Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Full name | Peter Bernard Wight | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Georgetown, British Guiana | 25 June 1930|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Died | 31 December 2015 85) | (aged|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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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.
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]
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]
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]
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