Steven Charles Pope (born 15 November 1972) is a South African former

cricketer 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 ...

. Pope was 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 ...

who bowled

leg break Leg spin is a type of spin bowling in cricket. A bowler who uses this technique is called a leg spinner. Leg spinners bowl with their right-arm and a wrist spin action. The leg spinner's normal delivery is called a leg break, which spins from ...

and occasionally played as a

wicketkeeper In cricket, the wicket-keeper is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket, ready to stop deliveries that pass the batsman, and take a catch, stump the batsman out, or run out a batsman when occasion arises. The wicket-ke ...

. Pope was born at

East London East London is the part of London, England, east of the ancient City of London and north of the River Thames as it begins to widen. East London developed as London Docklands, London's docklands and the primary industrial centre. The expansion of ...

Cape Province The Province of the Cape of Good Hope (), commonly referred to as the Cape Province () and colloquially as The Cape (), was a province in the Union of South Africa and subsequently the Republic of South Africa. It encompassed the old Cape Co ...

. In a career that lasted 14 seasons, he represented

Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape ( ; ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, and its largest city is Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth). Due to its climate and nineteenth-century towns, it is a common location for tourists. It is also kno ...

Border Borders are generally defined as geography, geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by polity, political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other administrative divisio ...

, Border B,

Warriors A warrior is a guardian specializing in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based warrior culture society that recognizes a separate warrior aristocracy, class, or caste. History Warriors seem to have been p ...

Huntingdonshire Huntingdonshire (; abbreviated Hunts) is a local government district in Cambridgeshire, England, which was historically a county in its own right. It borders Peterborough to the north, Fenland to the north-east, East Cambridgeshire to the e ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

, Eastern Province and Eastern Province B. Something of a journeyman within South Africa, Pope did play 9 List-A matches for Cornwall, where his family originate, and one for Huntingdonshire 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 ...

. In his 14-year career, he forged a successful, if inconsistent first-class career. He played 93 first-class matches, where he scored 5,958 runs at a

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

of 32.91, with 27 half centuries and 12 centuries. His highest score in first-class cricket was 156 *. With the ball he took 48 wickets at a

bowling average In cricket, a player's bowling average is the number of runs they have conceded per wicket taken. The lower the bowling average is, the better the bowler is performing. It is one of a number of statistics used to compare bowlers, commonly use ...

of 31.27, with 2

five wicket haul In cricket, a five-wicket haul (also known as a "five–for" or "fifer") occurs when a bowler takes five or more wickets in a single innings. This is regarded by critics as a notable achievement, equivalent to a century from a batter. Taking ...

s and best figures of 7/62. In List-A cricket, he played a total of 106 matches, where he scored 2,660 runs at an average of 31.29. In the process, he made 21 half centuries, but no centuries, with a high score of 98 *. He also took 29 wickets in List-A cricket, at a

of 22.55 apiece, with best figures of 4/38. Toward the end of his career,

Twenty20 cricket Twenty20 (abbreviated T20) is a shortened format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the county cricket, inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two t ...

was introduced, with Pope playing 6 matches each in the format for Eastern Cape and later Warriors. In his 12 matches he scored 116 runs at an average of 12.88, with a high score of 34.

Family

His father Charles Pope played first-class and List-A cricket for Border. His uncle Ken McEwan also played first-class and List-A cricket.

References

External links

Steven Pope
at

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Steven Pope
at CricketArchive {{DEFAULTSORT:Pope, Steven 1972 births Living people Cricketers from East London, South Africa South African cricketers South African people of Cornish descent Eastern Province cricketers Border cricketers Warriors cricketers 21st-century South African sportsmen Huntingdonshire cricketers Cornwall cricketers South African expatriate cricketers in England Wicket-keepers