Ali Bacher can never be far removed from South African cricket.
He has been an international cricketer, South Africa’s captain, administrator, 2003 World Cup organiser, a passionate follower of South African cricket and someone who was consulted by his country’s greatest political hero Nelson Mandela on sports matters. He shaped his country’s return to mainstream cricket and > in particular establishing cricketing links with India .
In a telephonic interview to The Hindu , the 73-year-old Bacher talked about the game, named Neil Adcock, Allan Donald and Dale Steyn as the top three all-time best fast bowlers of the country and said that Jacques Kallis can safely sit next to Sir Garfield Sobers as the game’s two greatest all-rounders.
He also said that Hansie Cronje will remain a chapter that will not leave South African and world cricket.
In this interview he picks two matches each in South Africa and India that he remembers.
India’s inaugural tour in 1992:A dull series but a great success politically: There were two aspects to this tour. For no obvious reasons, it was a pretty dull series — four Test matches and slow scoring from both sides. We won 1-0.
But from a PR point of view, Azharuddin and his team did India proud. There were many occasions when I asked Azhar to bring the team to townships to spread the gospel of the game among the black people. An Indian team coming to South Africa was historic and from a political point of view, the tour was a great success.
Cape Town 1997:Mandela and Tendulkar’s knock: I will never forget the day in early January 1997. It was the Test match at Cape Town, Newlands. It was the second or third day and the weather was beautiful. Nelson Mandela came to the ground and we had the teams on the ground. He spoke to the nation on television and shook hands with everybody. > Both teams were overwhelmed meeting the great man . I think the lunch time was one hour and not 40 minutes!
During that day Sachin (Tendulkar) played one of the greatest knocks I have ever seen. I can recall two things — one is Allan Donald taking the second new ball and bowling from the Wynberg End. Then what we see is straight drives, cover drives, and pulls and cuts. Sachin simply annihilated Donald. Sachin and Azhar put on a big partnership. Then the most extraordinary thing happened, my nephew (Adam Bacher) caught him spectacularly in the deep.
Kolkata 1996:Azhar and Lance Klusener: The game that will always stick in my memory is the Test match at Eden Gardens when Gary Kirsten scored a century in each innings. But what I remember most about that game is Azhar annihilating Lance Klusener in the first innings. Lance did not get a wicket in the first and Azhar got a quick hundred.
Lance came back in the second innings to take eight wickets. To me that was South African cricket at its best. It was a display of positive attacking cricket from the South Africans. First Azhar pulverised Klusener and then Klusener came back.
Ahmedabad 2010:de Villiers’s blistering ODI century: The second match I remember in India is the one where de Villiers smashed 102 not out off 59 balls (11x4, 3x6) in South Africa’s big win. It was a breathtaking effort.
Recently I interviewed him for my second book and said that he must be practising all the shots that he plays in matches. He said ‘no’ and that it was all a spontaneous reaction to particular deliveries.
