David James Pipe is an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 cricketer

Cricketer

A cricketer is a person who plays the sport of cricket. Official and long-established cricket publications prefer the traditional word "cricketer" over the rarely used term "cricket player"....

, as a recognised wicket-keeper

Wicket-keeper

The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being guarded by the batsman currently on strike...

.

Pipe made his first-class

First-class cricket

First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...

 debut for Worcestershire

Worcestershire County Cricket Club

Worcestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Worcestershire...

 against Oxford University

Oxford University Cricket Club

Oxford University Cricket Club is a first-class cricket team, representing the University of Oxford. It plays its home games at the University Parks in Oxford, England...

 in May 1998

1998 English cricket season

In the 1998 English cricket season Leicestershire won the championship for the second time in three seasons while Lancashire performed the one day double.-Honours:*County Championship - Leicestershire*NatWest Trophy - Lancashire...

, recording two catches and a stumping. However, the presence of Steve Rhodes

Steve Rhodes

Steve Rhodes is a former English cricketer. He was best known as a wicket-keeper, but was also a useful number six or seven batsman, making twelve first-class centuries....

 in the side meant that his first-team opportunities were limited apart from a small number of games in 2000

2000 English cricket season

The 2000 English cricket season was marked by the dominance of Surrey in first-class cricket and Gloucestershire in limited overs.-Honours:*County Championship - Surrey*NatWest Trophy - Gloucestershire*National League - Gloucestershire...

 and 2001

2001 English cricket season

The 2001 English cricket season saw Yorkshire win the County Championship for the first time since 1968. Australia again won the Ashes, this time largely due to some fine performances by Adam Gilchrist....

 when both played, Pipe appearing as a specialist batsman. He did, however, make eight dismissals in a single one-day innings against Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire County Cricket Club

Hertfordshire County Cricket Club is one of the county clubs which make up the Minor Counties in the English domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Hertfordshire and playing in the Minor Counties Championship and the MCCA Knockout Trophy...

 in 2001; this set up a county record.
Pipe had a longer run in the first XI when Rhodes was injured in the latter part of the 2003 season

2003 English cricket season

The 2003 English cricket season was notable for the long overdue first official County Championship of the oldest county club: Sussex.-Honours:*County Championship - Sussex*C&G Trophy - Gloucestershire*National League - Surrey...

, and against Hampshire

Hampshire County Cricket Club

Hampshire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Hampshire in cricket's County Championship. The club was founded in 1863 as a successor to the Hampshire county cricket teams and has played at the Antelope Ground from then until 1885, before moving to the County Ground where it...

 in early September made his first century, scoring an unbeaten 104. When Rhodes retired from playing at the end of the following season, Pipe became Worcestershire's first choice, taking 42 catches, but lost his place to Steven Davies

Steven Davies

Steven Michael Davies is an English cricketer, a wicket-keeper-batsman who currently plays for Surrey. A stylish and aggressive left-handed batsman who can open the batting in both first-class and limited-overs cricket...

 later in the summer.

He left for Derbyshire

Derbyshire County Cricket Club

Derbyshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the England and Wales domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Derbyshire...

 for the 2006 season

2006 English cricket season

The 2006 English cricket season includes home international series for England against Sri Lanka and Pakistan. England are coming off a winter with more Test losses than wins, for the first time since 2002-03, but still attained their best series result in India since 1985...

, and did a good job in his first season at Derbyshire, averaging over 30 with the bat and taking 39 catches and 6 stumpings; he also scored three half-centuries, before suffering a serious injury which ended his season.

He completed a degree in Physiotherapy at the University of Salford

University of Salford

The University of Salford is a campus university based in Salford, Greater Manchester, England with approximately 20,000 registered students. The main campus is about west of Manchester city centre, on the A6, opposite the former home of the physicist, James Prescott Joule and the Working Class...

 in 2008. In 2009 it was announced that he would be retiring at the end of the season to become Derbyshire's new physiotherapist.

External links

• Statistical summary from CricketArchive
  CricketArchive
  CricketArchive is a website that aims to provide a comprehensive archive of records relating to the sport of cricket. It claims to be the most comprehensive cricket database on the internet, including scorecards for all matches of first-class cricket , List A cricket , Women's Test cricket and...