Adrian Paul Kuiper (born 24 August 1959) is a former South African international

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er who played in one international

Test match Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

and 25

One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...

s between 1991 and 1996. Kuiper is now a farmer at Elgin, near

Grabouw Grabouw is a town located in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Grabouw is located some 65 km south-east of Cape Town, over Sir Lowry's Pass from Somerset West, along the N2 highway.The town is the commercial centre for the vast Elgin ...

in the

Western Cape The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...

Domestic career

Kuiper was a middle-order batsman and medium paced bowler who began with Western Province B in 1977 before graduating to the Western Province A cricket team. He played for

Western Province Western Province or West Province may refer to: * Western Province, Cameroon *Western Province, Rwanda *Western Province (Kenya) *Western Province (Papua New Guinea) *Western Province (Solomon Islands) *Western Province, Sri Lanka *Western Provin ...

between 1978 and 1995, becoming captain in 1984. He then captained Boland between 1995 and 1998. He played for

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

in the English County Championship in 1990. He also helped Derbyshire to win the

1990 Refuge Assurance League The 1990 Refuge Assurance League was the twenty-second competing of what was generally known as the Sunday League. The competition was won for the first time by Derbyshire County Cricket Club. Standings Batting averages Bowling averages ...

, top-scoring for the county with 56 in the decisive fixture against

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

International career

Kuiper played 5 unofficial "Tests" for the

South African cricket team The South Africa national cricket team, also known as the Proteas, represents South Africa in men's international cricket and is administered by Cricket South Africa (CSA). South Africa is a full member of the International Cricket Council (I ...

. He played the first in 1981 and also the last in 1990 both versus England. When South Africa was re-admitted to international cricket, Kuiper played in the first One Day International (ODI) series versus

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

in 1991, playing a pivotal role in South Africa's victory in the 3rd match, and also in the 1992 World Cup. Kuiper's place in South African cricket history was assured when he was part of the teams which played the Proteas first post apartheid ODI and Test. Although South Africa lost their first ever ODI, their innings were boosted by an initially restrained, and then firework laden 43 from Kuiper. Kuiper also played in South Africa's first

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

since re-admittance versus

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...

in 1992. That was Kuiper's only official Test as he was seen as a one-day specialist. In 1994 he struck 26 runs, including three successive sixes, from an over by

Craig McDermott Craig John McDermott (born 14 April 1965) is a former Australian cricketer. Between 1984 and 1996 he played 71 Tests for Australia, taking 291 wickets. Following the end of his playing career, he was the bowling coach for the Australian team fo ...

in a

match versus

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

at Verwoerdburg (Centurion). Kuiper played One Day Internationals until 1996. Scoring 61 in his last innings versus

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha (), formerly Port Elizabeth and colloquially often referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, Sou ...

. But he was not considered for the

1996 Cricket World Cup The 1996 Cricket World Cup, also called the Wills World Cup 1996 after the Wills Navy Cut brand produced by tournament sponsor ITC, was the sixth Cricket World Cup organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was the second World Cu ...

squad due to his age and fitness. During his career Kuiper was compared to

Ian Botham Ian Terence Botham, Baron Botham, (born 24 November 1955) is an English cricket commentator, member of the House of Lords, a former cricketer who has been chairman of Durham County Cricket Club since 2017 and charity fundraiser. Hailed as one ...

due to his big hitting. He hit 117 off 67 balls (reaching his century in 48 balls) with eight sixes and eight fours against the rebel England team at

Bloemfontein Bloemfontein, ( ; , "fountain of flowers") also known as Bloem, is one of South Africa's three capital cities and the capital of the Free State (province), Free State province. It serves as the country's judicial capital, along with legisla ...

in 1990. It was described by fellow South African batsman

Daryll Cullinan Daryll John Cullinan (born 4 March 1967) is a former South African first-class cricketer who played Test cricket and One Day Internationals for South Africa as a specialist batsman. He was regarded as the most gifted batsman of his generation ...

as the best one day hundred he had seen.Natural Born Hitters - Daryll Cullian's website
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kuiper, Adrian 1959 births Living people Alumni of Diocesan College, Cape Town South Africa Test cricketers South Africa One Day International cricketers South African cricketers Boland cricketers Derbyshire cricketers Western Province cricketers Cricketers from Johannesburg South African Universities cricketers