Reverse sweep

In this searing and revealing account of cricket in post-apartheid South Africa, Ashwin Desai deftly tells a story of promise and despair, the story of a new pitch; a quick start full of hope, followed by a steady erosion of the commitments needed to fulfil the promise of a level-playing field. Economic and political compromises contributed to holding back the pulling aside of the covers of race and class privilege. Alongside this, the hurried hollowing out of the ‘politics of cricket’, aided by black administrators assuming the accoutrements of office, saw very little internal challenge to the lack of transformation. In a book where the love of cricket shines through, Ashwin Desai makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the farce that was post-apartheid cricket administration and the characters that played such a role in the charade.