Alfred Ernest Dipper (9 November 1885 – 7 November 1945) was an English professional

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 for

Gloucestershire County Cricket Club Gloucestershire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Gloucestershire. Founded in 1870, Gloucestershire have always ...

from 1908 to 1932, and in one Test match for England in 1921. He was born at

Apperley Apperley is a village in Gloucestershire, England, about southwest of Tewkesbury, south of Deerhurst and east of the River Severn. It is the largest settlement in Deerhurst civil parish. In 2020 it had an estimated population of 625. The p ...

, Gloucestershire, and died at

Lambeth Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, in the London Borough of Lambeth, historically in the County of Surrey. It is situated south of Charing Cross. The population of the London Borough of Lambeth was 303,086 in 2011. The area expe ...

, London. Dipper was a right-handed opening batsman who played in 481 first-class matches. He scored 28,075 career runs at an average of 35.27 runs per completed

innings An innings is one of the divisions of a cricket match during which one team takes its turn to bat. Innings also means the period in which an individual player bats (acts as either striker or nonstriker). Innings, in cricket, and rounders, is bot ...

with a highest score of 252 * as one of 53 centuries. Dipper was an occasional right arm medium pace bowler and took 161 first-class wickets with a best return of 7/46. He took

five wickets in an innings 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 batsman. Taki ...

five times and ten wickets in a match once. His best match return was 14/104. He was generally perceived to be a weak fielder due to lack of mobility, but he held 210 career

catches Catch may refer to: In sports * Catch (game), children's game * Catch (baseball), a maneuver in baseball * Catch (cricket), a mode of dismissal in cricket * Catch or reception (gridiron football) * Catch, part of a rowing stroke In music * Cat ...

Career

Alf Dipper, then aged 22, had been playing for his local club in Tewkesbury and made his first-class debut on 15 June 1908 after he was called into the Gloucestershire team at short notice because they were a man short going to the

Angel Ground The Angel Ground was a sports ground at Tonbridge in the English county of Kent. It was used as a venue for first-class cricket by Kent County Cricket Club between 1869 and 1939 and then for association football by Tonbridge Angels F.C., until 19 ...

in Tonbridge for a County Championship match against Kent. He batted at number nine and top scored with 30 * in the first

but Gloucestershire collapsed twice to lose by an innings and 126 runs. Dipper was out for 8 in the second innings. He bowled 12

over Over may refer to: Places *Over, Cambridgeshire, England *Over, Cheshire, England *Over, South Gloucestershire, England * Over, Tewkesbury, near Gloucester, England ** Over Bridge *Over, Seevetal, Germany Music Albums * ''Over'' (album), by Pe ...

s in the Kent innings and took 1/12 with the wicket of Ted Dillon, who was

caught Caught is a method of dismissing a batsman in cricket. A batsman is out caught if the batsman hits the ball, from a legitimate delivery, with the bat, and the ball is caught by the bowler or a fielder before it hits the ground. If the ball h ...

behind by

Jack Board John Henry Board (23 February 1867 – 15 April 1924) was an English cricketer who played in six Tests from 1899 to 1906. Jack Board was a wicketkeeper and a right-handed batsman who started out as a tail-ender but developed into a useful playe ...

for 25. Dipper stayed with Gloucestershire but did not play regularly until he became their opening batsman in 1911. He scored 1,101 runs in 1911 with two centuries to establish his position in the team. Dipper was essentially a defensive batsman. He exceeded 1,000 runs in a season 15 times and reached 2,000 in five of them. He played in just one Test match for England, against

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 ...

Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and ...

in 1921, a year when many new players were tried against the all-conquering team led by Warwick Armstrong. Dipper scored 40 and 11, but was dropped. His lack of mobility as a fielder probably cost him further consideration by the Test selectors.

Later years

Having retired as a player, Dipper became a first-class umpire. He stood in 93 first-class matches from 1933 to 1936. In other sports, he was a high standard

bowls Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which the objective is to roll biased balls so that they stop close to a smaller ball called a "jack" or "kitty". It is played on a bowling green, which may be flat (for "flat-gre ...

player and good at billiards. Dipper died at

St Thomas' Hospital St Thomas' Hospital is a large NHS teaching hospital in Central London, England. It is one of the institutions that compose the King's Health Partners, an academic health science centre. Administratively part of the Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foun ...

on 7 November 1945, two days before his 60th birthday. He was buried at

Manor Park Cemetery Manor may refer to: Land ownership * Manorialism or "manor system", the method of land ownership (or "tenure") in parts of medieval Europe, notably England * Lord of the manor, the owner of an agreed area of land (or "manor") under manorialism * ...

in east London.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dipper, Alf 1885 births 1945 deaths England Test cricketers English cricket umpires English cricketers of 1919 to 1945 English cricketers Gloucestershire cricketers People from the Borough of Tewkesbury Players cricketers Players of the South cricketers Sportspeople from Gloucestershire