Keith John Piper (born 18 December 1969 in

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

) is a former professional cricketer. A natural wicketkeeper with an eye for the spectacular, Keith Piper played for

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

for 16 years. He was part of the team that won the County Championship (as part of an unprecedented treble) in 1994. In that year he made his highest first-class score of 116

not out In cricket, a batter is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batter is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at t ...

, the innings came against Durham in the match made famous by

Brian Lara Brian Charles Lara, (born 2 May 1969) is a Trinidadian former international cricketer, widely acknowledged as one of the greatest batsmen of all time. He topped the Test batting rankings on several occasions and holds several cricketing reco ...

scoring a first-class record 501 not out. Piper and Lara shared an unbeaten partnership of 322 which was a then county record for the fifth wicket. Piper went on two England A Tours but never got to play a full international game. He won praise for his role in an England A tour of India and Bangladesh in 1994-5,

Simon Hughes Sir Simon Henry Ward Hughes (born 17 May 1951) is a former British politician. He is now the Chancellor of London South Bank University, an External Adviser to The Open University, and UK Strategic Adviser to Talgo. Hughes was Deputy Leader ...

writing that Piper`s "wicketkeeping is on a par with anyone in the world". His off the field activities brought an end to his cricket career. After serving a drugs ban in 1997, he tested positive for

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: ''Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternatively ...

in the opening round of matches in 2005 and was banned for four months. His playing contract was terminated and Piper announced his retirement however he remained at the club as second XI coach until the end of the 2008 season when he took voluntary redundancy. In 2015, he joined the coaching staff of

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

References

External links

Cricinfo Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Piper, Keith 1969 births Living people Warwickshire cricketers English cricketers Doping cases in cricket British people of Montserratian descent First-Class Counties Select XI cricketers Wicket-keepers