It was Emburey who orchestrated the threat of a players' strike if Mike Gatting had been forced to step down after the bitter and very public argument between the England captain and the late Pakistan umpire Shakoor Rana in the Faisalabad Test in 1987-88.
The owner of three interesting nicknames such as Embers, Ernie and Knuckles, the former Middlesex and England off-spinner had invited the wrath of his country's cricket authorities by touring the then forbidden land of rand along with other English 'rebels' like him – first in 1982 and then in 1989.
On the first occasion he was banned from Test cricket for three years and for life on the second. However, he donned the English colours again -- against Australia in 1993, India in 1993-94 and West Indies in 1995 -- when South Africa was readmitted to international fold in 1991 after the official abolition of its barbaric policy of apartheid.
It's against this background, and keeping in mind the Indian culture, environment and mindset, that the BCCI panel has to judge and select, if at all, this Englishman, who counts Sunil Gavaskar and many other former Indian cricketers among his good friends.
Top: John Emburey (left) with Mike Gatting
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