Brian Sidney Bassano (born in

East London East London is the part of London, England, east of the ancient City of London and north of the River Thames as it begins to widen. East London developed as London Docklands, London's docklands and the primary industrial centre. The expansion of ...

Cape Province The Province of the Cape of Good Hope (), commonly referred to as the Cape Province () and colloquially as The Cape (), was a province in the Union of South Africa and subsequently the Republic of South Africa. It encompassed the old Cape Co ...

Union of South Africa The Union of South Africa (; , ) was the historical predecessor to the present-day South Africa, Republic of South Africa. It came into existence on 31 May 1910 with the unification of the British Cape Colony, Cape, Colony of Natal, Natal, Tra ...

, on 21 March 1936, died in

Launceston, Tasmania Launceston () is a city in the north of Tasmania, Australia, at the confluence of the North Esk River, North Esk and South Esk River, South Esk rivers where they become the Tamar River, Tasmania, Tamar River (kanamaluka). As of 2021, the Launc ...

, on 10 July 2001) was a South African journalist and cricket historian.

Life and career

Bassano moved from South Africa to the UK in 1961, playing club cricket in England. He returned to South Africa in 1966 and became a journalist and a cricket commentator on

SABC The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is the public broadcaster in South Africa, and provides 19 radio stations (Amplitude modulation, AM/Frequency modulation, FM) as well as 6 television broadcasts and 3 OTT Services to the general ...

radio. With

Donald Woods Donald James Woods (15 December 1933 – 19 August 2001) was a South African journalist and anti-apartheid activist. As editor of the ''Daily Dispatch'', he was known for befriending fellow activist Steve Biko, who was killed by police after ...

, he formed one of the first multiracial club teams in South Africa, the Rainbow Cricket Club in East London. Bassano became a prolific historian of South Africa's international cricket up to 1970, and made a 30-part television history of South Africa's

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...

history from 1888 to 1970 for SABC. He moved to Australia in 1988. Several of his histories were published posthumously. His son

Chris Chris is a short form of various names including Christopher, Christian, Christina, and Christine. Chris is also used as a name in its own right, however it is not as common. People with the given name * Chris Abani (born 1966), Nigerian autho ...

played

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

for

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

and

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

Books

* ''South Africa in International Cricket 1888–1970'' 1979 * ''The Best of South African Sport: Rob Armitage Benefit Year'' 1987 (editor) * ''The West Indies in Australia 1930-31'' (with Rick Smith) 1990 * ''A Springbok Down Under: South Africa on Tour, 1931-32'' (with Rick Smith) 1991 (based on the diary of

Ken Viljoen Kenneth George Viljoen (14 May 1910 – 21 January 1974) was a South African cricketer who played in 27 Test matches from 1930–31 to 1948–49. Making his Test debut in 1930, he played his first and last Tests against England. He was later a ...

) * '' Vic's Boys: Australia in South Africa 1935-36'' 1993 * ''South African Cricket: Vol. 4, 1947–1960'' 1996 * ''South Africa versus England: 106 Years of Test Match Glory'' 1996 * '' MCC in South Africa 1938-39'' 1997 * ''

Aubrey Faulkner George Aubrey Faulkner (17 December 1881 – 10 September 1930) was a South African cricketer who played 25 Test matches for South Africa and fought in both the Second Boer War and World War I. In cricket, he was an all-rounder who was among ...

: His Record Innings by Innings'' 2001 * '' Mann's Men: MCC in South Africa 1922-23'' 2004 * ''The Visit of Mr W. W. Read's 1891-92 English Cricket Team to South Africa'' (with Rick Smith) 2007 * ''Maiden Victory: The 1935 South African Tour of England'' (with Rick Smith) 2012 * ''South African Test Cricketers 1888-89 – 1969-70'' (edited by Rick Smith) 2022

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bassano, Brian 1936 births 2001 deaths Cricket writers South African emigrants to Australia South African cricket commentators Australian people of South African descent People from East London, South Africa 20th-century South African journalists