Bob Cowper
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| Full name | Robert Maskew Cowper | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 5 October 1940 Kew,Melbourne,Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname | Wallaby | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting | Left-handed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowling | Right-armoff-spin | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Relations | Dave Cowper(father) David Cowper(brother) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| International information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| National side | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Test debut (cap229) | 6 July 1964 vEngland | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last Test | 30 July 1968 vEngland | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source:Cricinfo,23 July 2019 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Robert Maskew CowperOAM(born 5 October 1940) is a formercricketerwho playedTest cricketforAustraliafrom 1964 to 1968, andSheffield Shieldcricket forVictoriaandWestern Australiafrom 1960 to 1970.[1]
Cricket career
[edit]Bob Cowper was the son ofDave Cowper,who captained theAustralia national rugby union teamin the 1930s. Bob was educated atScotch College, Melbourne,and began playing forHawthorn-East Melbournein 1958.[2]Two years later he was in the Victorian side.[2]
A tall, correct left-handed batsmen, Cowper scored heavily for Victoria in the 1962–63 and 1963–64 seasons and was selected to tourEngland in 1964.He was successful in the county matches but not in his first Test atHeadingley.[2]He took part in Australia's next tour, to theWest Indies in 1964-65,when he "displayed courage, a cool temperament and fine technique in dealing with the hostile pace ofHallandGriffith".[2]He was Australia's leading run-scorer in the Test series, with 417 runs at an average of 52.12, includingcenturiesin the Second and Fourth Tests.[3]
He was dropped in the1965–66 Ashes seriesfor slow scoring. When he was recalled for theFifth Test at Melbournehe made the first Test triple-century in Australia: 307 from 589 balls in 727 minutes.[4]Matthew Hayden's 380 againstZimbabwe in 2002–03is now the highest Test century in Australia, but Cowper's remains the longest.
After his triple-century he was never omitted from the Test side until a hand injury forced him out of the Fifth Test in1968.In the last 13 matches of his Test career (the 1966–67, 1967–68, and 1968 series) he scored 931 runs at 38.79 and took 31 wickets at 25.22. In those 13 matches no other Australian player exceeded 800 runs, and onlyGraham McKenzie,with 49, took more wickets. Cowper was only 27 when he played his last Test, at Headingley in 1968, almost exactly four years after his first, at Headingley in 1964.[2]
He captained Victoria to victory in theSheffield Shieldin 1969–70, then left cricket altogether to concentrate on his business career.[2]
Remarkably, he averaged an impressive 75.78 in home Tests but only 33.33 overseas. The difference of 42.45 is a Test record.[5]
Later career
[edit]Since retiring from playing, Cowper has had a successful career inbig business,and has also served as a cricket referee. In 1977 he joined the administrative board ofWorld Series Cricket.[6]In the 1980s he moved toMonaco.[7][8]He was Australia’s representative to theInternational Cricket Councilfrom 1987 to 2001.[9]
Cowper was awarded life membership ofCricket Victoriain 2018.[10]In the2023 King's Birthday Honourshe was awarded theMedal of the Order of Australiain recognition for his service to cricket.[11]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^"First-Class Matches played by Bob Cowper".CricketArchive.Retrieved24 July2019.
- ^abcdefThe Oxford Companion to Australian Cricket,Oxford, Melbourne, 1996, pp. 125–26.
- ^Alex Bannister, "Australians in West Indies, 1965",Wisden1966, pp. 817–31.
- ^Mukherjee, Abhishek (5 October 2016)."Bob Cowper: The first man to score a Test 300 on Australian soil".CricketCountry.india.com.Retrieved20 December2016.
- ^The best – and worst – travellers
- ^"Benaud, Chappell administrators".The Canberra Times.Vol. 52, no. 14, 886. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 20 September 1977. p. 28.Retrieved4 May2018– via National Library of Australia.
- ^"Great wall of silence in Monaco".22 January 2005.
- ^"Long-off Cowper on a rich seam".11 July 2003.
- ^"Cricket Australia: King's Birthday Honours List 2023".CricExec.Retrieved10 October2023.
- ^"CV inducts four new Life Members".Cricket Victoria.5 March 2018.Retrieved30 July2019.
- ^"Mr Robert Maskew COWPER".Australian Honours Search Facility.12 June 2023.Retrieved16 June2023.
External links
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