Peter Wight (cricketer)

Peter Bernard Wight (25 June 1930 - 31 December 2015)[2] was a Guyanese first-class cricketer who played for Somerset, Canterbury and British Guiana. Wight was a prolific run scorer at the top of the order, scoring 16,965 runs during his thirteen years at Somerset; and at the time of his death only Harold Gimblett had made more runs for the county. After playing, he became an umpire in English first-class cricket, standing in matches from 1966 to 1995.

Peter Wight
Personal information
Full namePeter Bernard Wight
Born(1930-06-25)25 June 1930
Georgetown, British Guiana
Died31 December 2015(2015-12-31) (aged 85)
NicknameRajah[1]
BattingRight-handed
BowlingRight-arm offbreak
RoleBatsman
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1953–1965Somerset
1963/64Canterbury
1950/51British Guiana
First-class debut10 March 1951 British Guiana v Jamaica
Last First-class3 July 1965 Somerset v Nottinghamshire
Umpiring information
FC umpired567 (1966–1995)
LA umpired462 (1966–1995)
Career statistics
Competition First-class List A
Matches 333 6
Runs scored 17773 56
Batting average 33.09 9.33
100s/50s 28/91 0/0
Top score 222* 38
Balls bowled 4721 –
Wickets 68 –
Bowling average 33.26 –
5 wickets in innings 1 –
10 wickets in match 0 n/a
Best bowling 6/29 –/–
Catches/stumpings 203/  –/–
Source: CricketArchive, 16 February 2010

Early life

His family was a mix of Scottish and Portuguese blood with good cricketing talent. His cousin, Vibart Wight had represented the West Indies twice,[3] acting as vice-captain in the third Test against England in 1928.[1] His elder brother Leslie Wight also went on to play Test cricket for the West Indies,[4] while his other brothers represented British Guiana at cricket, hockey, tennis and soccer.[1]

Wight came to England at the age of 20, arriving on a cargo boat in 1951. The conditions in England came as a shock to him, with rationing and outside toilets still prevalent.[1] He had arrived in the country with the intention of studying engineering, but his employer in Burnley refused to release him, as promised, for his motor mechanic exams.[1] With this, he emigrated to Toronto before returning to Lancashire to work in a factory.[1]

Career

Playing career

In 1953, he was scoring runs for Burnley Cricket Club in the Lancashire League when his brother-in-law suggested he try out for Somerset. He impressed in the nets and was selected to play in a trial game, against the touring Australians. A shaky start saw him dismissed for a first-innings duck but he scored a century in the second-innings[5] and was offered a Somerset contract.[1]

Wight passed 1,000 runs in a season for the first of ten successive years during 1954; his first full season with the county, totalling 1,343 runs in 50 first-class innings.[6] The following year he made his maiden County Championship century, with 106 in the first innings of a nine wicket victory over Worcestershire.[7] The next three seasons proceeded in a similar fashion, with Wight scoring runs with an average fluctuating between the high twenties and low thirties, failing to make the big scores needed to boost it further.[6]

It was during the 1959 season that he truly established himself as one of the leading batsmen in English cricket, despite missing a number of games due to eye problems.[8] He finished the season with 1,874 runs,[8] and with the joint second highest batting average (of those playing more than 2 innings) in the County Championship, behind only M. J. K. Smith.[9] His career best score came also during this season, when he achieved 222* for Somerset against the visiting Kent at the County Ground, Taunton.[10]

Coaching and umpiring career

When he was released by Somerset in 1965 he had scored 16,965 runs for the county.[11] After retiring he opened a cricket school in Bath and spent 30 summers as an umpire. He umpired 567 games in total and when added to his games as a player he holds the record for most first-class appearances in Post-War England.[1]

Honours

First-class
  • Passed 1,000 first-class runs in a season: 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963
  • Passed 2,000 first-class runs in a season: 1960, 1962
  • County Championship leading run-scorer: 1960

Miscellaneous

Notes
  1. Chalke, Stephen (1 October 2005). "The Way It Was – The accidental cricketer". Cricinfo. Retrieved 28 September 2009.
  2. Peter Wight: Cricketer who became Somerset’s most successful post-war batsman
  3. "Player Profile:Vibart Wight". CricketArchive. Retrieved 28 September 2009.
  4. "Player Profile:Leslie Wight". CricketArchive. Retrieved 28 September 2009.
  5. "Somerset v Australians in 1953". CricketArchive. Retrieved 30 September 2009.
  6. "First-class Batting and Fielding in Each Season by Peter Wight". CricketArchive. Retrieved 30 September 2009.
  7. "Somerset v Worcestershire in 1955". CricketArchive. 8 October 2009.
  8. Eddie Lawrence. Somerset County Cricket Club (100 Greats) (2001 ed.). Tempus Publishing. p. 125. ISBN 0-7524-2178-6.
  9. "Batting and Fielding in County Championship 1959 (Ordered by Average)". CricketArchive. Retrieved 30 September 2009.
  10. "Somerset v Kent in 1959". CricketArchive. Retrieved 30 September 2009.
  11. "Most Runs for Somerset". CricketArchive. Retrieved 28 September 2009.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.