Nolan Clarke

Nolan Ewatt Clarke (born 22 June 1948) is a Barbados-born former Dutch cricketer. A big-hitting right-handed batsman, Clarke played five One Day Internationals for the Netherlands in the 1996 Cricket World Cup. At the age of 47, he was the oldest cricketer to play in the World Cup.[1] He once topped the six hitting tally in the Hong Kong Sixes, a tournament that included Brian Lara.

Nolan Clarke
Personal information
Full nameNolan Ewatt Clarke
Born (1948-06-22) 22 June 1948
Saint Michael, Barbados
BattingRight-hand bat
BowlingLegbreak googly
RoleBatsman
International information
National side
ODI debut (cap 4)17 February 1996 v New Zealand
Last ODI5 March 1996 v South Africa
Career statistics
Competition ODI FC LA
Matches 5 26 8
Runs scored 50 1,331 185
Batting average 10.00 31.69 23.12
100s/50s 0/0 2/6 0/1
Top score 32 159 86
Balls bowled – 60 54
Wickets – 0 2
Bowling average – – 17.50
5 wickets in innings – 0 0
10 wickets in match – 0 0
Best bowling – – 2/35
Catches/stumpings 3/0 27/0 4/0
Source: ESPNcricinfo, 14 May 2017

School times

Clarke was educated at St Michael's parish, which was the same school that West Indian cricketers Vanburn Holder and David Murray went to.

Domestic career

He represented Barbados in first-class cricket from 1970 until 1978 and played 26 games for them in total. His highest first-class score of 159 was made against Mike Denness's touring England side in 1973–74.

He then began coaching in the Netherlands and played for Quick Haag before moving to Sparta 1888 in Rotterdam. His score of 265 not out for Quick against Bloemendaal in 1990 remains the highest score ever made in Dutch domestic cricket.[2]

In 1995 he made 86 for the Netherlands in a NatWest Trophy game against Northamptonshire.

International career

When the Netherlands qualified for the 1996 World Cup, Clarke was heavily influential in getting them there, having made 121 not out against Bermuda in a crucial 1994 ICC Trophy play-off match.

Clarke played in all five of the Netherlands' World Cup matches as an opening batsman, though he scored only 50 runs at an average of 10. He did, however, achieve two records: in the first match he became, at the age of 47 years and 240 days, both the oldest One Day International debutant and player in history.[3] He beat the previous record for oldest debutant, held by England's Norman Gifford, by almost three years,[4] and the previous record for oldest player, held by Zimbabwe's John Traicos, by almost two years.[5]

In 2005 Clarke returned to cricket at the age of 56 to play for VVV Amsterdam in the Hoofdklasse and after a gap of six years, he hit 782 runs. He also aired trenchant opinions on the state of cricket in the Netherlands.[6]

Clarke has retired from playing, but remains active as a coach in the Dutch youth programme.[7]

References
  1. "Was Jason Behrendorff's five-for the first in a World Cup match at Lord's?". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2014-09-07.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. "Help the aged". EXPNcricinfo. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  4. "Records / One-Day Internationals / Oldest players on debut". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 23 September 2007.
  5. "Records / One-Day Internationals / Oldest players". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 23 September 2007.
  6. Lyall, Rod (27 February 2006). "Taking on the bowling - and the Establishment". CricketEurope. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
  7. Lyall, Rod (26 March 2008). "Sparta, VVV face a Hoofdklasse battle". CricketEurope. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
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