebrahim doesn’t think he will be turning his arm over much more because “the knees are giving up”, his involvement in the game is far from over.

Ironically, his main focus is a team that is barely a blip on the international cricket radar — Mozambique — and he coaches twice a week for the Delta Cricket Club in Durban .

“In 2006, Hoosian Ayob from the African Cricket Association got me and Jeremy Fredericks involved in Mozambique cricket. They were playing in Division Three in Africa at the time and they won that league. Last year, they were invited to play in the Division Two competition in Jersey, so things are progressing.”

Ebrahim said Mozambican cricket is driven by Indian and Pakistani expats and that there are “a lot of local people who have never seen or played cricket”, but he hopes to help the game grow there. He is also involved at Delta, whose biggest star is Dolphins wicketkeeper and leg-spinner Daryn Smit.

Ebrahim’s background means he has taken a particular interest in spinners and thinks the atmosphere is ripe for them to be coming through the system.

“Our pitches were made for pace bowlers and spinners had to work very hard to get people out, but that’s changing.”

Although he believes spin has taken on a more aggressive nature, he feels spinners need to be managed better.

“The most important thing is how captains handle spinners. I had captains who believed in me and that helped me do well.”

One example of a spinner who is being handled correctly, according to Ebrahim, is Roelof van der Merwe.

“He’s really caught my eye. I like his attitude and that he has a lot of different balls.”

Van der Merwe is also one of the young guys Ebrahim thinks will take South African cricket forward. Although he believes the Proteas have achieved considerably, he is concerned about depth.

“When Australia had four or five of their stars retire — including Shane Warne and Adam Gilchrist — they replaced them quite easily. It was a big gap to fill but they had the correct structures in place to do that. A couple of our players are also getting older and I hope we have the depth to replace them.”

Part of the problem, he said, is that not enough is being done from a talent scouting and nurturing perspective.

“We are not going into the townships and finding players. You don’t know when you will find the diamond,” he said.

One place he doesn’t think gems will be unearthed is in 20-over cricket. Even though he has kept an eye on the Indian Premier League and the Champions League, and even dabbled in the short format, he isn’t convinced.

“Most people don’t understand cricket, they just like seeing the ball being hit around. The purists love the five-day game,” he said.