Vikram Solanki - One Day Internationals

One Day Internationals

Solanki represented England on 51 occasions in one-day cricket, but has not been 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 at The Oval in 2003 (when he shared an opening partnership of 200, an English record, with Marcus Trescothick), and exactly 100 off 93 balls versus Zimbabwe at Bulawayo 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, 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.