Tom Cooper

Tom Lexley William Cooper (born 26 November 1986) is an Australian–Dutch cricketer who played for South Australia in Australian domestic cricket and for the Brisbane Heat in the Big Bash League (BBL).

He is a right-handed middle order batsman and a right-arm off-spinner, and in addition to representing the Netherlands, he has represented Australia in the Under-19 Cricket World Cup.

Cooper was in Australia's under-19 team for the 2006 Under-19 Cricket World Cup, and in the lead up to the tournament he made his Youth ODI debut against India.

Cooper scored the first century of the World Cup in Australia's first match against South Africa.

He got to a hundred off 138 balls and finished with 104 runs.

He followed this up with another great performance against Sri Lanka, scoring 84 runs off 93 balls in a 9-wicket win.

Across ten Youth ODIs for Australia, he averaged 41.44 runs and scored at a rate of 87.76 runs per 100 balls.

Though Cooper started his cricket career in New South Wales, he was unable to break into their side, and was instead sought by South Australia, who saw him as an investment for the future.

Cooper first played for South Australia in a Sheffield Shield match against Western Australia at Adelaide Oval, scoring 10 in South Australia's only innings.

He then made his one-day debut for South Australia against Western Australia in a Ford Ranger Cup match at Adelaide Oval, opening the innings and scoring 53 from 67 deliveries.

In his fourth one day match he scored his first century against New South Wales for South Australia which he made 101 from only 108 deliveries.

For part of his innings he was at the crease with experienced Pakistani Test cricketer Younis Khan for a 128-run partnership, significantly outscoring Younis Khan who only managed to score 29 runs.

Cooper was born in Lismore in New South Wales, but after his youth career he moved to Adelaide and began playing domestic cricket for South Australia, earning a spot in their side in November 2008.

Early in his career he stood out in limited overs matches, and his breakout performance came in a match for the Prime Minister's XI against a touring West Indies team, when he scored 160 not out.

In 2009, Cooper discovered he was eligible to play for the Netherlands national cricket team due to his Dutch passport, and he has represented the country in a World Cup and two World Twenty20s.

He is the older brother of fellow Netherlands cricketer Ben Cooper.

Cooper also managed to score his maiden Twenty20 fifty in the second Twenty20 of his career in January 2009.

Cooper was selected to play for the Australian Institute of Sports in an Emerging Players Tournament over the 2009 winter, batting at number 3 and holding the team together with little support on multiple occasions.

In the 2009–10 season Cooper's one-day form improved with three fifties for South Australia in the 2009–10 Ford Ranger One Day Cup season, including a brutal score of 78 runs from just 45 balls with three sixes and eight fours in a seven-wicket win over Tasmania.

His breakout performance came near the end of the season when he played a tour match for the Prime Minister's XI against the West Indies cricket team.

After Chris Gayle had blasted 146 runs for the Windies, Cooper outdid him with 160 not out from 120 balls, hitting six sixes and 14 fours.

Cooper qualified to play for the Netherlands national cricket team as his mother was born in Dutch New Guinea.

He applied for a Dutch passport to make travel to Europe easier, and while playing for a club in Scotland the Dutch coach, Peter Drinnen, discovered he was in Europe on a Dutch passport and asked if he wished to play for the Netherlands.

The Koninklijke Nederlandse Cricket Bond, the governing body of cricket in the Netherlands, arranged for him to play domestic cricket in the Netherlands before he joined their national team as there is controversy surrounding players from full members of the ICC playing for other countries.

Cooper was eligible to play for the Netherlands in both the English forty-over competition and the One Day Internationals the side played, but not for their first-class matches in the ICC Intercontinental Cup.

After playing for the Netherlands during their 2010 Clydesdale Bank 40 campaign, he made his One Day International debut for the Netherlands in a match against Scotland, in which he scored an unbeaten 80 to help his side to a six-wicket victory in Rotterdam.

He was named the Man-of-the-Match for his performance.

Cooper became the first cricketer to score half-centuries in each of his first three One Day Internationals after he followed up his first innings with 87 against Scotland in his next match and then 67 against Kenya in his third game to start the 2010 ICC World Cricket League Division One competition.

He narrowly missed a fourth consecutive half-century when he made 39 against Canada in his fourth match.

At the end of tournament he continued his string of good form with his maiden century and a score of 96 in two matches against Afghanistan.

After the tournament, his ODI batting average was 81.33, though this was against all Associate members of the ICC.

He played several more one-day matches for the Netherlands during the 2010 season, including against Bangladesh, a Zimbabwe XI and Ireland.

Cooper returned to play for South Australia during the 2010–11 season.

He was included in the Netherlands' 15-man squad for the 2011 World Cup.

The team lost all six of their matches and were knocked out in the first round.

With 174 runs Cooper was the Netherlands' second-highest run-scorer in the tournament behind Ryan ten Doeschate.

After scoring 47 in the opening match against England, Cooper's solitary half century came in the next match amidst the Netherlands' 215-run defeat to the West Indies.

Batting at number three Cooper scored 55 not out as his side was dismissed for 115.

Cooper again played for the Netherlands in the 2011 season.

He scored an impressive 100-ball 126 in the Clydesdale Bank 40, then almost secured a win in an ODI against Scotland, scoring 75 runs and fighting late in the innings for the win with only the Dutch tail for assistance.