Nyron Sultan Asgarali (28 December 1920 – 5 November 2006) was a former

West Indian A West Indian is a native or inhabitant of the West Indies (the Antilles and the Lucayan Archipelago). For more than 100 years the words ''West Indian'' specifically described natives of the West Indies, but by 1661 Europeans had begun to use it ...

international

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er who played in two

Test matches Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th y ...

. Asgarali was a right-handed opening batsman and an occasional medium-paced bowler whose

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 one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

career lasted more than 20 years but included only 50 matches, 21 of them on the 1957 West Indies tour of England. Apart from 1957, he never played more than three first-class matches in any single season. Asgarali was 30 before he made a first-class century, but then made several in inter-island and other matches for

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

. He also spent several years playing Lancashire League cricket and his knowledge of English conditions was probably a contributory factor in his selection for the 1957 tour. The tour marked the transition between the early 1950s batting dominance of the Three Ws (

Everton Weekes Sir Everton DeCourcy Weekes, KCMG, GCM, OBE (26 February 19251 July 2020) was a cricketer from Barbados. A right-handed batsman, he was known as one of the hardest hitters in world cricket. Weekes holds the record for consecutive Test hundre ...

Clyde Walcott Sir Clyde Leopold Walcott KA, GCM, OBE (17 January 1926 – 26 August 2006) was a West Indian cricketer. Walcott was a member of the "three W's", the other two being Everton Weekes and Frank Worrell: all were very successful batsmen from Bar ...

, and

Frank Worrell Sir Frank Mortimer Maglinne Worrell (1 August 1924 – 13 March 1967), sometimes referred to by his nickname of Tae, was a West Indies cricketer and Jamaican senator. A stylish right-handed batsman and useful left-arm seam bowler, he became fam ...

) and the emergence of new talent in

Garfield Sobers Sir Garfield St Aubrun Sobers, (born 28 July 1936), also known as Sir Gary or Sir Garry Sobers, is a former cricketer who played for the West Indies between 1954 and 1974. A highly skilled bowler, an aggressive batsman and an excellent fielder, ...

Rohan Kanhai Rohan Babulal Kanhai (born 26 December 1935) is a Guyanese former cricketer of Tamil Indo-Guyanese origin , who represented the West Indies in 79 Test matches. He is widely considered to be one of the best batsmen of the 1960s. Kanhai featur ...

, and

Collie Smith O'Neil Gordon "Collie" Smith (5 May 1933 – 9 September 1959) was a West Indian cricketer. A hard-hitting batsman and off-spin bowler, Smith was rated highly in West Indies. He idolised Jim Laker, for which reason he was nicknamed "Jim" for a ...

, and Asgarali was seen as a backup rather than a front-line batsman. But consistent scoring in county games, plus unexpected defeat in the first Test at Edgbaston, led to him being called up for the second match at

Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and ...

. He made a first-innings duck, and, batting at No 4, a second-innings 26, and was then dropped. Recalled for the final Test at

The Oval The Oval, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club since ...

, he made his highest Test score of 29 out of a total of 89 – Worrell was dismissed early, but Asgarali and Sobers, who made 39, took the score to 68 before the second wicket fell, so the last nine wickets fell for just 21 runs. On the 1957 tour as a whole, Asgarali made 1,011 runs at an average just below 30. Asgarali made no further Test appearances, though he played in first-class games in Trinidad into his 40s. His son, Gregory, was also a first-class cricketer for Trinidad and Tobago.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Asgarali, Nyron 1920 births 2006 deaths West Indies Test cricketers Trinidad and Tobago cricketers South Trinidad cricketers Commonwealth XI cricketers Trinidad and Tobago expatriates in the United Kingdom