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.

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]

• 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

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

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