Kotak the bear? By Paul Smith
Sitanshu Kotak dominated another Birmingham Premier League batting line up, taking his third five wicket haul of the season, as Kenilworth Wardens claimed a winning draw at champions Walsall on Saturday.
Kotak’s 7-35 was a 2009 Premier League best – improving on his own 7-42 a week earlier – and takes his tally of wickets at the season’s halfway point to an outstanding 35.
Kotak’s most recent 14 victims have come in the week that Warwickshire announced the early departure, through injury, of this year’s overseas signing, Kiwi off spinner Jeetan Patel.
As they now “scour the global market” for a replacement, it is scarcely credible that they have failed to consider the India A all rounder at any point in his distinguished 13 year career in local league cricket.
Kotak averages well over 50 wickets per season in each of Wardens’ five Premier League campaigns, including a record-breaking 83 in 2006.
Not bad for a front-line batsman, whose CV includes a first-class batting average of nearly 44, including 13 hundreds, and the game’s longest ever unbeaten innings.
In fact, only Ian Bell of the current Bears squad has a better career aggregate or average than the West Zone and Saurashtra star.
Kotak is also placed 34th in the all-time list A batting rankings, his average of 42.66 only bettered by one Englishman, Kevin Pietersen. To give this perspective, Viv Richards is 47th, Graeme Hick 53rd and Chris Gayle 70th.
Whilst no spring chicken, Kotak is three years younger than Ian Salisbury, the last “quick fix” import into the Bears’ spin attack, and is a good athlete who still fields reliably.
He is also an outstanding team man, well liked by everyone who has shared a dressing room with him, and is a pleasure to captain.
He is surely a substantially better bet than some of Edgbaston’s recent overseas acquisitions; Monde Zondeki, Collins Uboya and Alfonso Thomas failed to set the bar especially high in this regard.
Kotak has never received any contact from Edgbaston during his time as a Birmingham League pro, and is not expecting this situation to change.
“I have never really considered them,” he says, “and I guess they have never considered me.”
The last Wardens’ product to be “discovered” late in life by his county was a certain A.J.Moles, now coach of New Zealand, who is still considered by many to be the best-ever uncapped Englishman.
There is a nice symmetry here, with Kotak often described on the sub-continent as the best uncapped Indian. One can only ponder whether Kotak may by now have become a Bears regular if Moles, rather than Mark Greatbatch, had been elected as Ashley Giles’ predecessor.