Stephen Pope (born 25 January 1983 in

Cheltenham, Gloucestershire Cheltenham (), also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort, following the discovery of mineral s ...

) is an English cricketer. He attended Cheltenham Bournside School and Sixth Form Centre, a comprehensive school. He represented England Schoolboys at both cricket and rugby as wicket keeper and scrum half. He was in the same rugby age group as Clive Stuart-Smith and they regularly battled for the number 9 shirt at English schoolboy level. Pope was known for his acceleration, box kicking and aggressive style of play on the rugby pitch. Pope signed 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 ...

aged 16 and was identified as a potential successor for Jack Russell with whom he eventually trained and played in the same team. He is a right-handed batsman and a wicket-keeper who has played

List A 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 numbe ...

cricket since 1999 and played Twenty20 cricket during the 2003 season, helping Gloucestershire to the semi-finals. He was the

Denis Compton Denis Charles Scott Compton (23 May 1918 – 23 April 1997) was an English multi-sportsman. As a cricketer he played in 78 Test matches and spent his whole cricket career with Middlesex. As a footballer, he played as a winger and spent most o ...

Award winner in 2002. Pope played for England at the 2002 ICC Under-19 World Cup in New Zealand and youth Test Match series against West Indies and India. In 2003, he played in five first-class cricket, first-class matches for the county, which gained promotion that year to Division 1. Pope was released by Gloucestershire in 2003 after the club decided it wanted a wicketkeeper who could bat in the top eight. After his release, he trained with

Old Patesians RFC Old Patesians Rugby Football Club is a rugby union club based in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. The club currently play in Counties 3 Gloucestershire North following their voluntary relegation from Regional 2 Severn. As well as the first XV, the ...

as he considered a return to rugby. He signed a one-year contract for

Surrey County Cricket Club Surrey County Cricket Club (Surrey CCC) is a first-class club in county cricket, one of eighteen in the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Surrey, including areas that now form South London ...

in 2006, playing in one List A match. Since retiring from cricket, Pope has qualified as a PE teacher and taught in Kenya for seven years before returning to the UK. He regularly coaches cricket and also publishes guidance on cricket through the company CrickiTeacher. In 2020 he was recruited to participate in the English deaf cricket team and trained with the squad following the approach to him as he requires a hearing aid. Pope gave a YouTube interview explaining his recent return to cricket after taking on a role in Farnham relating to his teaching career and coaching position at Farnham Cricket Club.In 2023 he was awarded a full England cap after helping the England Deaf cricket team achieve a memorable 2022 Ashes and one day series victory against Australia in Brisbane.

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Stephen Pope
at Cricket Archive {{DEFAULTSORT:Pope, Stephen 1983 births English cricketers Gloucestershire cricketers Surrey cricketers Living people Gloucestershire Cricket Board cricketers Place of birth missing (living people)