Peter_Wight_(cricketer)

Peter Wight (cricketer)

Peter Wight (cricketer)

Guyanese 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.

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