ARGUABLY one of the greatest fielders of all-time was born. At slip, in the deep, off his bowling, anywhere you like, Roger Harper was absolutely electric, startlingly so for a man of 6ft 3in.

Nobody who witnessed his run-out of Graham Gooch in the MCC Bicentenary match at Lord’s in 1987 will forget it. Gooch came down the track and smacked a drive on the bounce back to Harper, who grabbed it and threw down the stumps in a mesmerising blur.

Gooch had hardly turned round, let alone got his bat back down, and was left on his knees, a disbelieving look on his face. Scyld Berry wrote that Gooch should have been given out “stp. and b Harper”.

Harper’s fielding obscured his off-spin, which was good enough to earn 46 Test wickets, and no West Indian spinner with 25 wickets – not even Lance Gibbs – has a lower average than Harper’s 28.07. (Cricinfo)