The Selected by Michael Owen-Smith & Neil Manthorp

The Selected (Standard First Edition, Illustrated Boards)

A Ranked, Photograph-Rich Celebration of South Africa's 25 Finest Test Cricketers

Bibliographic Specifications

• Title: The Selected: The 25 Greatest South African Cricketers of All Time
• Authors: Michael Owen-Smith & Neil Manthorp
• Editor: Diane Nelson
• Publisher: Don Nelson Publishers, Wynberg, Cape Town
• Publication Date: 2007
• ISBN-13: 9781868062676
• Edition Details: First Edition.
• Binding: Illustrated laminated boards (printed hardcover issued without a separate dust jacket), with a green cloth spine strip and yellow spine panel. The front carries a grid of 25 player portraits in a green and yellow striped design.
• Physical Format: Large portrait-format illustrated quarto, 188 pages including index. Illustrated with black and white and colour photographs, with two-column text.
• Language: English

Official Condition Report

• The Book: Very Good (VG)
• Exterior / Boards: The white laminated pictorial boards are mostly clean. There is some corner wear, with slight bumping or creasing at the top corners and at the head and tail of the spine. The green cloth spine strip and yellow spine panel are intact.
• Interior: The text block appears tight and sound. The pages examined are clean and bright, with no foxing or markings.
• The Dust Jacket: Not Applicable (As Issued)

Synopsis & Historical Value

Published in Cape Town in 2007, The Selected ranks the 25 greatest South African cricketers of all time. It is the work of two cricket journalists, Michael Owen-Smith and Neil Manthorp, and was edited by Diane Nelson. Graeme Pollock is placed first.

The book opens with an introduction and gives each selected player a chapter of career profile. Further chapters consider the players who narrowly missed the cut and those who spent their careers in overseas exile. It is illustrated with a wealth of historical photographs, in black and white and in colour.

The authors researched every player who represented South Africa, drawing on former players and historians, and set out to produce a definitive list that would stir debate among cricket followers. It remains a lively reference and a good starting point for collectors of South African sporting literature.

Author Profile: Michael Owen-Smith & Neil Manthorp

Michael Owen-Smith is a South African journalist who spent some thirty years as a newspaper cricket writer and was later appointed media officer to Cricket South Africa. He is the son of Tuppy Owen-Smith, who played cricket for South Africa and rugby for England.

Neil Manthorp is a British-born, Cape Town-based writer best known for his cricket coverage, having reported on more than forty South African cricket tours. His other books include Gazza, the biography of Gary Kirsten, Graeme Smith: A Captain's Diary 2007-2009, and Taking the Mickey, the biography of Mickey Arthur.

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