Graham Roope
Encyclopedia
Graham Richard James Roope (12 July 1946 – 26 November 2006) was an English
cricket
er, who appeared in twenty one Tests
and eight ODIs for England between 1973 and 1978.
He also played for Surrey
, Berkshire
and Griqualand West
in a career spanning 1964 to 1988. He later played for Farsley Cricket Club and coached at Ampleforth College
and Woodhouse Grove School
, and was head groundsman
at the latter when he died, aged 60, in 2006.
The cricket correspondent, Colin Bateman, remarked, "Graham Roope was one of those cricketers who thrilled spectators and frustrated selectors. Tall and stylish, there was a touch of class about his middle-order batting. He could make the ball swing at medium pace and his slip fielding was what you would expect from a Corinthian Casuals
goalkeeper". Bateman added "as a former selector said: 'He looked the part – but never played it'".
, Hampshire
. After spending five years developing his cricketing talent at St John's School in Porthcawl
, he was educated at Bradfield College
in Berkshire
, and played for Public Schools
against Combined Services at Lord's
in 1963 and 1964. He played Minor Counties cricket for Berkshire
in 1963, before making his county cricket
debut for Surrey
in 1964. He received his Surrey cap in 1969. He was tall and wiry, with distinctive curly hair. He was an all-rounder
: an outstanding slip
fielder, often said to be one of the best of his generation, he was also an attacking middle-order
batsman and a medium-pace bowler. He took fifty first-class
wicket
s in 1968, and 5-14 against the touring West Indians in 1969, but bowled less later in his career. He was a member of the Surrey sides that won the County Championship
in 1971; making a major contribution with 1,641 runs
and an exceptional 59 catches in all first-class matches; and the Benson & Hedges Cup
in 1974. He retired from full-time first-class cricket after the 1982 season, and played his last first-class match in 1986. In a career of 403 first-class matches, he scored 19,116 runs at 36.90, and took 225 wickets at 37.35, as well as holding 599 catches and making two stumpings
as a substitute wicket-keeper
. He scored over 1,000 runs in a season on eight occasions.
Roope was remembered by former team-mate Geoff Arnold
as "having an astounding ability to predict the weather - he would regularly forecast rain when there was not a cloud in the sky".
It is often said, that Roope was at the non-striking end when both John Edrich
, and later Geoff Boycott, reached their 100th centuries
in first-class cricket in 1977. Although the second is certainly correct, achieved at 5.49pm on the first day of the fourth Ashes
Test at Headingley
on 11 August, when Roope had to take evasive action to avoid a straight-hit four off the bowling of Greg Chappell
to bring up Boycott's century, a close inspection of the record books indicates that Roope had swapped batting positions with Geoff Howarth
, for the match against Derbyshire
at The Oval
on 12 July, and Howarth was at the crease when Edrich scored the necessary runs off the bowling of Alan Hill, shortly after play should have ended at 5:30pm on the third and final day.
He toured India
and Pakistan
with the England in 1972-73, making his Test debut in the fourth Test against India
at Kanpur. He played at home against New Zealand
and West Indies
in 1973, making two Test half-centuries, but was not then selected until the fourth and final Ashes Test against Australia
at The Oval in 1975. After a first-inning duck, he made his best Test score of 77 in the second innings, enabling England to save the match against Dennis Lillee
, Jeff Thomson
and Max Walker
, despite a first innings deficit of 431 runs. He then fell out of favour again, before returning for the fourth and fifth Ashes Tests in 1977. He scored three further half-centuries on tour to Pakistan and New Zealand in 1977-78, and one more playing at home against Pakistan
in 1978. His last Test appearance was in the first Test against New Zealand at home later in 1978. In all, he played 21 Tests and eight One Day Internationals for England, and was on the losing side in only two Tests and one ODI.
Roope also played Non-League football
as goalkeeper for a number of clubs including Corinthian Casuals
, Wimbledon
, Hayes
, Guildford City
, Ramsgate
, Kingstonian
, Woking
, and Margate
. He also played as an amateur in the Mid Sussex League for Ardingly and Cuckfield and in the Mid Sussex League Representative side in 1984 and 1985.
He played again for Berkshire from 1983 to 1988, after retiring from Surrey. He moved to Yorkshire
, where he became a coach at Ampleforth College
and Woodhouse Grove School
, and played for Hall Park in the Airedale and Wharfedale League. He was also a cricket commentator for BBC Radio Leeds
.
Graham Roope died suddenly of a heart attack
in St George's, Grenada, while on a charity cricket tour.
He was married three times, with a son and two daughters.
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
er, who appeared in twenty one Tests
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
and eight ODIs for England between 1973 and 1978.
He also played for Surrey
Surrey County Cricket Club
Surrey County Cricket Club is one of the 18 professional county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Surrey. Its limited overs team is called the Surrey Lions...
, Berkshire
Berkshire County Cricket Club
Berkshire County Cricket Club is one of the county clubs which make up the Minor Counties in the English domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Berkshire and playing in the Minor Counties Championship and MCCA Knockout Trophy....
and Griqualand West
Griqualand West cricket team
The Griqualand West cricket team is the first-class cricket team that represents the province of Griqualand West in South Africa. For the purposes of the SuperSport Series, Griqualand West has merged with Free State to form the Eagles from October 2004....
in a career spanning 1964 to 1988. He later played for Farsley Cricket Club and coached at Ampleforth College
Ampleforth College
Ampleforth College in North Yorkshire, England, is the largest Roman Catholic co-educational boarding independent school in the United Kingdom. It opened in 1802, as a boys' school, and is run by the Benedictine monks and lay staff of Ampleforth Abbey...
and Woodhouse Grove School
Woodhouse Grove School
Woodhouse Grove School is an independent, coeducational, day and boarding public school and Sixth Form college in Apperley Bridge, Bradford, West Yorkshire, England for children aged between 11 and 18...
, and was head groundsman
Groundskeeping
Groundskeeping is the activity of tending an area of land for aesthetic or functional purposes; typically in an institutional setting. It includes mowing grass, trimming hedges, pulling weeds, planting flowers, etc. The U.S. Department of Labor estimated that more than 900,000 workers are employed...
at the latter when he died, aged 60, in 2006.
The cricket correspondent, Colin Bateman, remarked, "Graham Roope was one of those cricketers who thrilled spectators and frustrated selectors. Tall and stylish, there was a touch of class about his middle-order batting. He could make the ball swing at medium pace and his slip fielding was what you would expect from a Corinthian Casuals
Corinthian-Casuals F.C.
Corinthian-Casuals F.C. are a football club based in Tolworth in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames. The club was formed in 1939 by a merger of two amateur clubs: Corinthian, who formed in 1882, and Casuals, who formed in 1878.- History :Corinthian-Casuals were formed in 1939 following the...
goalkeeper". Bateman added "as a former selector said: 'He looked the part – but never played it'".
Life and career
Roope was born in FarehamFareham
The market town of Fareham lies in the south east of Hampshire, England, between the cities of Southampton and Portsmouth, roughly in the centre of the South Hampshire conurbation.It gives its name to the borough comprising the town and the surrounding area...
, Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
. After spending five years developing his cricketing talent at St John's School in Porthcawl
Porthcawl
Porthcawl is a town on the south coast of Wales in the county borough of Bridgend, 25 miles west of the capital city, Cardiff and 19 miles southeast of Swansea...
, he was educated at Bradfield College
Bradfield College
Bradfield College is a coeducational independent school located in the small village of Bradfield in the English county of Berkshire.The college was founded in 1850 by Thomas Stevens, Rector and Lord of the Manor of Bradfield...
in Berkshire
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
, and played for Public Schools
Independent school (UK)
An independent school is a school that is not financed through the taxation system by local or national government and is instead funded by private sources, predominantly in the form of tuition charges, gifts and long-term charitable endowments, and so is not subject to the conditions imposed by...
against Combined Services at Lord's
Lord's Cricket Ground
Lord's Cricket Ground is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and Wales Cricket Board , the European Cricket Council and, until August 2005, the...
in 1963 and 1964. He played Minor Counties cricket for Berkshire
Berkshire County Cricket Club
Berkshire County Cricket Club is one of the county clubs which make up the Minor Counties in the English domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Berkshire and playing in the Minor Counties Championship and MCCA Knockout Trophy....
in 1963, before making his county cricket
County cricket
County cricket is the highest level of domestic cricket in England and Wales. For the 2010 season, see 2010 English cricket season.-First-class counties:...
debut for Surrey
Surrey County Cricket Club
Surrey County Cricket Club is one of the 18 professional county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Surrey. Its limited overs team is called the Surrey Lions...
in 1964. He received his Surrey cap in 1969. He was tall and wiry, with distinctive curly hair. He was an all-rounder
All-rounder
An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a few batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are considered specialists...
: an outstanding slip
Slip (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, a slip fielder is placed behind the batsman on the off side of the field. They are placed with the aim of catching an edged ball which is beyond the wicket-keeper's reach. Many teams employ two or three slips...
fielder, often said to be one of the best of his generation, he was also an attacking middle-order
Batting order (cricket)
In cricket, the batting order is the sequence in which batsmen play through their team's innings, there always being two batsmen taking part at any one time...
batsman and a medium-pace bowler. He took fifty first-class
First-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
wicket
Wicket
In the sport of cricket the word wicket has several distinct meanings:-Definitions of wicket:Most of the time, the wicket is one of the two sets of three stumps and two bails at either end of the pitch...
s in 1968, and 5-14 against the touring West Indians in 1969, but bowled less later in his career. He was a member of the Surrey sides that won the County Championship
County Championship
The County Championship is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales...
in 1971; making a major contribution with 1,641 runs
Run (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, a run is the basic unit of scoring. Runs are scored by a batsman, and the aggregate of the scores of a team's batsmen constitutes the team's score. A batsman scoring 50 or 100 runs , or any higher multiple of 50 runs, is considered a particular achievement...
and an exceptional 59 catches in all first-class matches; and the Benson & Hedges Cup
Benson & Hedges Cup
The Benson & Hedges Cup was a one-day cricket competition for first-class counties in England and Wales that was held from 1972 to 2002, one of cricket's longest sponsorship deals....
in 1974. He retired from full-time first-class cricket after the 1982 season, and played his last first-class match in 1986. In a career of 403 first-class matches, he scored 19,116 runs at 36.90, and took 225 wickets at 37.35, as well as holding 599 catches and making two stumpings
Stump (cricket)
Stump is a term used in the sport of cricket where it has three different meanings:# part of the wicket# a manner of dismissing a batsman# the end of the day's play .-Part of the wicket:...
as a substitute wicket-keeper
Wicket-keeper
The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being guarded by the batsman currently on strike...
. He scored over 1,000 runs in a season on eight occasions.
Roope was remembered by former team-mate Geoff Arnold
Geoff Arnold
Geoff Arnold is an English cricketer who played 34 Tests and 14 One Day Internationals for England. His nickname of "Horse" was based on his initials of GG. He was a seam and swing bowler, who finished his first-class cricket career, which lasted from 1963 to 1982, with 1130 wickets at an average...
as "having an astounding ability to predict the weather - he would regularly forecast rain when there was not a cloud in the sky".
It is often said, that Roope was at the non-striking end when both John Edrich
John Edrich
John Edrich, MBE is a former English cricketer, who played for Surrey and England. He earned a reputation as a dogged and fearless batsman, and his figures show that he was amongst the best players of his generation...
, and later Geoff Boycott, reached their 100th centuries
Century (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, a batsman reaches his century when he scores 100 or more runs in a single innings. The term is also included in "century partnership" which occurs when two batsmen add 100 runs to the team total when they are batting together. A century is regarded as a landmark score for...
in first-class cricket in 1977. Although the second is certainly correct, achieved at 5.49pm on the first day of the fourth Ashes
The Ashes
The Ashes is a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. It is one of the most celebrated rivalries in international cricket and dates back to 1882. It is currently played biennially, alternately in the United Kingdom and Australia. Cricket being a summer sport, and the venues...
Test at Headingley
Headingley Stadium
Headingley Stadium is a sporting complex in the Leeds suburb of Headingley in West Yorkshire, England. It is the home of Yorkshire County Cricket Club, rugby league team Leeds Rhinos and rugby union team Leeds Carnegie ....
on 11 August, when Roope had to take evasive action to avoid a straight-hit four off the bowling of Greg Chappell
Greg Chappell
Gregory Stephen Chappell MBE is a former cricketer who captained Australia between 1975 and 1977 and then joined the breakaway World Series Cricket organisation, before returning to the Australian captaincy in 1979, a position he held until his retirement 1983...
to bring up Boycott's century, a close inspection of the record books indicates that Roope had swapped batting positions with Geoff Howarth
Geoff Howarth
Geoffrey "Geoff" Philip Howarth OBE is a former New Zealand cricketer, who remains the only New Zealand captain to have positive win-loss records in both Test cricket and ODI cricket. Howarth played some Test cricket with his elder brother, Hedley Howarth, but most of his 47-Test career did not...
, for the match against Derbyshire
Derbyshire County Cricket Club
Derbyshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the England and Wales domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Derbyshire...
at The Oval
The Oval
The Kia Oval, still commonly referred to by its original name of The Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, in the London Borough of Lambeth. In the past it was also sometimes called the Kennington Oval...
on 12 July, and Howarth was at the crease when Edrich scored the necessary runs off the bowling of Alan Hill, shortly after play should have ended at 5:30pm on the third and final day.
He toured India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
with the England in 1972-73, making his Test debut in the fourth Test against India
Indian cricket team
The Indian cricket team is the national cricket team of India. Governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India , it is a full member of the International Cricket Council with Test and One Day International status....
at Kanpur. He played at home against New Zealand
New Zealand cricket team
The New Zealand cricket team, nicknamed the Black Caps, are the national cricket team representing New Zealand. They played their first in 1930 against England in Christchurch, New Zealand, becoming the fifth country to play Test cricket. It took the team until 1955–56 to win a Test, against the...
and West Indies
West Indian cricket team
The West Indian cricket team, also known colloquially as the West Indies or the Windies, is a multi-national cricket team representing a sporting confederation of 15 mainly English-speaking Caribbean countries, British dependencies and non-British dependencies.From the mid 1970s to the early 1990s,...
in 1973, making two Test half-centuries, but was not then selected until the fourth and final Ashes Test against Australia
Australian cricket team
The Australian cricket team is the national cricket team of Australia. It is the joint oldest team in Test cricket, having played in the first Test match in 1877...
at The Oval in 1975. After a first-inning duck, he made his best Test score of 77 in the second innings, enabling England to save the match against Dennis Lillee
Dennis Lillee
Dennis Keith Lillee, AM, MBE is a former Australian cricketer rated as the "outstanding fast bowler of his generation"...
, Jeff Thomson
Jeff Thomson
Jeffrey Robert Thomson is a former Australian cricketer. Known as "Thommo", he was one of the fastest bowlers ever to play Test cricket and was the opening partner of fellow fast bowler Dennis Lillee; their combination was one of the most fearsome in Test cricket history...
and Max Walker
Max Walker
Maxwell Henry Norman Walker AM is a former Australian cricketer and VFL/AFL footballer. Formerly an architect, he currently works as a media commentator and motivational speaker and has diverse business interests.- Football career :...
, despite a first innings deficit of 431 runs. He then fell out of favour again, before returning for the fourth and fifth Ashes Tests in 1977. He scored three further half-centuries on tour to Pakistan and New Zealand in 1977-78, and one more playing at home against Pakistan
Pakistani cricket team
The Pakistan cricket team is the national cricket team of Pakistan. Pakistan, represented by the Pakistan Cricket Board , is a full member of the International Cricket Council, and thus participates in , and cricket matches....
in 1978. His last Test appearance was in the first Test against New Zealand at home later in 1978. In all, he played 21 Tests and eight One Day Internationals for England, and was on the losing side in only two Tests and one ODI.
Roope also played Non-League football
Non-league football
Non-League football is football in England played at a level below that of the Premier League and The Football League. The term non-League was commonly used well before 1992 when the top football clubs in England all belonged to The Football League; all clubs who were not a part of The Football...
as goalkeeper for a number of clubs including Corinthian Casuals
Corinthian-Casuals F.C.
Corinthian-Casuals F.C. are a football club based in Tolworth in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames. The club was formed in 1939 by a merger of two amateur clubs: Corinthian, who formed in 1882, and Casuals, who formed in 1878.- History :Corinthian-Casuals were formed in 1939 following the...
, Wimbledon
Wimbledon F.C.
Wimbledon Football Club was an English professional association football club from Wimbledon, south-west London. Founded in 1889 as Wimbledon Old Central Football Club, the club spent most of its history in amateur and semi-professional non-League football before being elected to the Football...
, Hayes
Hayes F.C.
Hayes F.C. was an English football club based in Hayes, in Greater London. The club started out as Botwell Mission in 1909 taking its present name in 1929. The team nickname, The Missioners was a salute to the history of the team. The club played in the Conference South for their last few seasons...
, Guildford City
Guildford City F.C.
Guildford City Football Club is a football club based in Guildford, Surrey, England. The club was originally established in 1921, folded in 1974 and were reformed in 1996...
, Ramsgate
Ramsgate F.C.
Ramsgate Football Club are a football team based in Ramsgate, Kent. Having played for many years in the Kent League, they have been promoted for two consecutive seasons and spent the 2006-07 to 2008-09 seasons in the Isthmian League Premier Division....
, Kingstonian
Kingstonian F.C.
Kingstonian Football Club are an English, semi-professional football club that are playing in the Isthmian League Premier Division for the 2011–12 season. The club has played at Kingsmeadow in Kingston upon Thames since 1989, after leaving their traditional Richmond Road ground...
, Woking
Woking F.C.
Woking Football Club is a football club from in Woking, Surrey, England, formed in 1889. They are playing in the Conference South in the 2011–12 season. For the 2011/2012 season, Woking are sharing their ground with Conference National club Hayes & Yeading United.-Promotion to the...
, and Margate
Margate F.C.
Margate Football Club is an English football team based in the seaside resort of Margate, Kent, currently playing in the Isthmian League Premier Division. The club was known for a number of years during the 1980s as Thanet United....
. He also played as an amateur in the Mid Sussex League for Ardingly and Cuckfield and in the Mid Sussex League Representative side in 1984 and 1985.
He played again for Berkshire from 1983 to 1988, after retiring from Surrey. He moved to Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
, where he became a coach at Ampleforth College
Ampleforth College
Ampleforth College in North Yorkshire, England, is the largest Roman Catholic co-educational boarding independent school in the United Kingdom. It opened in 1802, as a boys' school, and is run by the Benedictine monks and lay staff of Ampleforth Abbey...
and Woodhouse Grove School
Woodhouse Grove School
Woodhouse Grove School is an independent, coeducational, day and boarding public school and Sixth Form college in Apperley Bridge, Bradford, West Yorkshire, England for children aged between 11 and 18...
, and played for Hall Park in the Airedale and Wharfedale League. He was also a cricket commentator for BBC Radio Leeds
BBC Radio Leeds
BBC Radio Leeds is the BBC Local Radio service for the English metropolitan county of West Yorkshire.- Frequencies :It broadcasts from its studios at St...
.
Graham Roope died suddenly of a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
in St George's, Grenada, while on a charity cricket tour.
He was married three times, with a son and two daughters.