Nolan Ewatt Clarke (born 22 June 1948) is a

Barbados Barbados, officially the Republic of Barbados, is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and the easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American ...

-born Dutch former

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er. A big-hitting right-handed batsman, Clarke played five

One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

s for the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

in the

1996 Cricket World Cup The 1996 Cricket World Cup, also called the Wills World Cup 1996 for sponsorship reasons, was the sixth Cricket World Cup organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was co-hosted by India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The tournament wa ...

. At the age of 47, he was the oldest cricketer to play in the World Cup. He once topped the six hitting tally in the Hong Kong Sixes, a tournament that included

Brian Lara Brian Charles Lara, (born 2 May 1969) is a Trinidadian former international cricketer, widely renowned as one of the greatest Batting (cricket), batsmen of all time. He holds several cricketing records, including the record for the highest in ...

School times

Clarke was educated at

St Michael Michael, also called Saint Michael the Archangel, Archangel Michael and Saint Michael the Taxiarch is an archangel and the warrior of God in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. The earliest surviving mentions of his name are in third- and second- ...

's parish, the same school that West Indian cricketers

Vanburn Holder Vanburn Alonzo Holder (born 10 October 1945) is a Barbadian former first-class cricketer who played in 40 Test matches and 12 One Day Internationals for the West Indies cricket team between 1969 and 1979. A fast-medium bowler, he bowled along ...

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 against

Mike Denness Michael Henry Denness (1 December 1940 – 19 April 2013) was a Scottish cricketer who played for England national cricket team, England, Scotland national cricket team, Scotland, Kent County Cricket Club, Kent and Essex County Cricket Club, Es ...

'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 Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

. His score of 265 not out for Quick against Bloemendaal in 1990 remains the highest score ever made in Dutch domestic cricket. In 1995, he made 86 for the Netherlands in a

NatWest Trophy The Friends Provident Trophy was a one-day cricket competition in the United Kingdom. It was one of the four tournaments in which the eighteen first-class counties competed each season. They were joined by teams from Scotland and Ireland. Lan ...

game against

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire ( ; abbreviated Northants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshi ...

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 Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...

in a crucial

1994 ICC Trophy The 1994 ICC Trophy (formally the ABN AMRO ICC Trophy) was a cricket tournament that took place in Kenya between 12 February and 6 March 1994. It was the fifth ICC Trophy tournament to be staged, and acted as the Cricket World Cup qualification ...

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. He beat the previous record for oldest debutant, held by England's

Norman Gifford Norman Gifford (born 30 March 1940) is a retired English cricketer, who played primarily as a left-arm spinner. Gifford played county cricket for Worcestershire, and Warwickshire County Cricket Clubs, and represented England in fifteen Tes ...

, by almost three years, and the previous record for oldest player, held by

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

John Traicos Athanasios John Traicos (born 17 May 1947) is a former cricketer who represented South Africa and Zimbabwe at international level. He was primarily an off spin bowler, and one of a small number of cricketers to have played at the highest level ...

, by almost two years. 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 Cricket has been played in the Netherlands since at least the 19th century, and in the 1860s was considered a major sport in the country. The sport is governed by the Royal Dutch Cricket Association. Other sports (notably football) have long si ...

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

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Clarke, Nolan 1948 births Living people Dutch cricketers Netherlands One Day International cricketers Barbados cricketers Free State cricketers Dutch people of Barbadian descent Cricketers from Saint Michael, Barbados Barbadian cricketers Dutch cricket coaches