Stephen James Cook (born 31 July 1953) is a former South African association football and

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er who played in three cricket Test matches and four

One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...

s from 1991 to 1993. His son Stephen Cook currently plays for Gauteng and the national side, the Proteas. He played football for Wits University while studying for a teaching degree in the late seventies and featured in the 1978 Mainstay Cup Final. Cook was a prolific opening batsman both in his native South Africa and for

Somerset County Cricket Club Somerset County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Somerset. Founded in 1875, Somerset was initially regarded as a minor ...

but South Africa's exclusion from Test cricket cost him a significant Test career. He played in all 19 of South Africa's 'unofficial Test matches' against rebel sides. Aged 39 and having waited two decades for an official Test cap, he edged Kapil Dev's opening ball, a late outswinger, to third slip in the First Test between South Africa and India at Durban in November 1992, to become the first debutant to be dismissed by the first ball of a Test match;

Leon Garrick Leon Vivian Garrick (born 11 November 1976) is a West Indian cricketer who played one Test and three One Day Internationals in 2001. Garrick was born in Saint Ann, Jamaica, and played for the Jamaican youth side before making his first-class d ...

of the West Indies also suffered this fate nine years later. Originally a middle-order batsman for Transvaal, his career blossomed when he converted to the opening position. He formed a formidable opening partnership with

Henry Fotheringham Henry Richard Fotheringham (born 4 April 1953) is a retired South African cricketer. Fotheringham lived in Swaziland and Rhodesia as a child, and attended Ruzawi School and Michaelhouse. He represented Natal Schools at the 1969-70 Nuffield Wee ...

, helping the Transvaal dominate the domestic scene in the 1980s. He captained the province later on in his career, and remains the third highest run scorer in South African first class cricket. Ignored by

county cricket Inter-county cricket matches are known to have been played since the early 18th century, involving teams that are representative of the historic counties of England and Wales. Since the late 19th century, there have been two county championship ...

in England until late in his career, he scored over 7,500 runs for Somerset in his three seasons with the club, including 28 hundreds. In 270 first-class matches, he scored 21,143 runs with a top score of 313* at an average of 50.58. He scored 64 first-class hundreds. In 286 List A cricket games, he made 10,639 runs at 41.39 with a best of 177. After Cook retired he became director of coaching with the UCBSA, and had an unsuccessful spell with Hampshire which ended in 2002. As a coach at King Edward School in Johannesburg he oversaw the development of Graeme Smith.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cook, Jimmy 1953 births Living people South Africa Test cricketers South Africa One Day International cricketers South African cricketers South African people of British descent Gauteng cricketers Somerset cricketers Wisden Cricketers of the Year Sportspeople from Johannesburg South African cricket coaches Bidvest Wits F.C. players Association footballers not categorized by position South African soccer players White South African people