Ali by Rodney Hartman

Ali (Updated Edition Biography of Ali Bacher)

The Life of South African Cricket's Most Influential Administrator, Told by Journalist Rodney Hartman

Bibliographic Specifications

• Title: Ali: The Life of Ali Bacher
• Author: Rodney Hartman
• Publisher: Penguin Books, Johannesburg
• Publication Date: 2006
• ISBN-13: 9780143025160
• ISBN-10: 0143025163
• Edition Details: Updated Edition, Penguin Books softcover release, 2006.
• Binding: Publisher's illustrated card wrappers, perfect bound, with a sepia cricket photograph within a black-bordered design.
• Physical Format: Large softcover (trade paperback), over 500 pages, with photographs.
• Language: English

Official Condition Report

• The Book: Very Good Plus (VG+)
• Exterior / Wraps: The black-bordered illustrated card wrappers are clean and square, with no creasing, tears or fading. The spine is unbroken with bright lettering, and the back cover is clean. Corners are sharp.
• Interior: The text block is clean and white, with no foxing, stains or markings. The binding is tight, and the fore-edge and top edge are clean.
• The Dust Jacket: Not Applicable (As Issued)

Synopsis & Historical Value

Ali: The Life of Ali Bacher is the biography of the man regarded as the most influential personality in the history of South African cricket. Rodney Hartman follows Bacher's four decades at the forefront of the game, from player to administrator.

The book covers the rebel cricket tours of the 1980s, the match-fixing scandal of the 1990s and the staging of the 2003 Cricket World Cup. It places Bacher at the centre of cricket's turbulent path through the apartheid and post-apartheid years.

This updated edition adds Bacher's move into South African rugby and some previously unpublished disclosures, and carries a foreword by Nelson Mandela. It is a useful volume for collectors of South African sporting history and cricket literature.

Author Profile: Rodney Hartman

Rodney Hartman was a South African journalist who worked in South Africa and London for more than thirty years. An award-winning writer, he was a former sports editor of the Sunday Times and the founding sports editor of the Sunday Independent, and served as communications director of the 2003 Cricket World Cup.

He wrote books on Ali Bacher, Hansie Cronje and Brian Mitchell, including Hansie and the Boys: The Making of the South African Cricket Team (1997) and A Year On... Hansie and the Boys (1998).