Ugandan-born New Zealander Addil Somani spent the 1987 season with Nottinghamshire, having come to the UK on a cricket scholarship. The nineteen-year old played mainly in the Second Eleven, with a single appearance for the senior side.
A right-handed batsman and leg break bowler, Somani toured Australia with New Zealand Young Cricketers in 1985/86, playing in all three Tests and two One-Day Internationals at youth level. The following winter, he played in the corresponding Under-19 series held in New Zealand.
Somani arrived at Trent Bridge at the beginning of 1987 and, after playing in the Second Eleven’s first three games of the season, he was selected to make his First-Class debut for Nottinghamshire against Oxford University in late May. The first day of the fixture was lost to rain but on Day 2, Notts dismissed the students for 66, with Somani taking the final two wickets to record figures of 2-7 from 4.3 overs. When Notts batted, he made 26 not out, putting on 72 for the 6th wicket with Bruce French, to help his side reach 258-6 declared. Somani did not bowl in Oxford’s second innings as they were quickly dismissed for 52 to give Notts an innings victory. This game in The Parks was Addil Somani’s only senior appearance for Nottinghamshire.
He returned to the Seconds and played in a total of 12 games, scoring 450 runs and taking two wickets. He scored two hundreds, one against a Leicestershire Seconds side containing Chris Lewis and Peter Such, and the other against Yorkshire Seconds, when he hit 128 at Marske-on-Sea.
In 1988/89 Somani made his First-Class debut in New Zealand for Northern Districts. He played three times that season and then in a further four First-Class fixtures in 1993/94, a season in which he also played in five List-A games for Northern Districts.
June 2020
Nottinghamshire First-Class Number: 503