Rangy 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). According to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED''), the term ''West Indian'' in 1597 described the indigenous inhabitants of the West In ...

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 who played as a right arm off spinner. Nanan played for both

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago, officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean, comprising the main islands of Trinidad and Tobago, along with several List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, smaller i ...

and for the West Indies cricket team. He captained T&T for several years, steering the side to a 1985 Red Stripe Cup title. Nanan picked up a sum of 366 wickets in 94 first class games for T&T.

Early life

Born in Preysal Village,

Couva Couva is a town 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–Tabaquite–Talparo, and the Greate ...

, Nanan attended Presentation College in

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

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

off-spin Off spin is a type of spin bowling in cricket. A bowler who uses this technique is called an off spinner. Off spinners bowl with their right-arm and a finger spin action. Their normal delivery is called an off break, which spins from left to ...

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 Trinidadian cricketer, lawyer and politician who served as Trinidad and Tobago's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and became the UK's first black peer ...

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 of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

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, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

at Iqbal Stadium,

Faisalabad Faisalabad, formerly known as Lyallpur, is the List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, second-largest city and primary List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, industrial center of the Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan ...

in December 1980, taking four wickets.Rangy Nanan: The only Test cricketer with a palindromic surname
/ref> In the 1982 domestic Shell Shield season, Nanan took 32 wickets in five matches, breaking the previous record of 27 wickets by Inshan Ali 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. He notched his solitary first class hundred, 125 which came in 1983 against the

Leeward Islands The Leeward Islands () are a group of islands situated where the northeastern Caribbean Sea meets the western Atlantic Ocean. Starting with the Virgin Islands east of Puerto Rico, they extend southeast to Guadeloupe and its dependencies. In Engl ...

which comprised a bowling attack with pacers Andy Roberts and Eldine Baptiste. 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 international cricket. Along with England, it is the joint oldest team in Test cricket history, playing and winning the first ever Test match in 1877; the team also plays One ...

, when Australian captain Kim Hughes, 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 cricket, first-class county cricket, county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the Historic c ...

in the

Minor Counties Championship The NCCA 3 Day Championship or National County 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 counties (previously ca ...

in 1983 and

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

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 the 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 renowned as one of the greatest Batting (cricket), batsmen of all time. He holds several cricketing records, including the record for the highest in ...

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 County Cricket Club, Nottinghamshire and in Trinidad. Nanan was born in Preysal, Trinidad. Nanan's n ...

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 expatriate cricketers in England Trinidad and Tobago expatriates in the United Kingdom People educated at Presentation College, Chaguanas