R320.00
This collection of journalism by one of South Africa’s finest cricket writers takes us from the hurly-burly of The Bullring to the pastoral Salem Cricket Ground; from Hashim Amla’s swishing back-lift to Jacob Zuma’s backward defensive; from on-field heroics and heartbreak to off-field manoeuvres and machinations. Niren Tolsi consistently looks beyond the boundary, reflecting on the continued impact of race and class in South African cricket. He accords Black players—both past and present, Proteas and fighters—their rightful place in the history of the game, while never shying from speaking truth to cricket’s power brokers.
Writing Around the Wicket
This collection of journalism by one of South Africa’s finest cricket writers takes us from the hurly-burly of The Bullring to the pastoral Salem Cricket Ground; from Hashim Amla’s swishing back-lift to Jacob Zuma’s backward defensive; from on-field heroics and heartbreak to off-field manoeuvres and machinations. Niren Tolsi consistently looks beyond the boundary, reflecting on the continued impact of race and class in South African cricket. He accords Black players—both past and present, Proteas and fighters—their rightful place in the history of the game, while never shying from speaking truth to cricket’s power brokers.
Writing Around the Wicket is a testament to the potency of sports writing that is more than simple stenography. Tolsi’s ongoing analysis of South African cricket provides insight not only into the game itself but also the country’s wider ‘rainbow nation’ project.
Niren Tolsi is an award-winning South African journalist. He took to writing after endangering the life of a square leg umpire while attempting to bowl an over of leg-cutters at the Stanger Country Club grounds.
“Tolsi connects South Africa’s fraught history with the arc of a swinging ball or the flash of a cricket bat. This is cricket writing that moves beyond the boundary but does not lose sight of the importance of events out in the middle.”
— Daniel Gallan, journalist and lecturer, St Mary’s University and the University of East London“Tolsi’s writing delves deeply into the sociopolitics of sport in ways that are both revealing and cathartic. His writing meditates on the mantra of ‘no normal sport in an abnormal society’ and asks us to consider the standards our societies have set for themselves, to critique our morals, and to always question authority.”
— Firdose Moonda, ESPNcricinfo South Africa correspondent
