Роберт Коупер: Австралия крикетшісінің өмірі мен жетістіктері

Australian cricketer

Robert Maskew Cowper (born 5 October 1940) is a former cricketer who played Test cricket for Australia from 1964 to 1968, and Sheffield Shield cricket for Victoria and Western Australia from 1960 to 1970.

Bob Cowper was the son of Dave Cowper, who captained the Australia national rugby union team in the 1930s. Bob was educated at Scotch College, Melbourne, and began playing for Hawthorn East Melbourne in 1958. Two years later he was in the Victorian side. He was dropped in the 1965–66 Ashes series for slow scoring. When he was recalled for the Fifth Test at Melbourne he made the first Test triple century in Australia: 307 from 589 balls in 727 minutes. Matthew Hayden's 380 against Zimbabwe in 2002–03 is now the highest Test century in Australia, but Cowper's remains the longest. After his triple century he was never omitted from the Test side until a hand injury forced him out of the Fifth Test in 1968. In the last 13 matches of his Test career (the 1966–67, 1967–68, and 1968 series) he scored 931 runs at 38.79 and took 31 wickets at 25.22. In those 13 matches no other Australian player exceeded 800 runs, and only Graham McKenzie, with 49, took more wickets. Cowper was only 27 when he played his last Test, at Headingley in 1968, almost exactly four years after his first, at Headingley in 1964.

Since retiring from playing, Cowper has had a successful career in big business, and has also served as a cricket referee. In 1977 he joined the administrative board of World Series Cricket. In the 1980s he moved to Monaco. He was Australia’s representative to the International Cricket Council from 1987 to 2001. Cowper was awarded life membership of Cricket Victoria in 2018. In the 2023 King's Birthday Honours he was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in recognition for his service to cricket.