Cricket World Mourns as England Cricketer Passes Away Amidst NZ vs ENG Test

An unfortunate incident has taken place amidst the ongoing Test series between England and New Zealand. Former England domestic cricketer, Keith Piper, known to be one of the top wicketkeepers in County Cricket at one time, has passed away.

Piper is Warwickshire's longest-serving wicketkeeper till date. Although he had a modest batting record, his quality behind the wickets never got questioned. Keith Piper death comes as a big loss for English cricket, although he didn't play for the national team.

Keith Piper Dies Amidst ENG vs NZ Test Series

Keith Piper, one of the top domestic keepers of his time, died at the age of 56 after a long battle with cancer. The devastating news comes at a time when England are in the middle of a home Test series against New Zealand. The hosts are 1-0 up in this series as they won the ENG vs NZ 1st Test at Lord's.

Piper picked up 500 catches in his first-class career which consisted of 200 matches. He scored 4618 runs at an average of 19.99. Apart from first-class cricket, Piper also featured in 237 List A games, in which he scored 970 runs at an average of 14.26.

At a time when T20 cricket was quite new, the right-hander got to play tthe shortest format of the game. However, he didn't get many batting opportunities and scored just a solitary run in 6 matches.

Keith Piper's Memorable Knock With Brian Lara

Keith Piper is also famous for his memorable hundred that he scored while batting alongside the great Brian Lara in 1994 at Edgbaston. It was this match when Lara scored a record-breaking 501*, which is still the individual score in first-class cricket.

Keith scored an unbeaten 116 during this match and was alongside Lara, one of the greatest batsmen of all time, when he created this world record. Keith has scored only 2 hundreds in his career and this came at a memorable time for him.

Between 1999 and 2002, he featured in seven County Championship finals at Lord's, one of the best cricket stadiums in the world. He won three of them, which involved back-to-back title wins in 1994 and 1995. He has also served as Warwickshire's Second XI coach.