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 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	Right-handed
Bowling	Right-arm offbreak
Role	Batsman
Domestic team information
Years	Team
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

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

• Named as one of the Playfair Cricket Annual Eleven Cricketers of the Year in 1961.

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.

External links

• Peter Wight at CricketArchive (subscription required)
• Peter Wight at ESPNcricinfo