Craig Cachopa (born 17 January 1992) is a retired South African-born New Zealand

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er who played for

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

in English

county cricket Inter-county cricket matches have been played since the early 18th century, involving teams that are representative of the historic counties of England and Wales. Two county championship competitions have existed since the late 19th century at ...

and

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

and

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

at New Zealand domestic level. He now works as a Project Manager at a top New Zealand company. Cachopa was born in

Welkom Welkom () is a city in the Free State (province), Free State province of South Africa, located about northeast of Bloemfontein, the provincial capital. Welkom is also known as Circle City, City Within A Garden, Mvela and Matjhabeng. The city' ...

, in what is now

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

's Free State province. His family emigrated to New Zealand in 2002, and he and two older brothers,

Carl Carl may refer to: *Carl, Georgia, city in USA *Carl, West Virginia, an unincorporated community *Carl (name), includes info about the name, variations of the name, and a list of people with the name *Carl², a TV series * "Carl", an episode of tel ...

(born 1986) and Bradley Cachopa (born 1988), have all played first-class cricket in New Zealand. A right-handed

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the cricket ball, ball with a cricket bat, bat to score runs (cricket), runs and prevent the dismissal (cricket), loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since Septembe ...

and occasional

wicket-keeper In cricket, the wicket-keeper is the Cricket player, player on the fielding (cricket), fielding side who stands behind the wicket, ready to stop Delivery (cricket), deliveries that pass the batsman, and take a Caught, catch, Stumped, stump the ...

, Craig Cachopa debuted for the New Zealand under-19s at the age of 16, and later captained the side at the 2010 Under-19 World Cup, hosted by New Zealand. He made his first-class debut for Wellington during the 2011–12 season of the

Plunket Shield New Zealand has had a domestic first-class cricket championship since the 1906–07 season. Since the 2009–10 season it has been known by its original name of the Plunket Shield. History The Plunket Shield competition was instigated in Octo ...

, but switched to Auckland the following season. Playing for Auckland against Wellington during the 2013–14 season, he scored 203 runs, his highest first-class score and only

double century In cricket, a century is a score of 100 or more runs in a single innings by a batter. 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 ...

. Cachopa signed a two-year contract with Sussex, beginning with the 2014 English season, qualifying as a domestic player via a Portuguese passport. He has announced his intention to qualify for

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, and will consequently be regarded as an overseas player if he wishes to return to Auckland. In June 2018, he was awarded a contract with Auckland for the 2018–19 season. In September 2018, he was named as the captain of the

Auckland Aces The Auckland cricket team represent the Auckland region and are one of six New Zealand domestic first class cricket teams. Governed by the Auckland Cricket Association they are the most successful side having won 28 Plunket Shield titles, ten ...

for the 2018 Abu Dhabi T20 Trophy. He was the leading run-scorer for Auckland in the

2018–19 Ford Trophy The 2018–19 Ford Trophy was the 48th season of The Ford Trophy, the List A cricket tournament in New Zealand. It was the eighth in a sponsorship deal between New Zealand Cricket and Ford Motor Company. Originally scheduled to take place betw ...

, with 412 runs in eleven matches. He is of Portuguese descent and Auckland spirit.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cachopa, Craig 1992 births Auckland cricketers Living people Sportspeople from Welkom New Zealand cricketers New Zealand people of Portuguese descent South African emigrants to New Zealand South African people of Portuguese descent Sportspeople of Portuguese descent Sussex cricketers New Zealand expatriate cricketers in England Wellington cricketers Naturalised citizens of New Zealand Wicket-keepers White South African people