Chris Cooke

South-Africa born Chris Cooke had to wade through certain challenges before staking a claim in the Glamorgan first eleven side. League cricket in Sussex, Birmingham League and Southern Premier League are a few of many leagues Cooke took part, at  the early stages of his career, in order to prove his worth with the bat and the gloves.

He made immediate impact in his debut game for Glamorgan by tonking 22 off 6 balls - which included a four and three sixes - against Middlesex in a T20 game in 2011. Slowly but steadily, Cooke established a permanent spot in the Glamorgan side after a string of impressive performances in shorter forms of the game. However, it took nearly 6 years for Cooke to cement his spot in Championship cricket with Mark Wallace shouldering the keeping duties better than most competitors in the past.

When his turn to create an impact in the longer form came, Cooke didn't disappoint; in 2014 he weaved 870 runs at an average of 43.50 that included his maiden first-class century against Gloucestershire. A back injury, however, halted Cooke's progress in 2016 and just before the thought of an alternative resource  emerged, Cooke announced his comeback in grand fashion and once again topped the list of Championship averages for Glamorgan whilst contributing immensely behind the stumps.