Dean Cosker

Dean Cosker, seen bowling against Sussex in their Championship match in 2010. Photo Credit – Glamorgan Cricket Archives.

Dean Cosker was the man who claimed the final wicket of the Welsh county’s successful Championship campaign on a never-to-be-forgotten Saturday evening at Taunton in 1997, besides being the first Glamorgan bowler to take 100 wickets in Twenty20 cricket.

Within months of completing his A-levels at  Millfield School in 1996, Dean Cosker was making his Glamorgan debut against Lancashire at Cardiff. Born in Dorset of Welsh parents, the left arm spinner enjoyed a successful tour to Pakistan with England Under 19 during 1996/97 and was included in The Rest XI to play England A in the traditional curtain-raiser for the 1997 season.

It proved to be a momentous summer for Dean as well as Glamorgan as firstly in the Nat West quarter-final against Yorkshire at Cardiff, he returned figures of 12-3-26-3, before sharing an unbeaten tenth wicket partnership of 28 with Waqar Younis to see Glamorgan to a semi-final place.  Later in the summer it was Dean who took the final wicket of the 1997 Championship campaign, removing Somerset`s Ben Trott at Taunton shortly before Glamorgan became County Champions.

This was the highlight of a career which also saw Dean appear for Glamorgan at T20 Finals Day during 2004, besides winning one-day competitions during 2002 and 2004, being selected for England A on further overseas tours besides appearing as 12th man in the 2015 Ashes Test Match at Cardiff between England and Australia.

His total tally of wickets in 1st XI cricket stands at 899 in all formats, and with 553 first-class wickets, 246 in List A, plus 100 in Twenty20 cricket, he retired as the one and, so far, only bowler to have over a hundred wickets in all formats of the game for the Welsh county. His probing bowling in both Championship and one-day cricket led to Dean winning his Glamorgan cap in 2000, and then in 2010 being awarded a Benefit Year.

Besides these skills with the ball, he was an outstanding fielder at backward point where his razor-sharp reflexes and swift hand-eye co-ordination resulted in a number of outstanding catches as well as nimble stops with Dean being the heartbeat of the Glamorgan fielding unit. After retiring, Dean has been appointed as a Cricket Liaison Officer (Match Referee) by the ECB.

COSKER, Dean Andrew          

Born – Weymouth, 7th January 1978.

Best performances for Glamorgan:

In first-class cricket – 69 v Kent at Canterbury, 2015; 6/91 v Essex at SWALEC Stadium, 2009.

In List A cricket – 50* v Northamptonshire at Northampton, 2009; 5/54 v Essex at Chelmsford, 2003.

In T20 cricket – 21* v Somerset at Taunton, 2011; 4/25 v Surrey at The SSE SWALEC, 2015.

MINORUNSAV10050CTST
First-class23531590833614.822143
List A2421255379611.06187
T20128372617315.7338
Dean Cosker’s career batting record for Glamorgan
BallsMRWAV5wI10wM
First-class4252116042048555337.04111
List A1015852825124633.541
T2023731303210130.02
Dean Cosker’s career bowling record for Glamorgan.