Rajesh Rama Naik (born 20 December 1974) is a former Indian first-class

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.

Life and career

Naik was born at Mapusa in north Goa. He made his debut for Goa in a

List A List A cricket is a classification of the limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competitions in which the numbe ...

one-day match against Kerala in December 1993 in the Ranji Trophy One Day competition. He featured twice more for Goa in that seasons competition. Having not featured for Goa since his three initial one-day matches, Naik made a return to the Goan side, returning to one-day action in the 1995/96 Ranji Trophy One Day competition. He made his debut in first-class cricket in January 1996 against Tamil Nadu in the 1995–96 Ranji Trophy. He continued to play first-class and List A one-day cricket for Goa until the 2003/04 season, having by that point played a total of 28 first-class and 20 List A matches for Goa. He scored 1,047 runs in first-class cricket, with a highest score of 133, which was his only

century A century is a period of 100 years. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c. A centennial or ...

. His batting average was low, averaging just 20.52; he bowled 129.5 overs in first-class cricket, taking two wickets at the high average of 227.00. In List A matches he scored 326 runs, with a top score of 78 not out; he took seven wickets in one-day cricket, with a bowling average of 45.57. Naik also featured in a single List A match for the Will's XI against the Indian Board President's XI in the 1997/98 Wills Trophy at Bhilwara. Naik was dismissed in this match without scoring by

Jacob Martin Jacob Joseph Martin () (born 11 May 1972) is an Indian cricketer. He is a right-handed middle-order batsman. Martin has appeared 10 times for India at One Day International (ODI) level at the turn of the 21st century. He captained Baroda cric ...

. He later moved to England to take up cricket coaching, where he played club cricket in Dorset and Hampshire. After strong performances in the Dorset league, Naik was selected to make his debut for Dorset in a friendly 20-over match against Somerset, played as part of Somerset's preparations for the

2010 Twenty20 Cup The 2010 Friends Provident t20 tournament was the inaugural Friends Provident t20 Twenty20 cricket competition for the County cricket#First-class counties, England and Wales first-class counties. The competition ran from 1 June 2010 until the ...

. He dismissed England international Craig Kieswetter during the match. Later that season, Naik made two appearances for Dorset 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 ...

. He opened an Indian restaurant in

Bournemouth Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the Southern ...

in 2011.

References

External links

Raj Naik
at ESPNcricinfo
Raj Naik
at CricketArchive {{DEFAULTSORT:Naik, Raj 1974 births Living people People from Mapusa Indian cricketers Goa cricketers Indian expatriates in the United Kingdom Dorset cricketers Indian restaurateurs