Graham Robert Cowdrey (27 June 1964 – 10 November 2020) was an English

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 str ...

er.

Biography

Cowdrey was the third son of cricketer and life peer Colin Cowdrey, Baron Cowdrey of Tonbridge and his first wife Penny Chiesman. He was born in Farnborough in 1964 and educated at Wellesley House and

Tonbridge School (God Giveth the Increase) , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent day and boarding , religion = , president = , head_label ...

. After one year as a student at

Hatfield College, Durham , motto_English = Either the first or with the first , scarf = , named_for = Thomas Hatfield , established = , senior_tutor = , master = Ann MacLarnon (2017–) , undergraduates = 1010 (2017/18) , postgradu ...

, Cowdrey chose to embark on a professional career. He played for Kent County Cricket Club as an attacking batsman in first-class and

List A cricket List A cricket is a classification of the limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competitions in which the numb ...

from 1984 to 1998. In his 450 appearances for Kent, he scored over 14000 runs, with his best seasons in 1995 when he helped Kent reach the Benson & Hedges Cup final and win the Sunday League with a List A average of 53.90. He had two sons, Michael and Alexander, and a daughter, Grace. His nickname of "Van" came from

Van Morrison Sir George Ivan Morrison (born 31 August 1945), known professionally as Van Morrison, is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose recording career spans seven decades. He has won two Grammy Awards. As a teenager in t ...

, his favourite musician. Cowdrey worked as a Cricket Liaison Officer for the

England and Wales Cricket Board The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is the national governing body of cricket in England and Wales. It was formed on 1 January 1997 as a single governing body to combine the roles formerly fulfilled by the Test and County Cricket Board, ...

Death

Cowdrey died on 10 November 2020, aged 56, after a short illness.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cowdrey, Graham 1964 births 2020 deaths Deaths from sepsis English cricketers Kent cricketers Alumni of Hatfield College, Durham People educated at Tonbridge School Sportspeople from Farnborough, London Cricketers from the London Borough of Bromley Sons of life peers