Geoff Cope
Encyclopedia
Geoff Cope played first-class cricket
for Yorkshire
from 1966 to 1980, and appeared in three Test matches
for England.
, Cope grew up in Crossgates, Leeds, and first played cricket at Manston Junior School. His talent was shown in an Under 11 cup final in which he took all ten wickets for 26 and then batted his team to victory. He played club cricket at an early age with Leeds Zingari and then for Leeds Cricket Club in the Yorkshire League
. He played for the club for 25 years. He played for England Schools and then, in 1964, for Yorkshire Second XI. He made his debut for the first team against Hampshire
at Bradford Park Avenue
with Ray Illingworth
on Test duty. Despite taking 40 wickets at 13.82 in 1967, he did not earn a regular first team place until 1969, when Illingworth moved to captain
Leicestershire
.
He won his Yorkshire cap in 1970, but was twice forced to remodel his off-break bowling action after he was suspended in 1972, and again in 1978. "It was a bad time because you were never allowed to defend yourself," said Cope. "A committee met and made a decision, which was then passed on down the lines. You didn’t know who was on that committee or what they thought. But Dickie Bird and a lot of other people have said, 'Geoff, there's nothing wrong; if you were guilty, then an awful lot of others were.' I think that's a fair comment; it was just one of those periods." Cricket writer, Colin Bateman, noted that "Geoff Cope's career was blighted by suspicions that his off-spinner's action was illegal and twice - in 1972 and 1978 - he was suspended by Lord's
. The second suspension came after he had broken through into the Test side the previous winter in Pakistan, where he came tantalisingly close to a debut hat-trick
".
He worked on his action with the Yorkshire spinner Johnny Wardle
and, after good seasons in 1974 and 1975, played in an England Test trial at Bristol in May, 1976. Derek Underwood
took four for 10 in the second innings while Cope took five for 27, as they skittled 'The Rest of England' for 48. Cope was not selected for a Test that summer, and so escaped a pummelling at the hands of the West Indies, but was selected for his first major tour, to India
, Ceylon
and Australia
for the Centenary Test
that winter. Despite a good start in the Indian tour matches he did not appear in the Test Matches as Tony Greig
adopted a seam based strategy to win the series 3-1.
Ken Barrington
, manager of the England team on his second tour, remarked that Cope was more accurate than Derek Underwood
. He was not a big spinner of the ball, preferring to build pressure on a batsman through denying him scoring opportunities. The weakness of the Yorkshire team in the 1970s, often forced him to bowl long defensive spells against his natural attacking instincts.
He toured Pakistan
in 1977-78, playing in all three of the Tests
, at Lahore
, Hyderabad, and Karachi
, and two of the One Day Internationals, at Sialkot
and Lahore
, missing the first ODI at Sahiwal
. He almost took a hat-trick
on his Test debut: he dismissed Abdul Qadir
leg before wicket
, then bowled Sarfraz Nawaz
first ball. The next batsman, Iqbal Qasim
, was caught at slip by Mike Brearley
. Despite the umpire giving him out, Brearley was not sure whether he had taken the catch cleanly and called him back to the crease.
"Iqbal Qasim came in, a little left-hander. I chose to go round the wicket and obviously we put men round the bat, ‘Brears’ (Mike Brearley the captain) at first slip, Graham Roope
, Bob Willis
, 'Both' all round the bat. I just bowled it right and it was magic really; it just turned a fraction and bounced, and 'Iqqie' nicked it. Brears just dived to his left and caught the ball about a foot off the ground, landed in front of Roopey and Willis, Iqqie just looked up the wicket at me, nodded, said, 'Well bowled'; the umpire went bananas, shaking hands and saying, 'I've never seen a hat-trick before, well bowled.' And ironically this was on my debut. 12 months previously, on the same ground, Peter Petherick
of New Zealand had just done the first hat-trick ever on debut, so it would have been 12 months to the day and it would have been a unique place in history." "But Mike in landing got a lot of gravel on the back of his hand. Iqqie left the field and all the lads were up there when suddenly Brears started saying, ‘I’m going to bring him back be I don't think I caught it cleanly.' All the lads around him were adamant he had caught it a foot off the ground, but he said, 'No, for the best interests of this series I'm going to bring him back.' So he brought him back – and for the best interests of the series, six of us were lbw in our first innings. It happened, but it was a moment of disappointment because something like that on a Test debut is very special. As somebody once said, 'If bad luck hadn't been invented, we'd have had none at all!'"
Cope took 686 first-class wickets in 246 games, with a best of 8 for 73 against Gloucestershire
at Bristol
in 1975. His average of 24.70 compares favourably with other similar bowlers of his generation. He took his largest seasonal haul, 93 wickets at 24.13, in 1976 and averaged just 13.82 with the ball in taking 40 wickets in 1967.
He scored several first-class fifties, usually grinding affairs to stave off defeat, but never scored a century in any form of cricket. He often was sent in as a stolid nightwatchman
, and opened on occasion in emergencies. He scored most of his runs with nicks and deflections behind the wicket. His highest knock was 78 against Essex
at Acklam Park
, Middlesbrough
in 1977.
After leaving the first-class game he played for Yeadon Cricket Club, helping develop the club and the ground, before finally retiring from the game completely at 40. He was elected to the Yorkshire Committee after Brian Close
retired from his seat, and appointed Yorkshire's Director of Cricket in 2002. "It's a very hard task but I'm thoroughly enjoying it," Cope said. "It's a wonderful opportunity and I've got to make the most of it."
Cope began his playing career wearing glasses
and, in 1972, turned to contact lenses. Further deterioration in his sight left him officially registered blind, but though his peripheral vision is very poor, he can still see directly in front of him and watch play on the field.
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...
for Yorkshire
Yorkshire County Cricket Club
Yorkshire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Yorkshire as one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure....
from 1966 to 1980, and appeared in three Test matches
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...
for England.
Life and career
Son of a French polisherFrench polish
French polishing is a wood finishing technique that results in a very high gloss surface, with a deep colour and chatoyancy. French polishing consists of applying many thin coats of shellac dissolved in alcohol using a rubbing pad lubricated with oil...
, Cope grew up in Crossgates, Leeds, and first played cricket at Manston Junior School. His talent was shown in an Under 11 cup final in which he took all ten wickets for 26 and then batted his team to victory. He played club cricket at an early age with Leeds Zingari and then for Leeds Cricket Club in the Yorkshire League
Yorkshire League
Yorkshire League may refer to*One of the rugby league county leagues which ran between 1895 and 1970 as the premier rugby league competitions in the United Kingdom.*The CMS Yorkshire league, an amateur rugby league competition in the United Kingdom....
. He played for the club for 25 years. He played for England Schools and then, in 1964, for Yorkshire Second XI. He made his debut for the first team against Hampshire
Hampshire County Cricket Club
Hampshire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Hampshire in cricket's County Championship. The club was founded in 1863 as a successor to the Hampshire county cricket teams and has played at the Antelope Ground from then until 1885, before moving to the County Ground where it...
at Bradford Park Avenue
Bradford Park Avenue A.F.C.
Bradford Association Football Club, previously also known as Bradford and since its reformation in the 1970s now referred to as Bradford Park Avenue, is a football club based in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England...
with Ray Illingworth
Ray Illingworth
Raymond Illingworth, CBE is a former English cricketer, cricket commentator and cricket administrator. He was one of only nine players to have taken 2,000 wickets and made 20,000 runs in First class cricket, and the last one to do so...
on Test duty. Despite taking 40 wickets at 13.82 in 1967, he did not earn a regular first team place until 1969, when Illingworth moved to captain
Captain (cricket)
The captain of a cricket team often referred to as the skipper is the appointed leader, having several additional roles and responsibilities over and above those of a regular player...
Leicestershire
Leicestershire County Cricket Club
Leicestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Leicestershire. It has also been representative of the county of Rutland....
.
He won his Yorkshire cap in 1970, but was twice forced to remodel his off-break bowling action after he was suspended in 1972, and again in 1978. "It was a bad time because you were never allowed to defend yourself," said Cope. "A committee met and made a decision, which was then passed on down the lines. You didn’t know who was on that committee or what they thought. But Dickie Bird and a lot of other people have said, 'Geoff, there's nothing wrong; if you were guilty, then an awful lot of others were.' I think that's a fair comment; it was just one of those periods." Cricket writer, Colin Bateman, noted that "Geoff Cope's career was blighted by suspicions that his off-spinner's action was illegal and twice - in 1972 and 1978 - he was suspended by 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...
. The second suspension came after he had broken through into the Test side the previous winter in Pakistan, where he came tantalisingly close to a debut hat-trick
Hat-trick
A hat-trick or hat trick in sport is the achievement of a positive feat three times during a game, or other achievements based on threes. The term was first used in 1858 in cricket to describe HH Stephenson's feat of taking three wickets in three balls. A collection was held for Stephenson, and he...
".
He worked on his action with the Yorkshire spinner Johnny Wardle
Johnny Wardle
Johnny Wardle was an English spin bowler of post-war cricket. His Test bowling average of 20.39, is the lowest in Test cricket by any recognised spin bowler, since World War I....
and, after good seasons in 1974 and 1975, played in an England Test trial at Bristol in May, 1976. Derek Underwood
Derek Underwood
Derek Underwood MBE is an English former international cricketer, and a former President of the MCC....
took four for 10 in the second innings while Cope took five for 27, as they skittled 'The Rest of England' for 48. Cope was not selected for a Test that summer, and so escaped a pummelling at the hands of the West Indies, but was selected for his first major tour, to 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...
, Ceylon
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
for the Centenary Test
Centenary Test
Centenary Test refers to two matches of Test cricket played between the English cricket team and the Australian cricket team, the first in 1977 and the second in 1980. These matches were played to mark the 100th anniversaries of the first Test cricket matches played in Australia and in England ...
that winter. Despite a good start in the Indian tour matches he did not appear in the Test Matches as Tony Greig
Tony Greig
Anthony "Tony" William Greig is a former English Test cricketer and currently a commentator.Born in Queenstown, South Africa, Greig qualified to play for England by virtue of his Scottish father. He was a tall batting all-rounder who bowled both medium pace and off spin. He became captain of the...
adopted a seam based strategy to win the series 3-1.
Ken Barrington
Ken Barrington
Kenneth Frank Barrington , better known as Ken Barrington, played for the English cricket team and Surrey County Cricket Club in the 1950s and 1960s. He was a right-handed batsman and occasional leg-spin bowler, well known for his jovial good humour and long, defensive innings "batting with bulldog...
, manager of the England team on his second tour, remarked that Cope was more accurate than Derek Underwood
Derek Underwood
Derek Underwood MBE is an English former international cricketer, and a former President of the MCC....
. He was not a big spinner of the ball, preferring to build pressure on a batsman through denying him scoring opportunities. The weakness of the Yorkshire team in the 1970s, often forced him to bowl long defensive spells against his natural attacking instincts.
He toured 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...
in 1977-78, playing in all three of the 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...
, at Lahore
Lahore
Lahore is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab and the second largest city in the country. With a rich and fabulous history dating back to over a thousand years ago, Lahore is no doubt Pakistan's cultural capital. One of the most densely populated cities in the world, Lahore remains a...
, Hyderabad, and Karachi
Karachi
Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...
, and two of the One Day Internationals, at Sialkot
Sialkot
Sialkot is a city in Pakistan situated in the north-east of the Punjab province at the foothills of snow-covered peaks of Kashmir near the Chenab river. It is the capital of Sialkot District. The city is about north-west of Lahore and only a few kilometers from Indian-controlled Jammu.The...
and Lahore
Lahore
Lahore is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab and the second largest city in the country. With a rich and fabulous history dating back to over a thousand years ago, Lahore is no doubt Pakistan's cultural capital. One of the most densely populated cities in the world, Lahore remains a...
, missing the first ODI at Sahiwal
Sahiwal
Sahiwal is a city in Punjab, Pakistan. It is the administrative centre of Sahiwal District and Sahiwal Division. Sahiwal is approximately 180 km from the major city Lahore and is the city between Lahore and Multan...
. He almost took a hat-trick
Hat-trick
A hat-trick or hat trick in sport is the achievement of a positive feat three times during a game, or other achievements based on threes. The term was first used in 1858 in cricket to describe HH Stephenson's feat of taking three wickets in three balls. A collection was held for Stephenson, and he...
on his Test debut: he dismissed Abdul Qadir
Abdul Qadir (cricketer)
Abdul Qadir Khan is a former Pakistani international cricketer, later commentator and was recently the Chief Selector of Pakistan Cricket Board. He resigned from the post because of his differences with the top brass of Pakistan cricket board...
leg before wicket
Leg before wicket
In the sport of cricket, leg before wicket is one of the ways in which a batsman can be dismissed. An umpire will rule a batsman out LBW under a series of circumstances which primarily include the ball striking the batsman's body when it would otherwise have continued on to hit the batsman's...
, then bowled Sarfraz Nawaz
Sarfraz Nawaz
Sarfraz Nawaz Malik is a former Pakistani Test cricketer and politician who discovered reverse swing and was instrumental in Pakistan's first Test series victories over India and England. Between 1969 and 1984 he played 55 Tests and 45 One Day Internationals and was Imran Khan's regular new ball...
first ball. The next batsman, Iqbal Qasim
Iqbal Qasim
Mohammad Iqbal Qasim is a former Pakistani cricketer who played in 50 Tests and 15 ODIs from 1976 to 1988.Qasim ended his career with 171 wickets in his 50 Test matches, at approximately 3.5 wickets a match. His accurate bowling saw his economy rate at a low 2.21...
, was caught at slip by Mike Brearley
Mike Brearley
John Michael Brearley OBE is a former cricketer who captained the England cricket team in 31 of his 39 Test matches, winning 17 and losing only 4. He was the President of the Marylebone Cricket Club in 2007–08.-Early life:...
. Despite the umpire giving him out, Brearley was not sure whether he had taken the catch cleanly and called him back to the crease.
"Iqbal Qasim came in, a little left-hander. I chose to go round the wicket and obviously we put men round the bat, ‘Brears’ (Mike Brearley the captain) at first slip, Graham Roope
Graham Roope
Graham Richard James Roope was an English cricketer, who appeared in twenty one Tests and eight ODIs for England between 1973 and 1978....
, Bob Willis
Bob Willis
Robert George Dylan Willis MBE , known as Bob Willis, is a former English cricketer who played for Surrey, Warwickshire, Northern Transvaal and England...
, 'Both' all round the bat. I just bowled it right and it was magic really; it just turned a fraction and bounced, and 'Iqqie' nicked it. Brears just dived to his left and caught the ball about a foot off the ground, landed in front of Roopey and Willis, Iqqie just looked up the wicket at me, nodded, said, 'Well bowled'; the umpire went bananas, shaking hands and saying, 'I've never seen a hat-trick before, well bowled.' And ironically this was on my debut. 12 months previously, on the same ground, Peter Petherick
Peter Petherick
Peter James Petherick is a former off-spinner who represented New Zealand in cricket. He is one of two New Zealand bowlers to achieve a hat-trick in Test matches. He is one of only three players, along with Maurice Allom and Damien Fleming, to have taken a hat-trick on Test debut...
of New Zealand had just done the first hat-trick ever on debut, so it would have been 12 months to the day and it would have been a unique place in history." "But Mike in landing got a lot of gravel on the back of his hand. Iqqie left the field and all the lads were up there when suddenly Brears started saying, ‘I’m going to bring him back be I don't think I caught it cleanly.' All the lads around him were adamant he had caught it a foot off the ground, but he said, 'No, for the best interests of this series I'm going to bring him back.' So he brought him back – and for the best interests of the series, six of us were lbw in our first innings. It happened, but it was a moment of disappointment because something like that on a Test debut is very special. As somebody once said, 'If bad luck hadn't been invented, we'd have had none at all!'"
Cope took 686 first-class wickets in 246 games, with a best of 8 for 73 against Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire County Cricket Club
Gloucestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Gloucestershire. Its limited overs team is called the Gloucestershire Gladiators....
at Bristol
County Cricket Ground, Bristol
The County Cricket Ground is a cricket venue in Bristol, England. It is in the district of Ashley Down. The ground is home to the Gloucestershire County Cricket Club....
in 1975. His average of 24.70 compares favourably with other similar bowlers of his generation. He took his largest seasonal haul, 93 wickets at 24.13, in 1976 and averaged just 13.82 with the ball in taking 40 wickets in 1967.
He scored several first-class fifties, usually grinding affairs to stave off defeat, but never scored a century in any form of cricket. He often was sent in as a stolid nightwatchman
Nightwatchman (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, a nightwatchman is a lower-order batsman who comes in to bat higher up the order than usual near the end of the day's play...
, and opened on occasion in emergencies. He scored most of his runs with nicks and deflections behind the wicket. His highest knock was 78 against Essex
Essex County Cricket Club
Essex County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Essex. Its limited overs team is called the Essex Eagles, their team colours this season are blue.The club plays most of its home games...
at Acklam Park
Acklam Park
Acklam Park on Green Lane in Acklam, Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire held 45 first class and 24 list A limited overs matches between 1956 and 1996....
, Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough is a large town situated on the south bank of the River Tees in north east England, that sits within the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire...
in 1977.
After leaving the first-class game he played for Yeadon Cricket Club, helping develop the club and the ground, before finally retiring from the game completely at 40. He was elected to the Yorkshire Committee after Brian Close
Brian Close
Dennis Brian Close , usually known as Brian Close, is a former cricketer who is the youngest man ever to play Test cricket for England. He was picked for the Test team to play against New Zealand, in July 1949, when he was 18 years old. Close went on to play 22 Test matches for England,...
retired from his seat, and appointed Yorkshire's Director of Cricket in 2002. "It's a very hard task but I'm thoroughly enjoying it," Cope said. "It's a wonderful opportunity and I've got to make the most of it."
Cope began his playing career wearing glasses
Glasses
Glasses, also known as eyeglasses , spectacles or simply specs , are frames bearing lenses worn in front of the eyes. They are normally used for vision correction or eye protection. Safety glasses are a kind of eye protection against flying debris or against visible and near visible light or...
and, in 1972, turned to contact lenses. Further deterioration in his sight left him officially registered blind, but though his peripheral vision is very poor, he can still see directly in front of him and watch play on the field.