Peter Wight (cricketer)

Peter Wight
Personal information
Full name Peter Bernard Wight
Born (1930-06-25)25 June 1930
Georgetown, British Guiana
Died 31 December 2015(2015-12-31) (aged 85)
Nickname Rajah[1]
Batting style Right-handed
Bowling style Right-arm offbreak
Role Batsman
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1953–1965 Somerset
1963/64 Canterbury
1950/51 British Guiana
First-class debut 10 March 1951 British Guiana v Jamaica
Last First-class 3 July 1965 Somerset v Nottinghamshire
Umpiring information
FC umpired 567 (1966–1995)
LA umpired 462 (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

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.

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; fortunately for the cricketing world, 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

Miscellaneous

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 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. 1 2 "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. 1 2 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.
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