Ali Bacher visits Benoni

Former South African cricketer and administrator Dr Ali Bacher shared his fondest memories on the oval and of his time in office pre and post-readmission at the U3A meeting on September 13.

It was held at Northfield Methodist Church in Northmead.

Bacher first paid respect to two Benoni sportsmen, boxer Victor Toweel and cricketer Dennis Lindsay, who he said should be considered great South African sportsmen.

Speaking to an attentive and engaging audience, he retold his father-in-law’s recollection of Toweel’s first-round knock-out loss to Australian boxer Jimmy Carruthers in their 1952 bout for the NBA, NYSAC, Commonwealth British Empire and The Ring bantamweight titles.

In an emotional tribute to his former teammate Lindsay, he said they played in 12 test matches for South Africa between 1960 and 1974.

“Dennis is one of the greatest cricketers of all time. He gave me great support.

“I was looking at the record books. They’ve listed about 20 wicketkeepers with the best number of catches, stumpings and runs scored in a test series. He is number one by miles.

“Against Australia in 1966-67, he scored 606 runs and took 24 catches as a wicketkeeper. We beat the Aussies 3-1, the first time they lost a test series to South Africa. Dennis was one of the key factors of how we beat Australia during that series,” he said.

Bacher then opened up about his life and the lessons he learnt in cricket.

The 80-year-old played in 120 first-class matches from 1960 to 1974, scoring 7 894 runs. He represented the country in 12 test matches, captaining the side in the 1969-70 series against Australia.

In 1991 he became the administrator of the unified United Cricket Board of South Africa. Along with former sports minister, Steve Tshwete, he travelled to London to lobby for the re-admission of South Africa to the ICC in 1991.

Also Read: Easterns cricketer recognised at CSA awards

He was also director and planner of the 2003 ICC World Cup, which South Africa hosted.

“If you want to be successful and get to the top, it’s not about the money you earn. It’s about having passion and commitment for what you are doing.

“I’m fortunate that in my whole life money was secondary. I loved all sports. At the age of four, I was already playing cricket. When I grew up, I really had that passion and commitment to the game I loved so dearly.”

He shared his health struggles, revealing that in 1965 following a great series in England, he was diagnosed with genetic high levels of cholesterol.

In 1981 he was diagnosed with pericarditis and had cardio bypass surgery, becoming the fourth person to have the surgery in the country at the time.

“I will never forget that day. I was nervous. I woke up at about 23:00. I turned my head to the right and saw the lights. I realised I made it. That was the best 20 seconds of my life,” he said.

He shared his encounters with former President Nelson Mandela including how Madiba inspired the nation with his appearance in Francois Pienaar’s number six jersey at the 1995 rugby world cup final, telling the crowd: “There will never be a man like him.”

Current problems in South African cricket

When asked what his view is on the Social Network and Nation-Building (SJN) hearings, he said it was detrimental to our cricket.

“There’s been fiascos at the senior administrative level for two to three years. It’s unbelievable what’s happened to our cricket. Let’s wait and see what the new board does. They are keeping out of the news which is a good thing.”

On the Proteas’ batting woes, he said: “We’ve got problems in our cricket. Our bowling is very good. Our problem is batting. If you want a good test team, the top order must have the capacity and ability to score a test hundred and we don’t have that. It’s a big worry,” he said.

Also Read: CSA urged to take mini-cricket programme seriously