Roger Harper

Roger Harper

Personal information
Full name	Roger Andrew Harper
Born	(1963-03-17) 17 March 1963 (age 61) Georgetown, Guyana
Height	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Batting	Right-handed
Bowling	Right-arm off break
Relations	Mark Harper (brother)
International information
National side	West Indies
Test debut	10 December 1983 v India
Last Test	8 December 1993 v Sri Lanka
ODI debut	13 October 1983 v India
Last ODI	13 April 1996 v Sri Lanka
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1979–1990	Demerara
1979–1997	Guyana
1985–1987	Northamptonshire
Career statistics
Competition Test ODI FC LA Matches 25 105 200 214 Runs scored 535 855 7,480 2,650 Batting average 18.44 16.13 34.00 21.90 100s/50s 0/3 0/0 10/36 0/6 Top score 74 45* 234 69* Balls bowled 3,615 5,175 37,826 10,403 Wickets 46 100 567 210 Bowling average 28.06 34.31 25.97 30.79 5 wickets in innings 1 0 28 1 10 wickets in match 0 0 3 0 Best bowling 6/57 4/40 6/24 5/37 Catches/stumpings 36/– 55/– 262/– 120/–
Source: CricketArchive, 18 October 2010

Roger Andrew Harper (born 17 March 1963) is a Guyanese former cricketer turned coach, who played both Test and One Day International 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.^[1]

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 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 breaks, although suffering from the yips during part of his career.^[2] 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, in 1984 and 1988, respectively, and he made his highest first-class score of 234 while playing for Northamptonshire (while batting at no.7) against Gloucestershire in 1986.^[3] It was in England (at Lord's) that he also pulled off his most famous piece of fielding to run out Graham Gooch during the MCC Bicentenary match in 1987.^[4]

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 in 2005. However, he was approached by Cricket Kenya in late December 2005 with an offer to take over the Kenyan national team after interim coach Mudassar Nazar, and the appointment was made official in January 2006. Harper said it "was great to be back" coaching players "at a relatively high level."^[5]