 Ali Bacher, well-known cricket administrator, the face and voice of cricket in South Africa and a prospect for the 2005 International Cricket Council (ICC) presidency tells his story in a biography, Ali: The Life of Ali Bacher to be launched today at the Taj Mahal hotel in the city.
Former journalist Rodney Hartman documents the suave statesmans life in a no-frills, factual reporting style all through 435 pages. only veering away from the style towards the end.
The book chronicles a full and eventful life. It begins with Hitler and anti-Semitism, touching on the Jewish diaspora to escape the growing hate wave (Bacher is a Jew), moving steadily on to the cricketing chapters at a fast clip.
It is the last part, Section V, and the chapters within about crickets match-fixing tragedy that command immediate attention. This is because with the current India-Pakistan series underway, rumours and murmurs, however unfounded of fixed continue to resonate.
Bacher played a seminal role in the corruption scandal. The late Hansie Cronje, the man who spilt the beans, was his blue-eyed boy and Indian readers will find the chapters riveting as they have a strong Indian connection (the new Delhi police sniffed the scandal first).
Here is what the world did not know about the scandal. Bacher says in the book about the reaction when it first broke out: I never ever questioned Hansie Cronjes integrity. Never. Ever. On April 11, 2000 when Cronje calls Bacher to tell him, he had accepted money from a bookmaker, Bacher says: I feel I had experienced a terrible nightmare.
While the reporting on the Kings Commission investigating the scandal is detailed, Bachers daughter Ann sums up the effect of the match-fixing scandal candidly.
She says in the book, The Hansie Cronje case changed my fathers faith in humanity. He had always been very idealistic, always looking for the optimistic viewpoint, the good side and this just shattered him.
Racism, the Mike Gatting tour with the anti-apartheid question, the questions of coloureds, the Nelson Mandela role are all addressed in the book, making the Rs 495 Penguin book a highly readable biography, political comment and cricket manual, rolled into one.
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