CDCA extends our condolences to the family and friends of former New Zealand Test umpire Dennis Copps, who passed away on 22 April 2020 at the age of 91.

Dennis was a dedicated servant, official and past vice-president of Cricket Wellington; and was also a member of our Horowhenua-Kapiti cricket family as a longtime Kapiti Coast resident and Patron of the Horowhenua-Kapiti Umpires and Scorers Association.

Dennis umpired 13 Test matches for the New Zealand Cricket Council between 1965 and 1977.

Just a few years after having emigrated from England to settle, with wife Christine, in New Zealand, he had made his first-class umpiring debut in the Plunket Shield’s 1960/61 season, donning the white coat for a match between Wellington and Central Districts at the Basin Reserve.

He would become a regular fixture at the Basin until the 1976/77 summer when he officiated his final Domestic first-class game — between the same two first-class sides, Wellington and CD, in late 1976. 

It wouldn’t be his last first-class match braving the breeze at the Basin, for he would return in February 1977 for a three-day tour match between New Zealand and the touring Australians that led into his final two Test series appearances. 

Dennis had made his Test debut in January 1965, standing in a four-day Test that proved an exciting draw between New Zealand and Pakistan at the Basin in which New Zealand had held the advantage before time ticked out to claim the last three Pakistan wickets. 

His farewell Test series in February 1977 saw him at Christchurch’s old Lancaster Park, standing alongside fellow Kiwi umpire Fred Goodall; and then Eden Park alongside their colleague Ralph Gardiner: the series was against Australia, by now five-day cricket, complete with rest days, with the trans-Tasman rivalry about to take off. 

Well liked and respected throughout his career, Dennis stood in 36 first-class matches — all in New Zealand between 1960/61 and 1976/77, as well as a solitary List A match at the Basin between Wellington and the touring MCC side in February 1971. 

Dennis also umpired a New Zealand Colts match against South Africa at Pukekura Park in 1964, and enjoyed many a day post retirement as a member of the Paraparaumu Beach Golf Club. 

Messages of condolence may be sent c/- P.O. Box 119, Paraparaumu 5254, New Zealand. 

Article added: Friday 15 May 2020