Geoff Humpage

Geoff Humpage
Personal information
Full name
Geoffrey William Humpage
Born (1954-04-24) 24 April 1954 (age 70)
Sparkbrook, Birmingham, England
BattingRight-handed
BowlingRight-arm medium
RoleWicket-keeper
International information
National side
ODI debut (cap 59)4 June 1981 v Australia
Last ODI8 June 1981 v Australia
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1974–1990Warwickshire
1981/82Orange Free State
Career statistics
Competition ODI FC LA
Matches 3 351 324
Runs scored 11 18,108 6,594
Batting average 5.50 36.36 25.55
100s/50s 0/0 29/97 3/36
Top score 6 254 109*
Balls bowled – 1,027 773
Wickets – 13 18
Bowling average – 42.53 38.55
5 wickets in innings – 0 0
10 wickets in match – 0 0
Best bowling – 2/13 4/53
Catches/stumpings 2/– 671/72 249/32
Source: CricketArchive, 20 January 2014

Geoffrey William Humpage (born 24 April 1954) is a former England cricketer who played in three One Day Internationals in 1981. Humpage played in county cricket as a hard-hitting middle-order batsman and wicketkeeper for Warwickshire from 1974 to 1990. He was born at Sparkbrook in Birmingham in 1954.

As of 2022, he still holds the Warwickshire batting record for the fourth wicket: a stand of 470 with Alvin Kallicharran against Lancashire at Southport in 1982, of which Humpage contributed 254 (his highest first-class score), in a match which Warwickshire lost by ten wickets.[1][2][3] As of 2022, this is the fourth highest fourth-wicket partnership in first-class cricket anywhere, and the highest ever in England.[4] He went on the rebel tour to South Africa in 1981–82, which effectively ended his international career after just three ODIs, despite it having no similar effect on the international careers of other rebel tourists including Graham Gooch, John Emburey and Peter Willey.[5][6] Humpage remains the only tourist on this tour who never played Test cricket. He was named one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1985.[7]

An occasional bowler, while bowling in a John Player League match in 1980 he was credited with effecting an unusual run out (of Sussex's Colin Wells) after a delivery hit back by the batsman deflected via Humpage's trouser leg onto the non-striker's stumps.[8] In this year, Humpage helped his county win the John Player League, and he also helped them to win the NatWest Trophy in 1989.[9]

On retirement Humpage become a policeman. In 2001 he spoke out about possible match-fixing in the English game twenty years earlier, saying: "In one game we found ourselves up against a side who [were] suddenly playing kids in important positions. In the Sunday game it was a little bit easier than it should have been. Other people have now said that there are question marks over the two games".[10]

  1. ^ Austin, Michael (29 July 1982). "Kallicharran and Humpage make 470 record stand". The Daily Telegraph. London. p. 29.
  2. ^ "Highest Partnership for Each Wicket for Warwickshire". CricketArchive. Retrieved 5 February 2021.
  3. ^ "Lancashire v Warwickshire in 1982". Lancashire Cricket. Retrieved 5 February 2021 – via CricketArchive.
  4. ^ "Records / First-class matches / Partnership Records / Highest Partnerships by wicket". ESPNCricinfo. Retrieved 17 May 2022.
  5. ^ "Test ban on S. Africa tourists delayed". The Guardian. 6 March 1982. p. 1. Retrieved 5 February 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ Engel, Matthew (27 April 1985). "The rebels with a cause..." The Guardian. p. 13. Retrieved 5 February 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "Cricketer of the Year - 1985 - Geoff Humpage". Wisden Cricketers' Almanack. 1985. Retrieved 5 February 2021 – via ESPNcricinfo.
  8. ^ "Eleven bizarre dismissals". ESPNCricinfo. Retrieved 17 May 2022.
  9. ^ "Full Scorecard of Middlesex vs Warwickshire Final 1989". ESPNCricinfo. Retrieved 17 May 2022.
  10. ^ "If it ain't fixed ..." ESPNCricinfo. Retrieved 17 May 2022.