|
Yorkshire off-spinner Geoff Cope was twice banned for being a thrower.
Each time he rebuilt his bowling action and came back. There was some
comment when he was chosen for England, but international umpires passed
his bowling at top level. The bespectacled lad from the Burmantoffs
area of Leeds made his Yorkshire debut back in 1966. He had toured South
Africa with an international side raised by Derek Robins in 1975-76 and
impressed enough to be given a chance with England the following winter
when they toured India - the last England side to play as the M.C.C.
He
had no chance of international honours on that tour as England captain
Tony Greig attacked the Indians with his fast bowlers, but he played a
four-day match against Sri Lanka in the days before they had Test match
status. He took 1-19 and 2-39 in that game, one of his victims being the
future Sri Lankan captain Duleep Mendis. He also took 6-41 against an
Indian Combined XI in Nagpur. He was kept as a member of the touring
team for the following year's excursion to Pakistan and New Zealand,
under Mike Brearley.
Cope got his first Test at Lahore's Gaddafi
Stadium, sharing the spinning duties with Geoff Miller. Cope took 3-102,
bowling over after over as Mudassar Nazar ground out a century that
took nearly seven hours. In the second Test in the Niaz Stadium in
Hyderabad Cope had 2-49 and 2-42 and scored 22 useful runs down the
order. He took only one wicket in Karachi and was not used in any of the
Tests in New Zealand. (Bob Harragan)
In 1980 the age of 37 Geoff was told a small lump on his eye indicated he had Retinus Pigmentosa - a disease which would slowly take away his eyesight and along with it his dreams of furthering his cricketing career. When Geoff was 42, Dr Bruce Noble, Senior Consultant eye surgeon at Leeds General Infirmary offered to re-do tests to assess the progression of this devastating disease. He came to the conclusion that, whilst Geoff's case was mild, he would lose his ability to drive by the time he was 55 - which he did.
In time Geoff was obliged to use a blind dog and began helping The Guide dogs Charity
(www.guidedogs.org) and raised approximately £150,000 for the charity through gifts and events such as an Geoff's much-praised Annual Chinese Banquet.
The Guide Dog Service does not receive any government funding and relies entirely on donations from the public.
|