Alfred Cooper | |
Country: | South Africa |
Birth Date: | 10 August 1869 |
Birth Place: | Cape Town, Cape Colony |
Death Date: | 15 August 1960 (aged 91) |
Death Place: | Port Shepstone, Natal Province, South Africa |
Family: | Alfred Cooper (son) |
Club1: | Griqualand West (or Kimberley) |
Year1: | 1890/91 |
Club2: | Transvaal (now Gauteng) |
Year2: | 1896/97 |
Columns: | 1 |
Column1: | First-class |
Matches1: | 5 |
Runs1: | 82 |
Bat Avg1: | 11.71 |
100S/50S1: | 0/0 |
Top Score1: | 41 |
Deliveries1: | 950 |
Wickets1: | 22 |
Bowl Avg1: | 16.45 |
Fivefor1: | 1 |
Tenfor1: | 1 |
Best Bowling1: | 8/80 |
Catches/Stumpings1: | 3/– |
Date: | 27 December |
Year: | 2014 |
Source: | https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/2/2906/2906.html CricketArchive |
Alfred Edward Cooper (10 August 1869 – 15 August 1960) was a South African cricketer who played at first-class level for Griqualand West and Transvaal).
Cooper was born in Cape Town in 1869.[1] He made his first-class debut for Griqualand West in December 1890, against Eastern Province in the Champion Bat Tournament.[2] (The team was then alternatively known as Kimberley, after the town of the same name). On debut, Cooper took three wickets (3/31) in Eastern Province's first innings, with the game concluding after two days with an Eastern Province victory.[3] His next match came in the same tournament two days later, against Western Province at Newlands in Cape Town.[2] In that match, Cooper opened the bowling with future South African international George Glover in each innings, taking 4/37 and 2/44.[4]
The next first-class match Cooper played was in April 1891, for Griqualand West against a Transvaal side in the second season of the Currie Cup. The match, at the Wanderers ground in Johannesburg, was designated "timeless", and finished with a Griqualand West victory after six days of play spread over a week. Cooper failed to take a wicket, but did record his highest first-class score in Griqualand West's second innings, despite coming in last in the batting order. He scored 41 runs before being dismissed by George Allsop, and featured in a 95-run tenth-wicket partnership with Charlie Finlason, who finished with 154 not out.[5] As of December 2014, this remains a record for the last wicket for Griqualand West.[6]
Over six years later, Cooper again played at first-class level, appearing (for the only time) for Transvaal in the final of the 1896–97 Currie Cup, against Western Province.[2] He bowled 44.3 five-ball overs in Western Province's first innings, finishing with 8/80. He took another three wickets, 3/56, in the second innings, consequently recording his only ten-wicket haul, match figures of 11/136. Despite Cooper's bowling, Transvaal still lost the match by 72 runs.[7] Cooper's 8/80 was the first eight-wicket haul by a Transvaal player, and consequently the best bowling performance recorded for Transvaal at the time. It was surpassed, however, the following season, by Jimmy Sinclair's 8/40 (also against Western Province), and currently ranks thirteenth among bowling performances by Gauteng (Transvaal) players.[8]
Cooper's final first-class appearance came in March 1898, against Natal for a "Transvaal XI" led by Abe (later Sir Abraham) Bailey.[9] He did, however, appear for a XV of Transvaal in October 1902, aged 33, playing against the touring Australians.[10] Cooper died in Port Shepstone, Natal, in August 1960, aged 91.[1] His son, Alfred Henry Cecil Cooper (1893–1963), played first-class cricket for Transvaal and also a single Test match for the South African national side, against England during the 1913–14 season.[11]