Roger Andrew Harper (born 17 March 1963) is a Guyanese former

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 turned coach, who played both

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and

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 ...

cricket for the

West Indies cricket team The West Indies cricket team, nicknamed the Windies, is a multi-national men's cricket team representing the mainly Commonwealth Caribbean, English-speaking countries and territories in the Caribbean region and administered by Cricket West I ...

. His international career lasted 13 years, from 1983 to 1996, and he was later described as a "fabulous" fielder. His Test bowling average of 28.06 is superior to that of

Lance Gibbs Lancelot Richard Gibbs (born 29 September 1934) is a former West Indies cricketer, one of the most successful spin bowlers in Test cricket history. He took 309 Test wickets, only the second player (after Fred Trueman) to pass 300, the first spi ...

, giving him the leading average among all West Indian spinners with at least 25 Test wickets. One of his most notable performances was against South Africa in the Quarter Finals of 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 ...

when he took 4/47 to allow the West Indies to seize control of the match. Harper was an all-rounder who batted right-handed and bowled right-arm

off break Off spin is a type of finger spin bowling in cricket. A bowler who uses this technique is called an off spinner. Off spinners are right-handed spin bowlers who use their fingers to spin the ball. Their normal delivery is an off break, which spi ...

s, although suffering from the

yips In sports, the yips (in gymnastics, lost move syndrome or the twisties) are a sudden and unexplained loss of ability to execute certain skills in experienced athletes. Symptoms of the yips are losing fine motor skills and psychological issues that ...

during part of his career. As a player, he recorded 535 runs and 46 wickets in his 25 Tests, and he played 200 first class matches. As a player he made many of his best performances in England. His Test batting and bowling averages in England were better than his averages elsewhere, he recorded both his best Test bowling figures of 6/57 and his highest test score (74) against England at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...

, respectively in 1984 and 1988, and he made his highest first-class score of 234 while playing for

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(while batting at no.7) against

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

in 1986. It was in England (at

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 ...

) that he also pulled off his most famous piece of fielding to run out

Graham Gooch Graham Alan Gooch, (born 23 July 1953) is a former English first-class cricketer who captained Essex and England. He was one of the most successful international batsmen of his generation, and through a career spanning from 1973 until 2000, h ...

during the MCC Bicentenary match in 1987. After his playing career, he became a coach, taking over the West Indies team between 2000 and 2003, and then team manager of the

West Indies Under-19 cricket team The West Indies under-19 cricket team represents the countries of Cricket West Indies in international under-19 cricket. The West Indies is one of only five teams to participate in every edition of the Under-19 Cricket World Cup, along with Eng ...

in 2005. However, he was approached by

Cricket Kenya Cricket Kenya is the official ICC recognised organisation chosen to represent Kenya in terms of cricket issues. They are in charge of overseeing the Kenyan Cricket Team. Cricket Kenya organizes two six team regional tournaments in the T20 and 50 ...

in late December 2005 with an offer of taking over the Kenyan national team after interim coach

Mudassar Nazar Mudassar Nazar (Urdu: مدثر نذر; born 6 April 1956) is a Pakistani cricket coach and former cricketer with a career in Test cricket for Pakistan and in league cricket in Pakistan and England. He was an opening batsman who played 76 test and ...

, and the appointment was made official in January 2006. Harper said it "was great to be back" coaching players "at a relatively high level."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harper, Roger 1963 births Living people Sportspeople from Georgetown, Guyana Guyanese cricketers Demerara cricketers Northamptonshire cricketers West Indies One Day International cricketers West Indies Test cricketers West Indian cricket captains Guyanese cricket coaches Guyana cricketers Afro-Guyanese people Coaches of the Kenya national cricket team Cricketers at the 1987 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 1992 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 1996 Cricket World Cup Caribbean Premier League coaches Coaches of the United States national cricket team M Parkinson's World XI cricketers Scarborough Festival President's XI cricketers D. B. Close's XI cricketers