Name:

Richardson, Peter Edward

Date of Birth:

04 Jul 1931

Gender:

Men

Place of Birth:

Hereford

Date Died:

17 Feb 2017

Career:

Test: 1956 - 1963
First Class: 1952 - 1965

Teams:

Worcestershire (Regional)
Kent (Regional)
England (Country)

1956 1st Test: Rain ruins exciting finish (Trent Bridge)

Peter Richardson: Patient left handed opening batsman

Peter Richardson was a left handed batsman who hailed from a farming family. His brother, Dick, also played alongside him at Worcestershire and both made the England touring party to the West Indies in 1957.

Richardson was educated at Hereford Cathedral School. He made his first class debut for Worcestershire in 1952, opening the batting with Don Kenyon.

Richardson took over Len Hutton's opening slot and made his Test debut against Australia in the 1956 Ashes series, starting his career with twin fifties.

Richardson scored 2,061 runs in 34 Tests between 1956 and 1963, making five centuries, and was named Wisden cricketer of the year in 1957.

His finest innings was probably the magnificent 104 that he scored against Australia at Old Trafford in 1956. The dusty pitch was tough to bat as Jim Laker took a record 19 wickets.

The left-hander played 161 first-class games for Worcestershire as an amateur between 1949 and 1958, when he left to join Kent as a professional. His first class career ended in 1965 and Richardson scored a total of 26,055 runs at an average of 34.60 with 44 centuries and 140 fifties.

In retirement, he used to send to humourous complaints and faked cricket records anonymously to the Daily Telegraph writer, E W Swanton

Richardson died aged 88 on 17 February 2016.

Source: CricketCrowd Staff Reporter