Veteran Cricketer Narayan Satham took his last breath on Sunday. He was 73 years old.
Satham was right-arm fast-medium bowler who made his first-class debut for Baroda at the age of 18 during the 1967–68 Ranji Trophy. He became part of Baroda’s pace trio which included Cecil Williams and Anthony Fernandes. In a career that lasted until the 1984/85 season, Satham appeared in 84 first-class matches in which he took 193 wickets at an average of 31.31. He was also a handy lower-order batsman with more than 3000 runs including four centuries. Satham represented West Zone in Duleep Trophy and against touring Sri Lankan and English teams.
Satham worked in cricket administrative and coaching roles after retirement. After officiating as a match referee in domestic tournaments, he worked as the head coach of the Singapore national under-19 and senior teams for three years until 1999.In 2001, Satham, along with Mohinder and Surinder Amarnath, trained cricketers in Tangier, Morocco, as part of a cricket development pact with the Moroccan Cricket Association.In 2008, Satham, Williams, Anshuman Gaekwad and Nayan Mongia formed the Veteran Cricketers Association. He then had two tenures as the chairman of cricket improvement committee (CIC) of the Baroda Cricket Association (BCA) and was a member of BCA managing committee until his resignation in 2018.He also coached at the Sangramsinh Gaekwad Cricket Academy in Vadodara.
Reacting to sudden demise of Satham, BCA president Mr.Pranav Amin said, Shree Narayan Rao Satham was an international cricketer, whose loss will be felt clearly to the cricket community and to the city of Vadodara.He had a passion for cricket like no one , no other. I had a pleasure of speaking to him last week enquiring about his health.and he was passionate about going to ground every day as that is what grow him. He has been instrumental in grooming many youngsters and helping the level of cricket in Vadodara.He will be missed.