Peter Laurence van der Merwe (14 March 1937 – 23 January 2013) was a South African

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 in fifteen

Tests 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), ...

from 1963 to 1967, captaining

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

to series victories against

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 ...

in 1965 and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in 1966-67.

Life and career

Peter van der Merwe was born in

Paarl Paarl (; Afrikaans: ; derived from ''Parel'', meaning "pearl" in Dutch) is a town with 112,045 inhabitants in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is the third-oldest city and European settlement in the Republic of South Africa (after ...

Cape Province The Province of the Cape of Good Hope ( af, Provinsie Kaap die Goeie Hoop), commonly referred to as the Cape Province ( af, Kaapprovinsie) and colloquially as The Cape ( af, Die Kaap), was a province in the Union of South Africa and subsequen ...

, and educated at St Andrew's College in

Grahamstown Makhanda, also known as Grahamstown, is a town of about 140,000 people in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is situated about northeast of Port Elizabeth and southwest of East London, Eastern Cape, East London. Makhanda is the lar ...

and at the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) ( af, Universiteit van Kaapstad, xh, Yunibesithi ya yaseKapa) is a public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university statu ...

. He began playing

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 ...

as a left-arm spinner for South African Universities, and was the principal spinner in the South African Fezela XI that toured

in 1961, but as his batting improved his bowling declined, and he didn't bowl at all in first-class cricket after the tour to Australasia in 1963–64. In 1960 he helped raise money to enable

Basil D'Oliveira Basil Lewis D'Oliveira CBE OIS (4 October 1931 – 19 November 2011) was an England international cricketer of South African Cape Coloured background, whose potential selection by England for the scheduled 1968–69 tour of apartheid-era South ...

to travel to England to play professional cricket, by organising a team of white players to play a match against a team of non-whites captained by D'Oliveira. He played for

Western Province Western Province or West Province may refer to: *Western Province, Cameroon *Western Province, Rwanda *Western Province (Kenya) *Western Province (Papua New Guinea) *Western Province (Solomon Islands) *Western Province, Sri Lanka *Western Provinc ...

from 1958–59 to 1965–66, then for Eastern Province from 1966–67 to 1968–69, captaining each team. His leadership qualities led to several appointments above more experienced players and more successful batsmen: he first captained Western Province at the age of 23; he was selected as vice-captain of the touring team to Australasia in 1963–64 at 26 despite having never played a Test; he captained the team to England in 1965 having played only 7 Tests and making only 198 runs at an average of 24.75. The 1965 team won the three-match series 1–0, and although he made only 110 runs in the Tests at 18.33, he was appointed captain for the home series against

in 1966–67, when he enjoyed his most successful series as a batsman, batting at number seven or eight and scoring 225 runs at 32.14. Although his overall Test batting record was modest, he played some important innings, none more so than his 76 during a seventh-wicket partnership of 221 in less than three hours with

Denis Lindsay Denis Thomson Lindsay (4 September 1939 – 30 November 2005) was a South African cricketer who played 19 Test matches for South Africa between 1963 and 1970. His outstanding series was against Australia in 1966–67, when he scored 606 runs in ...

in the First Test at

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

in 1966–67. When the two came together South Africa were six wickets down and 223 runs ahead and the match was evenly poised; when the partnership ended, South Africa's lead was virtually unassailable, and they went on to win. In the Third Test of the same series another partnership with Lindsay took South Africa from 94 for 6 in the first innings to 197 for 7; van der Merwe scored 42, and again led South Africa to victory. In the Second Test in 1965 a partnership of 98 with

Graeme Pollock Robert Graeme Pollock (born 27 February 1944) is a former cricketer for South Africa, Transvaal and Eastern Province. A member of a famous cricketing family, Pollock is widely regarded as one of South Africa's greatest ever cricketers, and as o ...

rescued South Africa in the first innings from 80 for 5; van der Merwe made 38, and South Africa won the match by 94 runs. He was also a fine fielder.

Wisden ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...

's report of the 1965 series ranked him as equal second (with

Tiger Lance Herbert Roy "Tiger" Lance (6 June 1940 – 10 November 2010) was a South African cricketer. Tiger Lance was born in Pretoria, Transvaal. He played in 13 Tests matches between 1962 and 1970 as an all-rounder. He was a forceful middle order bat ...

) in the team after

Colin Bland Kenneth Colin Bland (5 April 1938 – 14 April 2018) was a Rhodesian cricketer who played in 21 Test matches for South Africa in the 1960s. He is regarded as one of the greatest fielders in the history of Test cricket. Cricket career Colin ...

'for general brilliance in the field'. He led South Africa in eight Tests, winning four and losing one. The victory over Australia in 1966–67 was South Africa's first series victory against Australia. After the series he retired from Test cricket at the age of 29.

Christopher Martin-Jenkins Christopher Dennis Alexander Martin-Jenkins, MBE (20 January 1945 – 1 January 2013), also known as CMJ, was a British cricket journalist and a President of MCC. He was also the longest serving commentator for ''Test Match Special'' (TMS) on B ...

described him as 'a thoughtful and shrewd captain who inspired a zealous team-spirit'. The first player of

Afrikaner Afrikaners () are a South African ethnic group descended from Free Burghers, predominantly Dutch settlers first arriving at the Cape of Good Hope in the 17th and 18th centuries.Entry: Cape Colony. ''Encyclopædia Britannica Volume 4 Part 2: ...

background to captain South Africa, he wrote the

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

cricket book ''Wenkrieket So Word Dit Gespeel'' in 1967. He later became a

match referee A match referee is an official appointed to oversee professional cricket matches. Match referees for Test matches and One Day Internationals are appointed by the International Cricket Council (ICC). Most matches below international level do not ...

. Van der Merwe died in

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha (), formerly Port Elizabeth and colloquially often referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, Sou ...

in January 2013, aged 75, having been in poor health prior to his death.Peter van der Merwe dies aged 75
– ESPNcricinfo. Published 23 January 2013. Retrieved 23 January 2013.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Van der Merwe, Peter 1937 births 2013 deaths Afrikaner people Alumni of St. Andrew's College, Grahamstown Cricket match referees Eastern Province cricketers Cricketers from Paarl South African cricket administrators South Africa Test cricket captains South African cricketers Alumni of Paul Roos Gymnasium South Africa Test cricketers University of Cape Town alumni Western Province cricketers South African Universities cricketers