Peter Edward Richardson (4 July 1931 – 17 February 2017) was an English

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er, who played for

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...

and

Kent County Cricket Club Kent County Cricket Club is one of the eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Kent. A club representing the county was first founded in 1842 but Ke ...

s and in 34

Test matches Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

for the

England cricket team The England cricket team represents England and Wales in international cricket. Since 1997, it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), having been previously governed by Marylebone Cricket Club (the MCC) since 1903. Engla ...

. Colin Bateman, the one-time ''

Daily Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet i ...

'' cricket correspondent, noted, "Peter Richardson was one of cricket's great characters...off the field he was a one-man entertainment show, particularly when the troops were stuck in some up-country billet in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. His sense of humour and sharp mind enlivened many a dull official function to the delight of his team-mates. His love of a prank continued after his playing days with outrageous letters from fictitious Colonel Blimps to ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

''."

Life and career

A left-handed opening batsman, Richardson played as an amateur for

and was a near-instant success on his arrival as a regular in the side in 1952. Four years later, he had a similarly quick impact in his first

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

series, the 1956 Ashes series, scoring 81 and 73 in his first match, and following it up with 104 at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...

in a match famous for

Jim Laker James Charles Laker (9 February 1922 – 23 April 1986) was an English professional cricketer who played for Surrey County Cricket Club from 1946 to 1959 and represented England in 46 Test matches. He was born in Shipley, West Riding of York ...

's 19 wickets. He went on to score 491 Test runs that year, the most in the world. He was first choice

opening batsman In cricket, the batting order is the sequence in which batters play through their team's innings, there always being two batters taking part at any one time. All eleven players in a team are required to bat if the innings is completed (i.e., if ...

for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

for a further two home series, but then had a poor series in Australia in 1958–59, when England lost

the Ashes The Ashes is a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. The term originated in a satirical obituary published in a British newspaper, ''The Sporting Times'', immediately after Australia's 1882 victory at The Oval, its first Te ...

comprehensively. He was voted one of the

Wisden Cricketers of the Year The ''Wisden'' Cricketers of the Year are cricketers selected for the honour by the annual publication ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', based primarily on their "influence on the previous English season". The award began in 1889 with the naming ...

in 1957. In the summer of 1958, Richardson announced that he wanted to become a professional and to move to

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. Worcestershire opposed the move, and Richardson was effectively barred from competitive cricket during the English 1959 season, losing his Test place too while he waited to qualify for his new county. By the time he resumed his county career in 1960 other left-handed opening batsmen, such as

Geoff Pullar Geoffrey Pullar (1 August 1935 – 25 December 2014) was an English cricketer, who played for Lancashire County Cricket Club, Lancashire and Gloucestershire County Cricket Club, Gloucestershire and in 28 Test cricket, Tests for England cricket t ...

and

Raman Subba Row Raman Subba Row (born 29 January 1932) is a former cricketer who played for England, Cambridge University, Surrey and Northamptonshire. Life and career Born in Streatham, Surrey, England to an Indian father Panguluri Venkata Subba Rao, of B ...

, had moved ahead of him in the competition for England places. Richardson played on for Kent until his retirement from cricket in 1965. He toured Pakistan and India in 1961–62, mostly batting down the order, but played only one further Test match in England, in 1963 against the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

, when he made only 2 and 14 against a bowling attack spearheaded by

Wes Hall Sir Wesley Winfield Hall (born 12 September 1937) is a Barbadian former cricketer and politician. A tall, strong and powerfully built man, Hall was a genuine fast bowler and despite his very long run up, he was renowned for his ability to bow ...

and

Charlie Griffith Sir Charles Christopher Griffith, KA, SCM (born 14 December 1938) is a West Indian former cricketer who played in 28 Tests from 1960 to 1969. He formed a formidable fast bowling partnership with Wes Hall during the 1960s, but experienced a nu ...

. Richardson's two brothers also played

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

. Dick Richardson was a middle-order batsman for Worcestershire who played one Test for England against the West Indies in 1957, playing alongside his brother, "the first time... n the 20th centuryof siblings appearing in the same team for England". His other brother, Bryan, was an occasional player for

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

. Richardson died on 17 February 2017, aged 85.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Richardson, Peter 1931 births 2017 deaths England Test cricketers English cricketers of 1946 to 1968 English cricketers Kent cricketers Wisden Cricketers of the Year Worcestershire cricketers Worcestershire cricket captains Combined Services cricketers Commonwealth XI cricketers International Cavaliers cricketers Gentlemen cricketers Players cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Gentlemen of England cricketers T. N. Pearce's XI cricketers People educated at Hereford Cathedral School