Robert Chapman (cricketer)

Infobox Recent cricketer


nationality = English
country = England
country abbrev = Eng
name = Robert Chapman
picture = Cricket_no_pic.pngbatting style = Right-handed batsman
bowling style = Right arm fast-medium
FCs = 32
FC runs = 233
FC bat avg = 9.70
FC 100s/50s = 0/0
FC top score = 43*
FC balls = 3,927
FC wickets = 71
FC bowl avg = 38.05
FC 5s = 1
FC 10s = 0
FC best bowling = 6-105
FC catches/stumpings = 7/0
List As = 42
List A runs = 157
List A bat avg = 15.70
List A 100s/50s = 0/1
List A top score = 53*
List A balls = 1,462
List A wickets = 40
List A bowl avg = 30.72
List A 5s = 1
List A 10s = N/A
List A best bowling = 5-30
List A catches/stumpings = 3/0
debut date = 24 July
debut year = 1992
last date = 7 May
last year = 2003
source = http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/10708.html Cricinfo

Robert James Chapman (born 28 July 1972 in Nottingham) is an English cricketer who played first-class cricket for Nottinghamshire and Worcestershire between 1992 and 1998, and List A cricket for Lincolnshire in the early 21st century.

Chapman first played for Nottinghamshire's Second XI as a teenager, but his first-class debut came in July 1992 in the County Championship match against Warwickshire. He took one wicket in each innings (both future international players: Roger Twose and Neil Smith), but Notts declared in both innings and he did not get a chance to bat. In fact, he did not play another first team game at all for nearly two years, when he played against Cambridge University in April 1994. He took two wickets, but again was not called upon to bat.

He finally got his chance at the batting crease in July 1994 in Nottinghamshire's game against the South Africans, although he must have wondered why he bothered after being dismissed for 9 and 0. With the ball he took a single wicket (that of Peter Kirsten), but the county slipped to defeat by 134 runs. He played one other first-class, and two one-day, matches that season, but had little success in any of them.

In 1995 Chapman played intermittently from mid-June onwards, but averaged over 70 with the ball for his 11 first-class wickets. In one-day cricket he was less expensive but could manage only four wickets in 44 overs. Nor did his batting improve: he barely batted at all in List A games, but he made only 78 runs in 11 first-class innings at 9.75. The following year he was selected only twice, though he did take 4-109 against South Africa A, and he left the county before the 1996 season was out, moving to Worcestershire in August.

Chapman played only second-team cricket for Worcestershire at first, but accompanied his new county on tour to Zimbabwe in the winter and made his first-class debut for them against a Matabeleland Invitation XI at Bulawayo in late March. He took only two wickets in the match, although his part (7 not out from 25 balls) in a first-innings last-wicket partnership of 19 ultimately proved important as Worcestershire won the game by just 18 runs.

Returning to England, Chapman quickly found himself in a similar position to that which he had experienced at Nottinghamshire: that of the second-string player good enough to play a number of matches but never quite able to hold down a permanent first-team spot. He played six first-class and 11 one-day games during the season, but could manage a total of only 20 wickets in the two forms of the game combined. With the bat he was even more hapless than in previous years, scoring an almost insignificant ten runs in his seven innings, only one of those being not out.

1998 was a better season for Chapman, and in the second half of the season he finally managed to make himself into a first-team regular. He took 33 first-class wickets at 28.57, and 15 List A wickets at under 20 apiece. At the start of August he achieved career bests in both forms of the game, first taking 5-30 against Yorkshire in the AXA League and then a matter of days later claiming 6-105 in the Championship against his old county of Nottinghamshire. Sadly for Chapman, both feats were in a losing cause, although the 43 not out he hit against Durham (his highest score in county cricket) was more productive: he put on a century stand with Richard Illingworth (84) for the ninth wicket, then followed that up by taking 3-26 to help his side to a 155-run win.

Despite his improved statistics in 1998, the following year was entirely frustrating for Chapman, who found himself confined to the second team all season. In 2000, he left Worcestershire and moved counties again, this time to the minor county of Lincolnshire under the captaincy of another former Notts player, Mark Fell. Here he found rather more success, taking 4-18 against Berkshire in the first round of the 2002 C&G Trophy (actually played, due to the vagaries of the fixture list, in August 2001), and making his first ever List A half-century when in the same competition in 2003 he hit what, even though Lincolnshire lost the game, must have been a very satisfying unbeaten 53 against Nottinghamshire.

External links

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* [http://cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Players/4/4231/4231.html Statistical summary] from CricketArchive