Peter Bernard Wight (25 June 1930 - 31 December 2015) was a Guyanese first-class cricketer who played for

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

and

British Guiana British Guiana was a British colony, part of the mainland British West Indies, which resides on the northern coast of South America. Since 1966 it has been known as the independent nation of Guyana. The first European to encounter Guiana was S ...

. 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 Harold Gimblett (19 October 1914 – 30 March 1978) was a cricketer who played for Somerset and England. He was known for his fast scoring as an opening batsman and for the much-repeated story of his debut. In a book first published in 1982 ...

had made more runs for the county. After playing, he became an

umpire An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The term derives from the Old French nonper, ''non'', "not" and ''per'', ...

in English first-class cricket, standing in matches from 1966 to 1995.

Early life

His family was a mix of Scottish and Portuguese blood with good cricketing talent. His cousin,

Vibart Wight Claude Vibart Wight (28 July 1902 – 4 October 1969) was a West Indian cricketer who played two Tests in the 1920s and 1930s. Wight was born in Georgetown, British Guiana and made his first-class debut in 1925. He was a useful middle-order ba ...

had represented the

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twice, acting as vice-captain in the third

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), ...

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 1928. His elder brother Leslie Wight also went on to play Test cricket for the West Indies, while his other brothers represented

at cricket, hockey, tennis and soccer. 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. 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. With this, he emigrated to Toronto before returning to Lancashire to work in a factory.

Career

Playing career

In 1953, he was scoring runs for

Burnley Cricket Club Burnley Cricket Club is a cricket club in the Lancashire League (cricket), Lancashire League based at Turf Moor in Burnley, Lancashire. The club was a founder member of the Lancashire League in 1892 and has won the Lancashire League (cricket)#1 ...

in the Lancashire League when his brother-in-law suggested he try out for

. He impressed in the nets and was selected to play in a trial game, against the touring

Australians Australians, colloquially known as Aussies, are the citizens, nationals and individuals associated with the country of Australia. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or ethno-cultural. For most Australians, several (or all) ...

. A shaky start saw him dismissed for a first-innings duck but he scored a century in the second-innings and was offered a Somerset contract. Wight passed 1,000 runs in a season for the first of ten successive years during

1954 Events January * January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fir ...

; his first full season with the county, totalling 1,343 runs in 50 first-class innings. The following year he made his maiden

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...

century, with 106 in the first innings of a nine wicket victory over

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 ...

. 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. 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. He finished the season with 1,874 runs, and with the joint second highest batting average (of those playing more than 2 innings) in the

, behind only

M. J. K. Smith Michael John Knight Smith , better known as M. J. K. Smith or Mike Smith, (born 30 June 1933) is an English former cricketer who was captain of Oxford University Cricket Club (1956), Warwickshire County Cricket Club (1957–1967) and ...

. His career best score came also during this season, when he achieved 222 * for Somerset against the visiting

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 ...

at the

County Ground, Taunton The County Ground, known for sponsorship reasons as Cooper Associates County Ground, and nicknamed Ciderabad, is a cricket ground in Taunton, Somerset. It is the home of Somerset County Cricket Club, who have played there since 1882. The ground ...

Coaching and umpiring career

When he was released by Somerset in 1965 he had scored 16,965 runs for the county. 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.

Honours

First-class

* 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 *

leading run-scorer: 1960

Miscellaneous

* Named as one of the ''

Playfair Cricket Annual ''Playfair Cricket Annual'' is a compact annual about cricket that is published in the United Kingdom each April, just before the English cricket season is due to begin. It has been published every year since 1948. Its main purposes are to revie ...

'' Eleven Cricketers of the Year in 1961.

Notes

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wight, Peter 1930 births 2015 deaths Guyanese cricketers English cricketers Somerset cricketers Canterbury cricketers Commonwealth XI cricketers Guyanese cricket umpires Guyana cricketers A. E. R. Gilligan's XI cricketers Guyanese people of Scottish descent Guyanese people of Portuguese descent Cricketers from Georgetown, Guyana