George Pope (cricketer)

George Pope

Personal information
Full name	George Henry Pope
Born	(1911-01-27)27 January 1911 Tibshelf, Derbyshire, England
Died	29 October 1993(1993-10-29) (aged 82) Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England
Height	6 ft 4 in (193 cm)
Batting	Right-handed
Bowling	Right-arm fast-medium
Role	All-rounder
Relations	Alf Pope (brother) Harold Pope (brother)
International information
National side	England
Only Test	21 June 1947 v South Africa
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1933–1948	Derbyshire
Career statistics
Competition Test First-class Matches 1 205 Runs scored 8 7,518 Batting average – 28.05 100s/50s 0/0 8/43 Top score 8* 207* Balls bowled 218 30,781 Wickets 1 677 Bowling average 85.00 19.92 5 wickets in innings 0 40 10 wickets in match 0 7 Best bowling 1/49 8/38 Catches/stumpings 0/– 157/–
Source: CricInfo, 19 April 2010

George Henry Pope (27 January 1911

in 1947.

Pope , an all-rounder, played 169 matches for Derbyshire, taking 677 wickets at 19.92; as a batsman he had a career average of 28.05. He missed most of Derbyshire's Championship season in 1936 through injury, but improved steadily as both batsman and bowler before the war and came close to a Test place (he was in the party for Trent Bridge in 1938 and was chosen for the abortive tour of India in 1939–40). He missed 1946 because he was committed to League cricket but in 1947 he received his one cap, against South Africa at Lord's. In 1948 he did the double for the second time - hitting 207 not out at Portsmouth - but promptly decided to retire to Jersey because of his wife's health. He came back to play more League cricket and stand as a first-class umpire between 1966 and 1974. He was mellower by then. The writer Michael Parkinson recalled playing a League game against Sheffield, when they were effectively Mr Pope's XI. He would rap you on the pads, look ruefully down the wicket and say to himself: `Nice little leg-cutter that, George. Just a little bit too much, perhaps. What do you think, Mr Umpire?' And the poor besotted creature was bound to agree, as he invariably did the next time Mr Pope struck the pads and this time bellowed a demand for lbw.

Life and career

Pope was born at

's XI in 1937–38.

Pope was Derbyshire's leading

that remained the county's record until 2000.

Pope's Test career had one false start. In 1938, he was picked in the party for the

At the end of the 1948 season, Pope announced his immediate retirement to move to the Channel Islands to look after his wife, who was ill. He returned to first-class cricket on the Commonwealth XI tour of India, Pakistan and Ceylon in 1949–50, but at the end of that he retired for good.

Pope was a right hand batsman and played 312 innings in 205 first-class matches, with an average of 28.05. He made eight centuries, with a top score of 207 not out. He was a right-arm fast-medium bowler, and took 677 first-class wickets at average of 19.92, and a best performance of 8 for 38, amongst his forty five wicket hauls.^[2]

From 1966 to 1974, Pope stood as a first-class umpire in English county matches, returning for one last match as umpire in 1976.^[1]

He died in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, at the age of 82. As well as his elder brother Alf, his younger brother, Harold Pope, also played for Derbyshire.^[1]

References