Roger Andrew Harper (born 17 March 1963) is a Guyanese former

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 turned coach, who played both

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and

One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

cricket for the West Indies cricket team. His international career lasted 13 years, from 1983 to 1996, and he was later described as a "fabulous" fielder. His Test bowling average of 28.06 is superior to that of Lance Gibbs, giving him the leading average among all West Indian spinners with at least 25 Test wickets. One of his most notable performances was against South Africa in the quarter-finals of the

1996 Cricket World Cup The 1996 Cricket World Cup, also called the Wills World Cup 1996 for sponsorship reasons, was the sixth Cricket World Cup organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was co-hosted by India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The tournament wa ...

when he took 4/47 to allow the West Indies to seize control of the match. Harper was an all-rounder who batted right-handed and bowled right-arm

off break Off spin is a type of spin bowling in cricket. A bowler who uses this technique is called an off spinner. Off spinners bowl with their right-arm and a finger spin action. Their normal delivery is called an off break, which spins from left to ...

s, although suffering from the

yips In sports, the yips are a sudden and unexplained loss of ability to execute certain skills in experienced athletes. Symptoms of the yips are losing fine motor skills and psychological issues that impact the muscle memory and decision-making of ath ...

during part of his career. As a player, he scored 535 runs and 46 wickets in his 25 Tests, and he played 200 first class matches. As a player, he made many of his best performances in England. His Test batting and bowling averages in England were better than his averages elsewhere, he recorded both his best Test bowling figures of 6/57 and his highest test score (74) against England at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and is the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,197, it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after W ...

, in 1984 and 1988, respectively, and he made his highest first-class score of 234 while playing for

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire ( ; abbreviated Northants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshi ...

(while batting at no.7) against

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in 1986. It was in England (at

Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket List of Test cricket grounds, venue in St John's Wood, Westminster. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex C ...

) that he also pulled off his most famous piece of fielding to run out

Graham Gooch Graham Alan Gooch, (born 23 July 1953) is a former English first-class cricketer who captained Essex and England. He was one of the most successful international batsmen of his generation, and through a career spanning 1973 until 1997, he was ...

during the MCC Bicentenary match in 1987. After his playing career, he became a coach, taking over the West Indies team between 2000 and 2003, and then worked as team manager of the

West Indies Under-19 cricket team The West Indies under-19 cricket team represents the countries of Cricket West Indies in international under-19 cricket. The West Indies is one of only five teams to participate in every edition of the Under-19 Cricket World Cup, along with Engla ...

in 2005. However, he was approached by

Cricket Kenya Cricket Kenya is the official International Cricket Council, ICC recognised organisation chosen to represent Kenya in terms of cricket issues. They are in charge of overseeing the Kenyan Cricket Team. Cricket Kenya organizes two six team regional ...

in late December 2005 with an offer to take over the Kenyan national team after interim coach

Mudassar Nazar Mudassar Nazar (Urdu: مدثر نذر; born 6 April 1956) is a Pakistani cricket coach and former cricketer with a career in Test cricket for Pakistan and in league cricket in Pakistan and England. He was an all-rounder and opening batsman who ...

, and the appointment was made official in January 2006. Harper said it "was great to be back" coaching players "at a relatively high level."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harper, Roger 1963 births Living people Cricketers from Georgetown, Guyana Guyanese cricketers Demerara cricketers Northamptonshire cricketers Expatriate cricketers in England West Indies One Day International cricketers West Indies Test cricketers West Indian cricket captains Guyanese cricket coaches Guyana cricketers Guyanese people of African descent Coaches of the Kenya national cricket team Cricketers at the 1987 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 1992 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 1996 Cricket World Cup Coaches of the United States national cricket team M Parkinson's World XI cricketers Scarborough Festival President's XI cricketers D. B. Close's XI cricketers