John Solanky
Encyclopedia
John William Solanky was a Tanzania
n cricket
er. A right-handed batsman and right-arm off spin
/medium pace
bowler, he played for Glamorgan County Cricket Club
between 1972 and 1976.
in 1942, John Solanky played twice for Tanganyika - against Uganda in 1959 and 1960. He made his first-class cricket
debut in November 1963, playing for an East African Invitation XI against the MCC
in Kampala
.
He played a second first-class match in 1964, for a Coast Cricket Association XI against Pakistan International Airlines
in Mombasa
, but soon emigrated to England
due to political changes in Tanzania
. Here he began to play league cricket in Devon
and represented Devon County Cricket Club
in the Minor Counties Championship
between 1967 and 1969, also making his List A debut when he played for Devon against Hertfordshire
in the first round of the 1969 Gillette Cup.
level attracted the attention of first-class county scouts, and he was signed by Glamorgan, making his debut for the county in a friendly match against Worcestershire
in April 1972. He made his competitive debut for them four days later, playing a Benson & Hedges Cup
match against Gloucestershire
, and his County Championship
debut the following month in a match against Hampshire
. After the season, Solanky returned to Africa with his county side, playing a three match series against the Zambia national cricket team.
His 1973 season
started with various John Player League and Benson & Hedges Cup matches in addition to first-class matches against Cambridge University
and New Zealand, and by this time he had become a regular in the Glamorgan side.
Solanky played in several matches for Glamorgan over the following few years, and also played against his old East African team as they warmed up for the 1975 World Cup
. His Glamorgan career eventually came to an end in 1976 when the county signed West Indian all-rounder Collis King
. He was still on the books at the county in 1977, and played for the Under-25s (though he was 34 at the time) and Second XI that year.
and squash
professional in South Wales before moving to Northern Ireland
in 1980. He played for and coached Lisburn and Cliftonville Cricket Clubs, coaching future Ireland internationals such as Kyle McCallan
, Andrew Patterson
and Mark Patterson
.
In the late 1980s he began teaching technology at a school in Carrickfergus
, continuing to play as an amateur with Cliftonville CC until 1993. He remained in the teaching profession until he died suddenly from a heart attack
in 2003.
at an average of 20.46 with a top score of 73 for Glamorgan against Cambridge University in 1975
. Solanky took his 100th first-class wicket in the same match. He took 183 wickets at an average
of 25.34, with best innings bowling figures of 6/63 against Derbyshire
in 1975. In 91 List A matches, he scored 1134 runs at an average of 18.29, with a top score of 60 against Derbyshire in 1975. He took 92 wickets at an average of 27.46, with best innings bowling figures of 4/23 for Glamorgan against Nottinghamshire
in 1973.
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
n cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
er. A right-handed batsman and right-arm off spin
Off spin
Off spin is a type of bowling in the sport of cricket which is bowled by an off spinner, a right-handed spin bowler who uses his or her fingers and/or wrist to spin the ball from a right-handed batsman's off side to the leg side...
/medium pace
Seam bowling
Seam bowling is a phrase used for a bowling technique in cricket whereby the ball is deliberately bowled on to its seam, to cause a random deviation. Practitioners are known as seam bowlers or seamers....
bowler, he played for Glamorgan County Cricket Club
Glamorgan County Cricket Club
Glamorgan County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Glamorgan aka Glamorganshire . Glamorgan CCC is the only Welsh first-class cricket club. Glamorgan CCC have won the English County...
between 1972 and 1976.
Early life and career
Born in Dar es SalaamDar es Salaam
Dar es Salaam , formerly Mzizima, is the largest city in Tanzania. It is also the country's richest city and a regionally important economic centre. Dar es Salaam is actually an administrative province within Tanzania, and consists of three local government areas or administrative districts: ...
in 1942, John Solanky played twice for Tanganyika - against Uganda in 1959 and 1960. He made his first-class cricket
First-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
debut in November 1963, playing for an East African Invitation XI against the MCC
Marylebone Cricket Club
Marylebone Cricket Club is a cricket club in London founded in 1787. Its influence and longevity now witness it as a private members' club dedicated to the development of cricket. It owns, and is based at, Lord's Cricket Ground in St John's Wood, London NW8. MCC was formerly the governing body of...
in Kampala
Kampala
Kampala is the largest city and capital of Uganda. The city is divided into five boroughs that oversee local planning: Kampala Central Division, Kawempe Division, Makindye Division, Nakawa Division and Lubaga Division. The city is coterminous with Kampala District.-History: of Buganda, had chosen...
.
He played a second first-class match in 1964, for a Coast Cricket Association XI against Pakistan International Airlines
Pakistan International Airlines cricket team
Pakistan International Airlines cricket team are a first-class cricket side based in Karachi, Pakistan. They have won the Qaid-i-Azam Trophy more times than anyone else...
in Mombasa
Mombasa
Mombasa is the second-largest city in Kenya. Lying next to the Indian Ocean, it has a major port and an international airport. The city also serves as the centre of the coastal tourism industry....
, but soon emigrated to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
due to political changes in Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
. Here he began to play league cricket in Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
and represented Devon County Cricket Club
Devon County Cricket Club
Devon County Cricket Club is one of the county clubs which make up the Minor Counties in the English domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Devon and playing in the Minor Counties Championship and the MCCA Knockout Trophy....
in the Minor Counties Championship
Minor Counties Cricket Championship
The Minor Counties Cricket Championship is a season-long competition in England that is contested by those county cricket clubs that do not have first-class status...
between 1967 and 1969, also making his List A debut when he played for Devon against Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire County Cricket Club
Hertfordshire County Cricket Club is one of the county clubs which make up the Minor Counties in the English domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Hertfordshire and playing in the Minor Counties Championship and the MCCA Knockout Trophy...
in the first round of the 1969 Gillette Cup.
Glamorgan career
His bowling and batting at minor countiesMinor counties of English cricket
The Minor Counties are the cricketing counties of England and Wales that are not afforded first-class status. The game is administered by the Minor Counties Cricket Association which comes under the England and Wales Cricket Board...
level attracted the attention of first-class county scouts, and he was signed by Glamorgan, making his debut for the county in a friendly match against Worcestershire
Worcestershire County Cricket Club
Worcestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Worcestershire...
in April 1972. He made his competitive debut for them four days later, playing a Benson & Hedges Cup
Benson & Hedges Cup
The Benson & Hedges Cup was a one-day cricket competition for first-class counties in England and Wales that was held from 1972 to 2002, one of cricket's longest sponsorship deals....
match against Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire County Cricket Club
Gloucestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Gloucestershire. Its limited overs team is called the Gloucestershire Gladiators....
, and his County Championship
County Championship
The County Championship is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales...
debut the following month in a match against Hampshire
Hampshire County Cricket Club
Hampshire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Hampshire in cricket's County Championship. The club was founded in 1863 as a successor to the Hampshire county cricket teams and has played at the Antelope Ground from then until 1885, before moving to the County Ground where it...
. After the season, Solanky returned to Africa with his county side, playing a three match series against the Zambia national cricket team.
His 1973 season
1973 English cricket season
The 1973 English cricket season saw Hampshire win their second-ever title while a very strong Kent side continued to dominate the limited overs game.-Honours:*County Championship - Hampshire*Gillette Cup - Gloucestershire...
started with various John Player League and Benson & Hedges Cup matches in addition to first-class matches against Cambridge University
Cambridge University Cricket Club
Cambridge University Cricket Club is a first-class cricket team. It now plays all but one of its first-class cricket matches as part of the Cambridge University Centre of Cricketing Excellence , which includes Anglia Ruskin University...
and New Zealand, and by this time he had become a regular in the Glamorgan side.
Solanky played in several matches for Glamorgan over the following few years, and also played against his old East African team as they warmed up for the 1975 World Cup
1975 Cricket World Cup
-Group B:-Knockout stage:-Semifinals:In the best World Cup performance to date by a bowler, Gary Gilmour took six wickets as England were bowled all out for 93 , after falling to 37/7...
. His Glamorgan career eventually came to an end in 1976 when the county signed West Indian all-rounder Collis King
Collis King
Collis Llewellyn King is a former West Indies cricketer who played nine Tests and 18 One Day Internationals for the West Indies....
. He was still on the books at the county in 1977, and played for the Under-25s (though he was 34 at the time) and Second XI that year.
Later life and career
After leaving Glamorgan, Solanky spent a year as a cricket coachCoach (sport)
In sports, a coach is an individual involved in the direction, instruction and training of the operations of a sports team or of individual sportspeople.-Staff:...
and squash
Squash (sport)
Squash is a high-speed racquet sport played by two players in a four-walled court with a small, hollow rubber ball...
professional in South Wales before moving to Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
in 1980. He played for and coached Lisburn and Cliftonville Cricket Clubs, coaching future Ireland internationals such as Kyle McCallan
Kyle McCallan
William Kyle McCallan, MBE , usually known as Kyle McCallan, is an Irish cricketer. A right-handed batsman and off spin bowler, he has played more times for the Ireland cricket team than any other player, more than 40 caps ahead of the next player in the table, the retired Peter Gillespie...
, Andrew Patterson
Andrew Patterson
Andrew Patterson is a former Irish cricketer. He was a right-handed batsman and a wicket-keeper. He made his debut for Ireland against Wales in 1996, and went onto play for them in 61 matches, including two ICC Trophy tournaments...
and Mark Patterson
Mark Patterson (cricketer)
Mark William Patterson is a former Irish cricketer. Patterson was a right-handed batsman who bowls right-arm fast-medium. He was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland....
.
In the late 1980s he began teaching technology at a school in Carrickfergus
Carrickfergus
Carrickfergus , known locally and colloquially as "Carrick", is a large town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is located on the north shore of Belfast Lough, from Belfast. The town had a population of 27,201 at the 2001 Census and takes its name from Fergus Mór mac Eirc, the 6th century king...
, continuing to play as an amateur with Cliftonville CC until 1993. He remained in the teaching profession until he died suddenly from a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
in 2003.
Cricket statistics
In 84 first-class matches, Solanky scored 2374 runsRun (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, a run is the basic unit of scoring. Runs are scored by a batsman, and the aggregate of the scores of a team's batsmen constitutes the team's score. A batsman scoring 50 or 100 runs , or any higher multiple of 50 runs, is considered a particular achievement...
at an average of 20.46 with a top score of 73 for Glamorgan against Cambridge University in 1975
1975 English cricket season
The 1975 English cricket season was notable for hosting the first-ever Cricket World Cup which was won by West Indies, who defeated Australia in an exciting final.-Honours:*County Championship - Leicestershire*Gillette Cup - Lancashire...
. Solanky took his 100th first-class wicket in the same match. He took 183 wickets at an average
Bowling average
Bowling average is a statistic measuring the performance of bowlers in the sport of cricket.A bowler's bowling average is defined as the total number of runs conceded by the bowlers divided by the number of wickets taken by the bowler, so the lower the average the better. It is similar to earned...
of 25.34, with best innings bowling figures of 6/63 against Derbyshire
Derbyshire County Cricket Club
Derbyshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the England and Wales domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Derbyshire...
in 1975. In 91 List A matches, he scored 1134 runs at an average of 18.29, with a top score of 60 against Derbyshire in 1975. He took 92 wickets at an average of 27.46, with best innings bowling figures of 4/23 for Glamorgan against Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club
Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Nottinghamshire, and the current county champions. Its limited overs team is called the Nottinghamshire Outlaws...
in 1973.