Ali Bacher

Aron “Ali” Bacher was born to Lithuanian-Jewish parents who emigrated to South Africa. He is an administrator of the United Cricket Board of South Africa and is best known for organizing the South African rebel tours in the early 1980s, when South Africa was isolated from the rest of the cricketing world due to apartheid-related sanctions. Post-Mandela he reinvented himself as South Africa’s cricket supremo when the previously separate Black and white associations combined to set up the United Cricket Board. Bacher’s reward came when his country marched back onto the international scene at the 1992 World Cup. He remained at the helm for the best part of a decade, before stepping aside to lead the organization of the 2003 Cricket World Cup. Ali studied at the University of the Witwatersrand and is married to Shira Teeger, with whom he has two daughters and one son.