Peter Jeffrey Skelton (25 July 1934 – 1 August 2009) was a New Zealand

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. He played two matches of

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 ...

during the 1950s, one each for

Otago Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government reg ...

and Northern Districts. Skelton was born at

Whanganui Whanganui (; ), also spelled Wanganui, is a city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest navigable waterway. Whangan ...

in 1934 and educated at

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Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

where he played cricket.McCarron A (2010) ''New Zealand Cricketers 1863/64–2010'', p. 121. Cardiff: The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians.
Available online
at the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians. Retrieved 5 June 2023.) In 1950 he scored 37 runs against the

New Zealand national cricket team The New Zealand national cricket team represents New Zealand in men's international cricket. Named the Black Caps, they played their first Test in 1930 against England in Christchurch, becoming the fifth country to play Test cricket. From 1930 ...

in a practice match for a Dunedin schools side. The ''

Otago Daily Times The ''Otago Daily Times'' (ODT) is a newspaper published by Allied Press Ltd in Dunedin, New Zealand. The ''ODT'' is one of the country's four main daily newspapers, serving the southern South Island with a circulation of around 26,000 and a c ...

'' reported that he "defended his wicket with confidence" before retiring and Skelton played age-goup cricket for Otago during the early 1950s and for Otago XIs before making his first-class debut for the side against the touring

Fijians Fijians ( fj, iTaukei, lit=Owners (of the land)) are a nation and ethnic group native to Fiji, who speak Fijian and share a common history and culture. Fijians, or ''iTaukei'', are the major indigenous people of the Fiji Islands, and live in ...

in February 1954. Opening the batting, he scored 13 in his first innings before making 53 in his second, the only half-century he scored in first-class cricket. After moving to the North Island, Skelton played Hawke Cup cricket for Waikato during the 1957–58 season before playing his only Plunket Shield match later in the season for Northern Districts. Replacing Doug Carswell who had been injured after being hit on the head on his debut in the side's previous match, Skelton made scores of six and 11 against

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

.Auckland Shield team, ''

The Press ''The Press'' is a daily newspaper published in Christchurch, New Zealand owned by media business Stuff Ltd. First published in 1861, the newspaper is the largest circulating daily in the South Island and publishes Monday to Saturday. One comm ...

'', volume XCVII, issue 28475, 3 January 1958, p. 5.
Available online
at Papers Past. Retrieved 31 December 2023.) He died at

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

in 2009.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Skelton, Peter 1934 births 2009 deaths New Zealand cricketers Northern Districts cricketers Otago cricketers Cricketers from Whanganui