Bob Cowper 1940-2025

GH on a short but rich cricket life

One estimate of Bob Cowper, who has died aged eighty-four, can be established from a role he never held. During the Sixth Test of Australia’s home series against the West Indies in February 1976, Greg Chappell’s team found themselves staying at the Hilton Hotel with the cricket-fancying secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions Bob Hawke. One evening, Hawke fell in with a group of senior players and another guest: retired Test batter Bob Cowper. The topic turned to abiding gripes - the players’ parlous financial rewards and chill administrative relations. While Hawke counselled against full-scale trade unionism, he agreed as an incremental step with the team appointing their own ‘official liaison officer’ for dealings with the Australian Cricket Board. Cowper was, everyone agreed, the ideal candidate - an outstanding player, a gnomic cricket intelligence, a successful stockbroker and rising businessman.