Ronald Draper
{{Short description|South African cricketer (1926–2025)}}
{{for|the American basketball player|Ronald Draper (basketball)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox cricketer
| name = Ronald Draper
| image = Ron Draper of South Africa.jpg
| caption = Draper in 1950
| imagesize = 160px
| fullname = Ronald George Draper
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1926|12|24|df=yes}}
| birth_place = Oudtshoorn, Cape Province, South Africa
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2025|02|25|1926|12|24|df=yes}}
| death_place = Gqeberha, Eastern Cape, South Africa
| batting = Right-handed
| bowling =
| role = Occasional wicket-keeper
| family = Errol Draper (brother)
| club1 = Eastern Province
| year1 = {{nowrap|1945/46–1949/50}}
| club2 = Griqualand West
| year2 = 1950/51–1959/60
| columns = 2
| column1 = Test
| matches1 = 2
| runs1 = 25
| bat avg1 = 8.33
| 100s/50s1 = 0/0
| top score1 = 15
| deliveries1 = –
| wickets1 = –
| bowl avg1 = –
| fivefor1 = –
| tenfor1 = –
| best bowling1 = –
| catches/stumpings1= 0/–
| column2 = First-class
| matches2 = 48
| runs2 = 3,290
| bat avg2 = 41.64
| 100s/50s2 = 11/11
| top score2 = 177
| deliveries2 = 32
| wickets2 = 1
| bowl avg2 = 27.00
| fivefor2 = 0
| tenfor2 = 0
| best bowling2 = 1/7
| catches/stumpings2= 32/10
| country = South Africa
| international = true
| testdebutagainst = Australia
| testcap = 175
| testdebutdate = 10 February
| testdebutyear = 1950
| lasttestdate = 3 March
| lasttestagainst = Australia
| lasttestyear = 1950
| source = http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/44721.html ESPNcricinfo
| date = 31 January
| year = 2021
}}
Ronald George Draper (24 December 1926 – 25 February 2025) was a South African cricketer who played in two Tests in 1950. He played first-class cricket from 1945 to 1959.
Playing career
Draper was born in Oudtshoorn, Cape Province, and was educated at Grey High School in Port Elizabeth (now Gqeberha).{{cite web|title=Sports offered - cricket|url=http://greyhighschool.com/index.php/sports-sports/sports-offered/cricket|publisher=Grey High School|accessdate=25 September 2015|archive-date=8 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190408125807/http://greyhighschool.com/index.php/sports-sports/sports-offered/cricket|url-status=dead}} Batting at number three, on his 19th birthday he made a century on his first-class debut for Eastern Province in December 1945, making the top score in the match.{{cite web | url = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/17/17532.html| title = Eastern Province v Orange Free State 1945-46 | publisher = CricketArchive| accessdate = 25 September 2015}} He began keeping wickets for Eastern Province in 1946–47, which he did irregularly for the rest of his career.
Draper was selected as wicket-keeper for a South African XI that played the Australian touring team in 1949–50.{{cite web |title=South African XI v Australians 1949-50 |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/19/19142.html |website=CricketArchive |access-date=7 September 2021}} A few weeks later he made 86 opening the batting for Eastern Province against the Australians.{{cite web |title=Eastern Province v Australians 1949-50 |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/19/19162.html|website=CricketArchive |access-date=7 September 2021}} After South Africa lost the first three Tests to Australia, Draper was one of five new players the selectors brought in for the Fourth Test, four of whom, including Draper, were making their Test debuts.{{cite web |title=4th Test, Johannesburg, Feb 10 - 14 1950, Australia tour of South Africa |url=https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/australia-tour-of-south-africa-1949-50-61373/south-africa-vs-australia-4th-test-62707/full-scorecard |website=ESPNcricinfo |access-date=7 September 2021}} Batting at number three, he made only 15, but the match was drawn and he kept his place for the Fifth Test, when he made 7 and 3 in an innings defeat.Wisden 1951, pp. 788-98.
He played no further Tests, but remained a batsman in the Currie Cup for some years. In his first two matches in the 1952–53 season, now opening the batting for Griqualand West, he scored 145 and 8 against Rhodesia,{{cite web | url = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/20/20455.html| title = Rhodesia v Griqualand West 1952-53 | publisher = CricketArchive| accessdate = 25 September 2015}} and 129 and 177 against Border,{{cite web | url = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/20/20472.html| title = Griqualand West v Border 1952-53 | publisher = CricketArchive| accessdate = 25 September 2015}} the first time anyone had scored a century in each innings in the Currie Cup.The Cricketer, 16 May 1953, p. 154. In each of these two matches he reached a century before lunch on the first day.Christopher Martin-Jenkins, The Complete Who's Who of Test Cricketers, Rigby, Adelaide, 1983, p. 282. They were his last first-class centuries. In his last first-class match, against Transvaal B in 1959–60, he made 39 out of Griqualand West's first-innings total of 77.{{cite web | url = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/23/23832.html | title = Griqualand West v Transvaal B 1959-60 | publisher = CricketArchive| accessdate = 25 September 2015}} His younger brother Errol played for Eastern Province in 1951–52 and for Griqualand West from 1953–54 to 1967–68.
With the death of compatriot John Watkins on 3 September 2021, Draper became the oldest living Test cricketer.{{cite web |title=Oldest Living Test Players |url=https://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/records/283742.html |website=ESPNcricinfo |access-date=8 September 2021}} Draper died at a retirement home in Gqeberha, on 25 February 2025, at the age of 98.{{Cite news|url=https://www.news24.com/sport/cricket/oldest-test-cricketer-dies-in-south-africa-aged-98-20250228|title=Oldest Test cricketer dies in South Africa aged 98|work=News24|date=28 February 2025|access-date=28 February 2025}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{cricinfo|id=44721}}
{{s-start}}
{{s-ach|rec}}
{{s-bef |before=John Watkins}}
{{s-ttl |title=Oldest living Test cricketer |years=3 September 2021 – 25 February 2025}}
{{s-aft |after=Neil Harvey}}
{{s-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Draper, Ronald}}
Category:Cricketers from Oudtshoorn
Category:South African people of British descent
Category:South Africa Test cricketers
Category:South African cricketers
Category:Eastern Province cricketers