Vikram Singh Solanki (born 1 April 1976) is an English cricket coach and former

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 ...

er. In limited over international cricket, he played over 50

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 England as a batsman and occasional off-spinner. In county cricket, he played for

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, having previously spent 17 years at

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...

. In 2007, he became the 24th Worcestershire batsman to pass 10,000 career runs for the county. He also captained Worcestershire from 2005 to 2010, before resigning mid-season. In September 2015 he announced his retirement as a player. After obtaining an LLB from the Open University, Vikram then studied the Legal Practice Course at the University of Law. Vikram Solanki has held a variety of coaching and administrative roles apart from his playing career. In March 2009 he was appointed Chairman of The Professional Cricketer's Association, where he also held the role of Interim Chief Executive and in March 2017 he became FICA President, succeeding former West Indian International, Jimmy Adams.

Early life and domestic career

Solanki was born in Udaipur,

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; Literal translation, lit. 'Land of Kings') is a States and union territories of India, state in northwestern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the List of states and union territories of ...

, India, but moved to

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands of England. Located around 12 miles (20 km) north of Birmingham, it forms the northwestern part of the West Midlands conurbation, with the towns of ...

with his family at the age of eight. Solanki played junior and senior cricket for Wolverhampton cricket club and education from Regis School, Wolverhampton. He made his first-class debut for

in 1995, although he had played

one-day cricket Limited overs cricket, also known as white ball cricket, is a version of the sport of cricket in which a match is generally completed within one day. There are a number of formats, including List A cricket (8-hour games), Twenty20 cricket (3-h ...

for the county two seasons earlier. In 1996 he was awarded the NBC Denis Compton Award. Although principally taken on by Worcestestershire as a batsman, on his first-class debut, due to there being no fit spinners available, he was selected to bowl his off breaks – something he had done with a degree of success the previous winter while on tour with England U19. Although generally an occasional bowler, Solanki produced a ten-wicket haul, five wickets in each innings, against

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

at Old Trafford in 1996. In 1999 he achieved a batting average of over 40, something he repeated in 2000, 2002, 2004 and 2006. 2006 was also the first season since 2000 in which he managed to top 1,000 first-class runs, making 1,252. Together with Worcestershire teammate Kabir Ali, Solanki accepted an offer to play for

in the Indian Ranji Trophy during the 2006–07 season. Solanki joined the Indian Cricket League (ICL) in 2007, he made six appearances for the Mumbai Champs in his single season of ICL.

England A tours

Solanki was picked for two England A tours: to South Africa and

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 ...

in 1998–99, and to

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and

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

in 1999–2000. His fine performances on these latter tours led to his making his full

debut against the South Africans later that same winter. However, he was unable to translate his A-team feats into runs for the senior England side, and after eight innings yielding just 96 runs, he was dropped and not picked again for more than three years.

English county cricket

Solanki was also an occasional bowler of off-spin for Worcestershire, although he has only bowled a handful of overs for England. Worcestershire appointed Solanki as captain of the county for 2005, succeeding the retiring Steve Rhodes. In September 2006 he agreed an extension to his contract which saw him remain at the county until 2009. Following a defeat by Glamorgan on 12 August 2010, he announced his resignation as captain with immediate effect stating that "it was time for somebody else to be at the helm". After showing good form in the first half of the 2009 season Solanki was called up to the England Lions squad for their fixture against Australia. In July 2012, it was announced that Solanki would leave Worcestershire at the expiry of his contract in September, and join Surrey on a two-year contract. He announced his retirement from the first-class game at the end of the 2015 season, during which he played in only one County Championship match.

International career

Solanki represented England on 51 occasions in one-day cricket, but was never selected for a Test match. His natural talent only rarely came through into his performances for his country, and his England batting average was in the mid-20s. He made two international hundreds, 106 off 108 balls against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

at The Oval in 2003 (when he shared an opening partnership of 200 with Marcus Trescothick), and exactly 100 off 93 balls versus Zimbabwe at

Bulawayo Bulawayo (, ; ) is the second largest city in Zimbabwe, and the largest city in the country's Matabeleland region. The city's population is disputed; the 2022 census listed it at 665,940, while the Bulawayo City Council claimed it to be about ...

in 2004/05. Solanki played in four of the five One Day Internationals when England toured Pakistan in December 2005, his best score of 49 also being the highest in England's innings in the final match, which England went on to win by 6 wickets. However, Solanki was not selected for the team to go on the tour to India, instead being chosen to captain the 'A' team in the West Indies. On 1 July 2006, Solanki took his first wicket in ODIs at

Headingley Headingley is a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, approximately two miles out of the city centre, to the north west along the A660 road. Headingley is the location of the Beckett Park campus of Leeds Beckett University and Headingley ...

, removing Sri Lankan opener Sanath Jayasuriya for 152. It was something of a hollow triumph, however, as Jayasuriya and Upul Tharanga (109) had put on 286, a world record for the first wicket in ODIs, and England were crushed as Sri Lanka scored 324/2 to win by eight wickets in just 37.3 overs. Solanki made history against Australia in 2005 when he became the first supersub in a One Day International, replacing Simon Jones to strengthen England's tail after a batting collapse; coming to the crease at no.8 with England 93/6, Solanki made 53 not out. He also took part in the final two matches of England's time in the 2007 Twenty20 World Championship, replacing the injured Matt Prior. Keeping wicket and opening the batting in both of his matches in that tournament, he took two catches in the first, conceded no byes in either match, and scored 24 and 43. Those were his last international appearances.

Coaching career

In January 2018, Solanki was appointed as Deputy Head coach at Surrey CCC, and in June 2020 he was promoted as Head coach by Surrey's Director of Cricket,

Alec Stewart Alec James Stewart (born 8 April 1963) is an English former cricketer, and former captain of the England cricket team, who played Test cricket and One Day Internationals as a right-handed wicket-keeper-batsman. He is the fifth-most- capped En ...

, in succession to Michael di Venuto. In IPL 2019, he was a member of the Royal Challengers Bangalore's coaching staff, where he worked as an Assistant coach. In January 2022, Solanki ended his nine-year association with the Surrey CCC after being appointed as the Director of Cricket of the newly added IPL franchise Gujarat Titans ahead of the Mega Auction 2022.

Career milestones

*22 June 1995: First-class debut for Worcestershire: v

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

at the County Ground,

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

*16 May 1997: Maiden first-class century: 128* v Oxford University at The Parks,

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

*23 January 2000: One Day International debut: v South Africa at

Bloemfontein Bloemfontein ( ; ), also known as Bloem, is the capital and the largest city of the Free State (province), Free State province in South Africa. It is often, and has been traditionally, referred to as the country's "judicial capital", alongsi ...

, South Africa *28 June 2003: Maiden ODI century: 106 v South Africa, The Oval, London *1 August 2008: Highest First-Class Innings: 270 v Gloucestershire,

Cheltenham Cheltenham () is a historic spa town and borough adjacent to the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort following the discovery of mineral springs in 1716, and claims to be the mo ...

*24 June 2009: First T20 century: 100 v Glamorgan, New Road, Worcester

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Solanki, Vikram 1976 births Living people English cricketers Rajasthan cricketers Rajasthani people Worcestershire cricketers Worcestershire cricket captains England Twenty20 International cricketers England One Day International cricketers Cricketers from Wolverhampton English people of Indian descent Sportspeople of Indian descent Indian emigrants to the United Kingdom NBC Denis Compton Award recipients Surrey cricketers British Asian cricketers First-Class Counties Select XI cricketers English cricket coaches