How many of the players in the Twenty Twenty World Cup about to burst upon us with all its attendant hype and razzmatazz, which - hopefully - will not entirely conceal the cricket, have studied the saxophone at University?
How many of those have already appeared in a World Cup in a totally different sport for another country?
The answer must surely be only one, that one being DIRK PETER NANNES, born on 16 May 1976 of Dutch parents at Mount Waverley, Melbourne.
Dirk Nannes
Dirk is now a very fine left arm bowler, capable of genuine pace - so much so that no less a batsman than Varinder Sehwag regards him as one of the quickest he has faced - but normally operating at fast medium, moving the ball off the wicket towards the slips, and, in favourable conditions, moving it through the air also.
Unlike most international cricketers, whether for Australia, The Netherlands, Ireland, Papua New Guinea or any of the 100 odd Full, Associate or Affiliate Members of the ICC, the young Dirk harboured no particular cricket ambitions.
He played with his brothers in the family's Melbourne backyard, and for his School Third XI. This was the standard of cricket he also plied his left arm quicks in when he left school and played the occasional club match.
Occasional is the word, as he only appeared at the beginning and end of each season, his time, when he was not on the saxophone or being spent on the ski slopes. Spent to good effect what is more, as he was chosen for Australia in several World Cups.
He narrowly failed to gain Olympic selection at the end of the last decade, and, disappointed, followed a friend's suggestion, to take cricket more seriously, though he continued his interest in the ski world, founding a highly successful travel agency.
A full time return to cricket soon saw him in the 1st XI of the Fitzroy - Doncaster Club, whose past players include the great left hander Neil Harvey.
Success brought him a place in the Victoria XI towards the end of the 2005-06 season, his debut being against Western Australia at the MCG.
He took two wickets, including that of prolific opener Chris Rogers, now captain of Derbyshire. His second match was the Pura Cup Final against Queensland at The Gabba. He must have been pleased to return the best bowling figures for the visitors, but a glance at them, 40 - 6 - 153 - 3, suggests a massive total, 900/6 declared being the exact score.
He played little during the 2006/7, following an injury playing club cricket in the English summer. However in the following two seasons he took a total of 60 wickets at 23.76, establishing himself as one of the leading new ball bowlers in Australia. His career best 7/50 came in the Final of the now thankfully renamed Sheffield Shield v Queensland in 2007/08. Sweet revenge for the 900/7, but the match ended in a draw.
It was probably his comparatively advanced age that caused the national selectors to ignore him. Certainly, for anyone who had seen both of them bowl in county cricket, his passing over in favour of NSW left armer Dougie Bollinger seems astonishing.
He did achieve notoriety in the West Australian match in the 2007/08 however.With his first ball, in the second over of the match, he had opener Shaun Marsh, son of the former Test wicket keeper, Rodney, caught off a full toss. He greeted the new batsman Luke Pomersbach with two similar deliveries, both head high. Umpire Andy Gray ordered his removal from the attack.
Nannes' foray into county cricket came in 2008, for Middlesex, his Netherlands passport enabling him to play as an EU rather than overseas cricketer He had been signed mainly for List A and T20 matches, his first class appearances being few. I was able to see his best bowling of the season at this level in the Worcestershire v Middlesex match at Kidderminster at the end of the season, the out ground being used as New Road was doing its best to rival Lough Neagh as the largest lake in these islands.
Worcestershire struggled on a seam friendly wicket to reach 265. Nannes, a name unknown to most of the Worcester faithful, boweld first change. Thick set, bearded and with an economical run up, he looked somewhat ordinary in the first innings, returning figures of 11 - 1 - 66 - 2, with classy left hander Steve Davies and all rounder Gareth Batty his victims. The damage was done by fast medium bowler Tim Murtagh whose family background would give him an Irish qualification.
An Andrew Strauss century gave the visitors a 56 run lead, but at 65/2 , just after tea on the second day Worcestershire seemed likely to pose a challenging target, anything more than 160 or 170 would take some getting. But shortly after the interval Nannes came into the attack, third change. His bowling did not, admittedly from the comparatively safety of a deck chair at very deep third man appear any more dangerous than it had on the first day. However the ball began to dart about. He took 4 wickets in 21 balls, taking the key wicket of Vikram Solanki caught behind, and then hustled out the middle and lower order, to finish with 6 - 0 32 - 6, and make we spectators change our plans for the weekend!
For all these successes his major impact has been in the shorter form of the game. In List A Matches - i.e. in Australia's 50 over competition The Ford Ranger Cup, and in England's Pro 40 - he has taken 27 wickets at 31.29.
His best figures, 4/38, were achieved for Middlesex in the latter competition v Worcestershire at Kidderminster, five days before his first class triumph on the same ground. Again he intervened just as the hosts' batting was suggesting command. This time he robbed them of victory and automatic safety in Division One. Middlesex had made a formidable 253, with Ed Joyce hitting a dashing 99 before being run out by a typically brilliant piece of Solanki genius in the field. The home side appeared on course for victory on/6 with 3 overs left. Then Nannes, who had earlier removed Davies - a most dangerous one day player - returned to the attack. Centurion Ben Smith was run out before the Victorian cleaned up the tail.
He has, however, arguably been seen at his best at the shortest and newest form of the game.
In 2007 -08, he helped Victoria aka Bushrangers - to the Australian T20 title , doing so again the following season. He also shone for Middlesex in 2008, Essex at Chelmsford being on the receiving end of a hat trick, in his third over, the fifth of the match. For some reason, for one more over might have ended the match bar the formalities, Joyce then took him off! He returned later in the innings to finish with 4/11 and set up a 7 wicket win.
The Netherlands selectors chose him for the World Cup Tournament in South Africa, but he signed instead for Delhi Daredevils in the IPL. I cannot claim to have even attempted to follow this tournament, but he was Delhi's most effective bowler, with best bowling figures of 3/27 v Chennai Super Kings, including MS Dhoni.
However one of his most useful spells was a 2 wicket haul in 1.2 overs against Deccan Challengers, the eventual winners of the tournament, removing Adam Gilchrist and Jacob Oram before either was into his destructive stride.
Nevertheless Nannes does not appear to have featured in the Austrlian selectors' deliberations when they chose their squad for the T20 World Cup. Chairman Andrew Hilditch, the unhappiest of hookers on the 1985 Ashes Tour, seemed to imply that he was never in serious consideration.
Thus he was pleased to accept the offer to play for The Netherlands. At 33 it is almost certainly his last chance to cut a dash on the World Cricket stage. Starting at Lord's on 5 June, don't take a bet that he won't.
Copyright: Cover Point
