Shute Banerjee
Encyclopedia
Sarobindu Nath "Shute" Banerjee (October 3, 1911, Kolkata
, Bengal
– October 14, 1980, Kolkata) was a cricket
er who represented India
in one official and five unofficial Test matches. He was right-arm medium pace bowler and a lower order batsman.
in 1935-36 following which he was selected for the third unofficial test against the same side (which made him miss the first ever Ranji Trophy
match for Bengal
) and the team to tour England in 1936
. The presence of the fast bowlers Mohammad Nissar
, Amar Singh
and Jahangir Khan
meant that Banerjee did not play in any of the Test matches.
For Bengal in the Ranji Trophy in 1937-38, he took 5 for 33 against Central India and a crucial 47 not out against Hyderabad in the semifinal. Just before the final against Nawanagar, he accepted a job in the state service of Jamnagar
. This made him ineligible for both teams for the final. When invited to play for Cricket Club of India
against the Lord Tennyson's XI, he took 6 for 89 in the inaugural match in the Brabourne Stadium
. Three caps in the unofficial Tests against the same side were followed by ordinary performances.
Banerjee's career best bowling figures were for Nawanagar against Maharashtra
in November 1941. He took 8 for 25 in little over an hour and top scored in both innings. He joined Tata
s in Jamshedpur in the next year and the rest of his career was spent with the Bihar. A single appearance in the unofficial test against the Australian Services XI in 1945-46 led to eight wickets and a surprise selection in the Indian team to England in 1946.
Unlike 1936 when there were several fast bowlers, India in 1946 included only Banerjee and Ranga Sohoni
. Sohoni appeared in two Tests, Banerjee in none. Banerjee made 315 runs and took 31 wickets in the tour matches. Against Lancashire and Middlesex, he took four wickets and both contributed significantly to Indian victories. At the Oval
against Surrey
, Banerjee went in last to join Chandu Sarwate
with the score at 205 for 9. Sarwate went on to score 124 not out and Banerjee 121. It is the only instance of the No.10 and No.11 scoring hundreds in the same innings and as of 2009, their partnership of 249 is the second highest for the last wicket in first class cricket.
Back in India in 1948-49, Banerjee took 7 for 67 in an innings for East Zone against West Indians on a matting wicket at Allahabad and later scored the final runs in a ten wicket victory. This was the only defeat for West Indies in the tour. This led to his selection, at the age of 37, for the last Test of the series at the Brabourne Stadium
. He took four quick wickets in the second innings and a hit six over midwicket as India nearly chased down a target of 361. India played no Test cricket in the next three years and the Brabourne Test turned out to be only one of Banerjee's career.
At Jamshedpur in 1949, Delhi
went into the third day requiring 46 runs with eight wickets in hand. Banerjee took a hat-trick and bowled them out in thirty nine minutes. Later in the year against Orissa
, he scored 43 and 110, top scoring in both innings, and took 6 for 37. Banerjee continued in the Ranji Trophy for another decade but in the later years it involved "more moral than material support". He also gave up the captaincy that he had held since joining Bihar. Bihar were knocked out fairly regularly by Bengal in the 1950s in the early rounds of the Ranji Trophy and Banerjee made his highest first class score of 138 in one such match. He moved to Bhilai
in the late fifties and appeared for Madhya Pradesh
in his final season (1959–60) .
Banerjee's stock delivery moved in to the batsman
on and off the wicket. He developed the inswing after the first tour of England in 1936. He occasionally bowled the outswinger and had a slower ball in the form of a leg break. Banerjee batted in several positions over the course of his career. Though predominantly a tail-end batsman, he occasionally batted early in the order and opened the innings.
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
, Bengal
Bengal
Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
– October 14, 1980, Kolkata) was a cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
er who represented India
Indian cricket team
The Indian cricket team is the national cricket team of India. Governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India , it is a full member of the International Cricket Council with Test and One Day International status....
in one official and five unofficial Test matches. He was right-arm medium pace bowler and a lower order batsman.
Cricketing Career
Banerjee made his debut in first class cricket at the age of nineteen and played for an "Indians and Anglo-Indians in Bengal" team against the touring MCC in 1933-34. He took 5 for 53 for a joint Bengal and Assam side against Jack Ryder's Australian teamAustralian cricket team in Ceylon and India in 1935-36
An Australian cricket team toured Ceylon and India in the winter of 1935-36.This was a secondary tour by Australia whose "first team" had gone to South Africa...
in 1935-36 following which he was selected for the third unofficial test against the same side (which made him miss the first ever Ranji Trophy
Ranji Trophy
The Ranji Trophy is a domestic first-class cricket championship played in India between different city and state sides, equivalent to the County Championship in England and the Sheffield Shield in Australia...
match for Bengal
Bengal cricket team
Bengal cricket team is considered Eastern India's strongest cricket team, it is the Elite Group of the Ranji Trophy and were runners-up twice consecutively in the 2005-06 and the 2006-07 season. Their ranks are occasionally bolstered by the return of Sourav Ganguly to the domestic competition...
) and the team to tour England in 1936
Indian cricket team in England in 1936
The Indian cricket team toured England in the 1936 season and played 28 first-class fixtures, winning only four whilst losing 12 and drawing 12.India played three Test matches and lost the series to England 2-0 with one match drawn...
. The presence of the fast bowlers Mohammad Nissar
Mohammad Nissar
Shaikh Mohammad Nissar was a cricketer, who played as a fast bowler for the pre-partition Indian cricket team and domestic teams in India and Pakistan. He was born in Hoshiarpur, Punjab, and is considered the fastest pre-partition Indian pace bowler. He was arguably one of the fastest bowlers in...
, Amar Singh
Amar Singh (cricketer)
Ladhabhai Nakum Amar Singh Lodha was an Indian Test cricketer.A right-arm fast-medium bowler and effective lower-order batsman, Amar Singh Lodha played in seven Tests for India before World War II. He took 28 wickets in these matches. He was the first Indian Fast bowler and All-rounder, and the...
and Jahangir Khan
Jahangir Khan (cricketer)
Dr. Mohammad Jahangir Khan played cricket for India during British rule and after the partition of India served as a cricket administrator in Pakistan afterwards. He graduated from Islamia College, Lahore.Jahangir was a big man who stood six feet and bowled medium pace...
meant that Banerjee did not play in any of the Test matches.
For Bengal in the Ranji Trophy in 1937-38, he took 5 for 33 against Central India and a crucial 47 not out against Hyderabad in the semifinal. Just before the final against Nawanagar, he accepted a job in the state service of Jamnagar
Jamnagar
Jamnagar is a city and a municipal corporation in Jamnagar district in the Indian state of Gujarat. The city was built up substantially by Maharaja Kumar Shri Ranjitsinhji in the 1920s, when the district was known as Nawanagar. The district lies just to the south of the Gulf of Kutch and is...
. This made him ineligible for both teams for the final. When invited to play for Cricket Club of India
Cricket Club of India
Cricket Club of India is located on Dinsha Wacha Road, near Churchgate in Mumbai, India. It is one of the oldest and most well known cricket clubs in India...
against the Lord Tennyson's XI, he took 6 for 89 in the inaugural match in the Brabourne Stadium
Brabourne Stadium
The Brabourne Stadium is a cricket ground in the Indian city of Mumbai. It is located on 90,000 square yards of reclaimed land along Marine Drive near Churchgate railway station in South Mumbai. The stadium is owned by the Cricket Club of India . Brabourne Stadium is India's first permanent...
. Three caps in the unofficial Tests against the same side were followed by ordinary performances.
Banerjee's career best bowling figures were for Nawanagar against Maharashtra
Maharashtra cricket team
The Maharashtra cricket team is a domestic cricket team based in the Indian state of Maharashtra in the city of Pune. It is in the Plate Group of the Ranji Trophy...
in November 1941. He took 8 for 25 in little over an hour and top scored in both innings. He joined Tata
Tata Steel
Tata Steel is a multinational steel company headquartered in Jamshedpur, India and part of Tata Group. It is the world's seventh-largest steel company, with an annual crude steel capacity of 31 million tonnes, and the largest private-sector steel company in India measured by domestic production...
s in Jamshedpur in the next year and the rest of his career was spent with the Bihar. A single appearance in the unofficial test against the Australian Services XI in 1945-46 led to eight wickets and a surprise selection in the Indian team to England in 1946.
Unlike 1936 when there were several fast bowlers, India in 1946 included only Banerjee and Ranga Sohoni
Ranga Sohoni
Sriranga Wasudev 'Ranga' Sohoni was an Indian Test cricketer....
. Sohoni appeared in two Tests, Banerjee in none. Banerjee made 315 runs and took 31 wickets in the tour matches. Against Lancashire and Middlesex, he took four wickets and both contributed significantly to Indian victories. At the Oval
The Oval
The Kia Oval, still commonly referred to by its original name of The Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, in the London Borough of Lambeth. In the past it was also sometimes called the Kennington Oval...
against Surrey
Surrey County Cricket Club
Surrey County Cricket Club is one of the 18 professional county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Surrey. Its limited overs team is called the Surrey Lions...
, Banerjee went in last to join Chandu Sarwate
Chandu Sarwate
Chandrasekhar Trimbak Sarwate was an Indian cricketer. He was an all-rounder who played nine Test matches for India between 1946 and 1951 without much success — his Test batting average was only 13.00, and his Test bowling average was 124.66...
with the score at 205 for 9. Sarwate went on to score 124 not out and Banerjee 121. It is the only instance of the No.10 and No.11 scoring hundreds in the same innings and as of 2009, their partnership of 249 is the second highest for the last wicket in first class cricket.
Back in India in 1948-49, Banerjee took 7 for 67 in an innings for East Zone against West Indians on a matting wicket at Allahabad and later scored the final runs in a ten wicket victory. This was the only defeat for West Indies in the tour. This led to his selection, at the age of 37, for the last Test of the series at the Brabourne Stadium
Brabourne Stadium
The Brabourne Stadium is a cricket ground in the Indian city of Mumbai. It is located on 90,000 square yards of reclaimed land along Marine Drive near Churchgate railway station in South Mumbai. The stadium is owned by the Cricket Club of India . Brabourne Stadium is India's first permanent...
. He took four quick wickets in the second innings and a hit six over midwicket as India nearly chased down a target of 361. India played no Test cricket in the next three years and the Brabourne Test turned out to be only one of Banerjee's career.
At Jamshedpur in 1949, Delhi
Delhi cricket team
The Delhi cricket team is one of the first-class cricket teams, that plays in India's domestic competition, the Ranji Trophy. They have won the tournament seven times and have been runners-up seven. Their latest title in 2007-08 came after a long wait of 16 years. The previous win was in the...
went into the third day requiring 46 runs with eight wickets in hand. Banerjee took a hat-trick and bowled them out in thirty nine minutes. Later in the year against Orissa
Orissa cricket team
The Orissa cricket team is a domestic cricket team based in the Indian state of Orissa. It is in the elite group of the Ranji Trophy.Its Home ground is Barabati stadium at Cuttack, Orissa, India.The Orissa Cricket team is selected by the Orissa Cricket Association .-References:**...
, he scored 43 and 110, top scoring in both innings, and took 6 for 37. Banerjee continued in the Ranji Trophy for another decade but in the later years it involved "more moral than material support". He also gave up the captaincy that he had held since joining Bihar. Bihar were knocked out fairly regularly by Bengal in the 1950s in the early rounds of the Ranji Trophy and Banerjee made his highest first class score of 138 in one such match. He moved to Bhilai
Bhilai
Bhilai or Bhilai Nagar is a city in the Durg district of Chhattisgarh, in eastern central India. As of 2001, it had a population of 753,837. The city is located west of the capital Raipur, on the main Howrah–Mumbai rail line, and National Highway 6...
in the late fifties and appeared for Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh cricket team
The Madhya Pradesh cricket team is a domestic cricket team based in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It is in the Plate and in elite Group of the Ranji Trophy....
in his final season (1959–60) .
Banerjee's stock delivery moved in to the batsman
Inswinger
An inswinger is a type of delivery in the sport of cricket. It is bowled by swing bowlers.-Grip:An inswinger is bowled by holding the cricket ball with the seam vertical and the first two fingers slightly across the seam so that it is angled a little to the leg side...
on and off the wicket. He developed the inswing after the first tour of England in 1936. He occasionally bowled the outswinger and had a slower ball in the form of a leg break. Banerjee batted in several positions over the course of his career. Though predominantly a tail-end batsman, he occasionally batted early in the order and opened the innings.
External links
- Cricinfo Profile
- Cricketarchive Profile
- http://cricketarchive.com/cgi-bin/player_oracle_reveals_results2.cgi?playernumber=850&playername=S%20Banerjee&playernameexact=&displayplayername=SN%20Banerjee&team=&teamexact=&opponent=&opponentexact=&captain=&wicketkeeper=&homeawaytype=All&matchtype=All&resulttype=All&startseason=&endseason=&searchtype=InningsList&startscore=&endscore=&startwicket=&endwicket=&branding=cricketarchiveMatch-by-match statistics]