186: Mandy Yachad: I played international cricket wearing tzitzis and a yarmulke

Find all of Jonny's podcasts, recorded since 2018 and his writing by following his Substack. You can help support him with a coffee here!

It's the third year of Jonny Gould's Jewish State Schools Podcaster of the Year, presented with Dangoor Education.

Our winner from Year 6 is 10-year-old Meira Masher from Independent Jewish Day School in Hendon, London and she secured time for us with an international cricketer with an extraordinary story.

Mandy Yachad wore tzitzit at the crease while batting for South Africa. They’re on display at Lords, the Home of Cricket, in a permanent exhibition. Of course he played at Lord’s - wearing them!

And Mandy was no ordinary player.

He was an opening batsman who scored 14 centuries and 32 fifties in his 16-year first class career, spanning 109 matches - mostly during the apartheid era.

With much of his career falling during the international sporting boycott of South Africa in the 1980s and early 1990s, Mandy was denied the opportunity during the prime of his career.

Mandy was named among the South African Cricket Annual five Players of the Year both in 1985 and 1991. He also played 21 times for his country at hockey too.

He eventually quit because he became religious and found it too difficult to observe shabbat.

Now at 64 with a lifetime of special memories, how does he reflect on his career? What's South Africa like these days and what was it like to grow up in an apartheid state?

This is Mandy Yachad in conversation with our winner, Meira Masher.

Find all of Jonny's podcasts, recorded since 2018 and his writing by following his ⁠Substack.⁠ You can help⁠ support him with a coffee⁠ here!

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