Alfred Edward Cooper, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetAlfred Edward Cooper
South African cricketer
Date of Birth: 10-Aug-1869
Place of Birth: Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa
Date of Death: 15-Aug-1960
Profession: cricketer
Nationality: South Africa
Zodiac Sign: Leo 
About Alfred Edward Cooper
- Alfred Edward Cooper (10 August 1869 – 15 August 1960) was a South African cricketer who played at first-class level for Griqualand West and Transvaal (now Gauteng). Cooper was born in Cape Town in 1869.
- He made his first-class debut for Griqualand West in December 1890, against Eastern Province in the Champion Bat Tournament.
- (The team was then alternatively known as Kimberley, after the town of the same name).
- On debut, Cooper took three wickets (3/31) in Eastern Province's first innings, with the game concluding after two days with an Eastern Province victory.
- His next match came in the same tournament two days later, against Western Province at Newlands in Cape Town.
- In that match, Cooper opened the bowling with future South African international George Glover in each innings, taking 4/37 and 2/44.The next first-class match Cooper played was in April 1891, for Griqualand West against a Transvaal side in the second season of the Currie Cup.
- The match, at the Wanderers ground in Johannesburg, was designated "timeless", and finished with a Griqualand West victory after six days of play spread over a week.
- Cooper failed to take a wicket, but did record his highest first-class score in Griqualand West's second innings, despite coming in last in the batting order.
- He scored 41 runs before being dismissed by George Allsop, and featured in a 95-run tenth-wicket partnership with Charlie Finlason, who finished with 154 not out.
- As of December 2014, this remains a record for the last wicket for Griqualand West.Over six years later, Cooper again played at first-class level, appearing (for the only time) for Transvaal in the final of the 1896–97 Currie Cup, against Western Province.
- He bowled 44.3 five-ball overs in Western Province's first innings, finishing with 8/80.
- He took another three wickets, 3/56, in the second innings, consequently recording his only ten-wicket haul, match figures of 11/136.
- Despite Cooper's bowling, Transvaal still lost the match by 72 runs.
- Cooper's 8/80 was the first eight-wicket haul by a Transvaal player, and consequently the best bowling performance recorded for Transvaal at the time.
- It was surpassed, however, the following season, by Jimmy Sinclair's 8/40 (also against Western Province), and currently ranks thirteenth among bowling performances by Gauteng (Transvaal) players.Cooper's final first-class appearance came in March 1898, against Natal for a "Transvaal XI" led by Abe (later Sir Abraham) Bailey.
- He did, however, appear for a XV of Transvaal in October 1902, aged 33, playing against the touring Australians.
- Cooper died in Port Shepstone, Natal, in August 1960, aged 91.
- His son, Alfred Henry Cecil Cooper (1893–1963), played first-class cricket for Transvaal and also a single Test match for the South African national side, against England during the 1913–14 season.
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