Percival Albert Perrin (26 May 1876 – 20 November 1945), known as either "Percy" or "Peter", 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 str ...

er, who played for

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

as a right-handed middle-order batsman for more than thirty years from 1896. Perrin was a

Tottenham Tottenham () is a town in North London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, bordering Edmonton to the north, Wal ...

publican and a property developer who organised his considerable business activities around his cricket, turning out for Essex regularly from 1896 to 1926, and not retiring until 1928. His total of 496

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 ...

matches for Essex is a record for an

amateur player Amateur sports are sports in which participants engage largely or entirely without remuneration. The distinction is made between amateur sporting participants and professional sports, professional sporting participants, who are paid for the time ...

in English cricket. A tall batsman who initially relied on driving for most of his runs, Perrin developed into a reliable player with virtually all the strokes. He and Charles McGahey, a similarly tall amateur, played together for Essex for many seasons and were known as the "Essex Twins". Perrin was the better batsman: he scored 1,000 in 18 seasons and in his long career made 29,709 runs at an average just short of 36 runs per innings. He scored 66 centuries, the third highest number – after

John Langridge John George Langridge MBE (10 February 1910 – 27 June 1999) was a cricketer who played for Sussex. His obituary in ''Wisden'' called him "one of the best English cricketers of the 20th century never to play a Test match". Born into a crick ...

and Ken McEwan – of any player who never played

Test cricket Test cricket is a form of first-class cricket played at international level between teams representing full member countries of the International Cricket Council (ICC). A match consists of four innings (two per team) and is scheduled to last f ...

. Perrin's biggest innings was a huge unbeaten 343, made out of an Essex total of 597 against

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

Chesterfield Chesterfield may refer to: Places Canada * Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan * Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom * Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England ** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...

in 1904, which is the highest innings ever played by a batsman in a losing team. Another record statistic from that innings, the 68 fours hit, gives a clue why Perrin was never selected for Test cricket, or even for one of the representative matches such as

Gentlemen v Players Gentlemen v Players was a long-running series of English first-class cricket matches. Two matches were played in 1806, but the fixture was not played again until 1819. It became an annual event, usually played at least twice each season, exc ...

: he was slow in the field and not a good runner. On the strength of that innings, though, he was picked as a

Wisden Cricketer 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 the almanack for 1905. Apparently a shy man, Perrin captained Essex only occasionally, serving happily under his friends McGahey and

Johnny Douglas John William Henry Tyler Douglas (3 September 1882 – 19 December 1930) was an English cricketer who was active in the early decades of the twentieth century. Douglas was an all-rounder who played for Essex County Cricket Club from 1901 to 1 ...

and deputising for them when needed. But in retirement, Perrin's knowledge and his availability led him to become an

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 ...

selector in 1926 and later from 1930 to 1939, chairing the committee in the last year. When E. M. Wellings asked

Douglas Jardine Douglas Robert Jardine ( 1900 – 1958) was an English cricketer who played 22 Test matches for England, captaining the side in 15 of those matches between 1931 and 1934. A right-handed batsman, he is best known for captaining the English ...

about how he regarded the selectors, Jardine replied, "We used to let Percy Perrin in the dressing-room, but he used to sit at the end of the balcony and keep quiet; but we wouldn't let any of the others in."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Perrin, Percy 1876 births 1945 deaths British publicans East of England cricketers English cricketers England cricket team selectors Essex cricketers Gentlemen cricketers Gentlemen of England cricketers Gentlemen of the South cricketers London County cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers North v South cricketers People from Stoke Newington People from Hickling, Norfolk Wisden Cricketers of the Year English cricketers of 1890 to 1918 English cricketers of 1919 to 1945 Wembley Park cricketers