Cricket in the shadows by Vintcent van der Bijl & John Bishop

Cricket in the shadows (First Edition in Illustrated Dust Jacket)

A Springbok Fast Bowler's Account of Cricket in the Years of South Africa's Sporting Isolation

Bibliographic Specifications

• Title: Cricket in the shadows
• Authors: Vintcent van der Bijl & John Bishop
• Publisher: Shuter & Shooter, Pietermaritzburg
• Publication Date: 1984
• ISBN-10: 0869857975
• Edition Details: First Edition. With a foreword by Mike Brearley and a postscript by Barry Richards.
• Binding: Publisher's dark green grained cloth boards, gilt lettering to spine, with illustrated dust jacket.
• Physical Format: Large format hardcover, roughly A5+ in size. Illustrated with black and white photographs in the text.
• Language: English

Official Condition Report

• The Book: Very Good (VG)
• Exterior / Boards: The dark green grained cloth boards are clean to the front board, with a straight spine and bright gilt lettering. The boards are protected beneath the dust jacket.
• Interior: The text pages are clean and cream-toned, with no visible marks to the title page, copyright page or sampled text pages. The binding is tight. The page edges show slight toning.
• The Dust Jacket: Present. The illustrated jacket shows rubbing and some edge wear, with small chips and creasing to the top edge and the bottom corner of the back panel, and some pale marks on the back panel. It is protected in a durable archival-type plastic cover.

Synopsis & Historical Value

Published in Pietermaritzburg in 1984 by Shuter & Shooter, Cricket in the Shadows is the autobiography of Vintcent van der Bijl, written with John Bishop, then sports editor of The Witness. It gives the career of a leading South African fast bowler, from his years in domestic cricket to his time playing county cricket for Middlesex.

The book was published during the sports boycott of apartheid South Africa and covers the years when the country was isolated from international cricket. It describes the changing face of cricket at home in the 1970s and early 1980s, and what it meant for a generation of players to be shut out of Test cricket.

This copy carries a foreword by Mike Brearley and a postscript by Barry Richards, and is illustrated with black and white photographs. It is a worthwhile collectible volume for readers of South African sporting history and the cricket of the isolation era.

Author Profile: Vintcent van der Bijl

Vintcent van der Bijl was born in Rondebosch, Cape Town, and played as a right-arm fast medium bowler and right-handed lower order batsman. He played Currie Cup cricket for Natal from 1968/69 to 1981/82 and for Transvaal in 1982/83.

He played county cricket for Middlesex, taking 85 wickets in his 1980 season, and was named a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1981. In later years he became the ICC's umpires' and referees manager and served as a consultant to Zimbabwe Cricket.

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