467pp., illus., paperback, Cape Town, 2016
"Cricket and Conquest is simply the finest book ever written about sport in South Africa ... For the first time Odendaal, Reddy, Merrett and Winch tell the complete and unvarnished story of South African cricket: black and white and people called coloured, male and female. They have left no archive unexamined and no story unscrutinised in their quest for the truth. This book is not only a major work of scholarship, it is a work of passion: for cricket, for social justice, and for a history that includes all those who ever swung a bat or bowled a ball." Tony Collins, former director of the International Centre for Sports History and Culture, De Montfort University
"Andrè Odendaal is a master at uncovering neglected histories and he and his co-authors have gone beyond the boundary of previous excellence to produce what must be the definitive history of South African cricket. Reminiscent of CLR James's classic work, Cricket and Conquest explores the paradox of a game that accompanied colonial conquest being appropriated and turned into a site of struggle by the colonised. It is as much about the struggle against racial and colonial injustice as it is about cricket." Elinor Sisulu, cricket lover and author of Walter and Albertina Sisulu: In our lifetime
André Odendaal is Honorary Professor in History and Heritage Studies at the University of the Western Cape. His books include Vukani Bantu!, The Story of a South African Game and The Founders.
Retired school principal Krish Reddy is author of The Other Side: A miscellany of black cricket in Natal and co-author of Blacks in Whites: A century of cricket struggles in KwaZulu-Natal.
Christopher Merrett is a historian whose books include A Culture of Censorship: Secrecy and intellectual repression in South Africa and Caught Behind: race and politics in Springbok cricket.
Jonty Winch's books include Cricket's Rich Heritage: a history of Rhodesian and Zimbabwean Cricket 1890-1982; Cricket in Southern Africa: Two hundred years of achievements and records and England's Youngest Captain: The life and times of Monty Bowden and two South African journalists.