Rangy or Ranjie Nanan (29 May 1953 – 23 March 2016) was a

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 ...

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 one

Test match 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) ...

in 1980.

Early life

Born in Preysal Village,

Couva Couva is an urban town (48,858 in 2011 census) in west-central Trinidad, south of Port of Spain and Chaguanas and north of San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago, San Fernando and Point Fortin. It is the capital and main urban centre of Couva–Tab ...

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 ...

, Nanan attended Presentation College in

Chaguanas The Borough of Chaguanas is the largest municipality (83,489 at the 2011 census) and fastest-growing
– Afra ...

, where he took cricket seriously for the first time. After developing as an

off-spin Off spin is a type of finger spin bowling in cricket. A bowler who uses this technique is called an off spinner. Off spinners are right-handed spin bowlers who use their fingers to spin the ball. Their normal delivery is an off break, which spi ...

ner, Nanan made the Trinidad and Tobago youth representative teams in 1969 and 1970, and toured England with the West Indies youth team in 1970. His continual success in youth cricket, including winning the

Learie Constantine Learie Nicholas Constantine, Baron Constantine, (21 September 19011 July 1971) was a West Indian cricketer, lawyer and politician who served as Trinidad and Tobago's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and became the UK's first black pe ...

Trophy for being the most outstanding all rounder at the 1972 West Indies Youth Championships, led to Nanan making his

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 ...

debut for

in 1972/73.

Senior cricket career

Playing for Trinidad and Tobago for almost two decades, Nanan was the most successful bowler in West Indies domestic cricket history, taking 366 first-class wickets at 23. Included in the West Indies squad for the 1980 tour of Pakistan, Nanan played his only Test match, against

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

Iqbal Stadium Iqbal Stadium ( ur, اقبال سٹیڈیم) is a Test cricket ground in Faisalabad, Pakistan. Previous names for the ground include Lyallpur Stadium, National Stadium, and City Stadium. It was founded in October 1978. History Iqbal Stadium wa ...

Faisalabad Faisalabad (; Punjabi/ ur, , ; ), formerly known as Lyallpur ( Punjabi, Urdu: لائل پور), named after the founder of the city, but was renamed in 1977 in honour of late King Faisal of Saudi Arabia. It is the 3rd largest city of Pak ...

in December 1980, taking four wickets.Rangy Nanan: The only Test cricketer with a palindromic surname
/ref> In the 1982 domestic

Shell Shield The Regional Four Day Competition, formerly known as Shell Shield and Carib Beer Cup, is the first-class cricket competition in the West Indies. It is administered by the Cricket West Indies. In the 2013-2014 season the winner of the tourname ...

season, Nanan took 32 wickets in five matches, breaking the previous record of 27 wickets by

Inshan Ali Inshan Ali (25 September 1949 – 24 June 1995) was a West Indian international cricketer who played in 12 Test matches from 1971 to 1977. Biography Born in Preysal, Trinidad and Tobago, of Indian descent, Ali was the second of eight children ...

in 1975, and was named one of the five "Cricketers of the Year" by the ''West Indies Cricket Annual''.''Benson & Hedges West Indies Cricket Annual 1982'', "Five Cricketers of the Year", Caribbean Communications: Christ Church, Barbados, p. 7. Nanan captained Trinidad and Tobago, including in the 1984 match against the touring

Australian cricket team The Australia men's national cricket team represents Australia in men's international cricket. As the joint oldest team in Test cricket history, playing in the first ever Test match in 1877, the team also plays One-Day International (ODI) an ...

, when Australian captain

Kim Hughes Kimberley John Hughes (born 26 January 1954) is a former cricketer who played for Western Australia, Natal and Australia. He captained Australia in 28 Test matches between 1979 and 1984 before captaining a rebel Australian team in a tour of ...

, angered by Nanan's refusal to set what Hughes considered a reasonable target to chase, made only two scoring shots in 75 minutes. Nanan also played as a professional in the United Kingdom, including for

Durham County Cricket Club Durham County Cricket Club (rebranded as Durham Cricket in February 2019) is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Durham. Founded in 1882, Du ...

in the

Minor Counties Championship The NCCA 3 Day Championship (previously the Minor Counties Cricket Championship) is a season-long competition in England and Wales that is contested by the members of the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), the so-called national cou ...

in 1983 and Scottish team Kirkcaldy Cricket Club, where in the 1990 season he scored 615 runs at 32.37 and took 81 wickets at 13.49.

Post-cricketing retirement

In addition to his role as a professional cricketer, Nanan was a policeman and later served as a cricket administrator, including as the Trinidad and Tobago liaison officer for the West Indies team. Nanan suffered a stroke in 2012 from which he never recovered, and died of a heart attack at the Couva Hospital in Caroni on 23 March 2016, survived by his wife Martha and two sons.

Brian Lara Brian Charles Lara, (born 2 May 1969) is a Trinidadian former international cricketer, widely acknowledged as one of the greatest batsmen of all time. He topped the Test batting rankings on several occasions and holds several cricketing reco ...

paid tribute to Nanan, saying he learnt a lot about the art of playing spin from Nanan, while former West Indies fast bowler Tony Gray said Nanan was a consummate professional who was difficult to score off and was in love with cricket and West Indies cricket. Nanan's uncle

Nirmal Nanan Nirmal Nanan (19 August 1951 – 4 December 2021) was a West Indian first-class cricketer active from 1969 to 80 who played for Nottinghamshire and in Trinidad. Nanan was born in Preysal, Trinidad. Nanan's nephew Rangy Nanan played Test cricket ...

and nephew Magnum Nanan also played first-class cricket. During April 2021 The Preysal Recreation Ground that's located in Preysal,

was renamed in Nanan's honour.

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nanan, Rangy 1953 births 2016 deaths West Indies Test cricketers Trinidad and Tobago cricketers Durham cricketers Trinidad and Tobago expatriates in the United Kingdom