Peter Robinson (cricketer)

Peter James Robinson (born 9 February 1943) is a former English cricketer who played first-class cricket for Worcestershire and Somerset during the 1960s and 1970s; he also played List A cricket for Somerset, who capped him in 1966. He is the nephew of England Test cricketer Roly Jenkins.

Peter Robinson

Personal information
Full name	Peter James Robinson
Born	(1943-02-09) 9 February 1943 St John's, Worcester, England
Batting	Left-handed
Bowling	Slow left-arm orthodox
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1963–1964	Worcestershire
1965–1978	Somerset
Career statistics
Competition FC LA Matches 185 63 Runs scored 4,936 964 Batting average 21.27 22.41 100s/50s 3/21 0/3 Top score 140 71* Balls bowled 18,048 210 Wickets 297 8 Bowling average 27.27 12.87 5 wickets in innings 10 0 10 wickets in match 1 N/A Best bowling 7/10 3/17 Catches/stumpings 170/0 25/0
Source: CricketArchive, 28 November 2008

This article is about the English cricketer. For the Trinidadian-English cricketer, born in 1929, see Peter Robinson (cricketer, born 1929). For others, see Peter Robinson (disambiguation).

Cricket career

Worcestershire

Robinson was playing for Worcestershire's Second XI at the age of 17, and in August 1960 he took 5/7 against Lancashire II, including four wickets in five balls.[1] However, his first-class debut had to wait another three years, until Worcestershire faced the Pakistan Eaglets in June 1963. Robinson took three wickets, accounting for Intikhab Alam in both innings.[2] He played three more first-class games that season, without any great success. In 1964 Robinson played just once, and that against Cambridge University,[3] and he left to join Somerset for the 1965 season.

Somerset

The contrast was immediate: Robinson was a first-team player at once, and remained so for some years. He made his Somerset debut (also his List A debut) in a Gillette Cup match against Berkshire in April, ending with figures of 3.5–2–2–2.[4] In the first-class game, he claimed 44 wickets at 23.54, including 6/105 against Yorkshire late in the summer. In a low-scoring match, he gave a hint as to his future batting ability by scoring 37 from number ten in the order, helping to add 54 for the ninth wicket after Somerset had fallen to 66/8.[5]

From 1966 to 1970, Robinson played more than 20 first-class matches each year, and in 1969 and 1970 especially was also an important part of the county's one-day squad. He improved his batting considerably, and in 1970 passed a thousand first-class runs in a season for the only time, finishing with 1,158 at 26.93; he had also come close to the mark in 1967, when he scored 917 runs.[6] Of the three first-class centuries he made in his career, the highest was the 140 he struck against Northamptonshire in late May 1970.[7]

With the ball, Robinson's most productive summer was that of 1966, when he finished with 70 first-class wickets at 21.41, including five five-wicket bags and his solitary ten-wicket match haul.[8] The latter came against Surrey in early June, when his returns of 7/48 and 4/39 proved enough to assist Somerset to a two-wicket victory.[9] A few weeks earlier, he had recorded his best innings figures, running through Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge with a remarkable second-innings return of 17.2–14–10–7 as they collapsed from 37/0 to 62 all out.[10] The closest he got to having his averages "the right way round" for an all-rounder was in 1967, when he averaged 26.20 with the bat and 27.90 with the ball.

After 1970 Robinson's career began to decline. He did score one final century, hitting 112 against Glamorgan in August 1971,[11] but he never again played a full season. His bowling reduced to almost nothing: from 1971 onward, he never took more than three first-class wickets over the course of a summer. His last first-class game was in 1977 against Gloucestershire; in this match he claimed his final wicket, that of David Graveney.[12] Robinson's final List A match came the following June against Sussex.[13] At the age of 34, his career in senior cricket was over, although he continued to turn out for Somerset's Second XI into his early fifties, captaining that side on a considerable number of occasions.[14]

Notes

1. "Worcestershire Second XI v Lancashire Second XI in 1963". CricketArchive. Retrieved 28 November 2008.
2. "Worcestershire v Pakistan Eaglets in 1963". CricketArchive. Retrieved 28 November 2008.
3. "Worcestershire v Cambridge University in 1964". CricketArchive. Retrieved 28 November 2008.
4. "Berkshire v Somerset in 1965". CricketArchive. Retrieved 28 November 2008.
5. "Yorkshire v Somerset in 1965". CricketArchive. Retrieved 28 November 2008.
6. "First-class Batting and Fielding in Each Season by Peter Robinson". CricketArchive. Retrieved 28 November 2008.
7. "Northamptonshire v Somerset in 1970". CricketArchive. Retrieved 28 November 2008.
8. "First-class Bowling in Each Season by Peter Robinson". CricketArchive. Retrieved 28 November 2008.
9. "Somerset v Surrey in 1966". CricketArchive. Retrieved 28 November 2008.
10. "Nottinghamshire v Somerset in 1966". CricketArchive. Retrieved 28 November 2008.
11. "Glamorgan v Somerset in 1971". CricketArchive. Retrieved 28 November 2008.
12. "Somerset v Gloucestershire in 1977". CricketArchive. Retrieved 28 November 2008.
13. "Sussex v Somerset in 1978". CricketArchive. Retrieved 28 November 2008.
14. "Second Eleven Championship Matches played by Peter Robinson". CricketArchive. Retrieved 28 November 2008.

References

• Peter Robinson at CricketArchive (subscription required)
• Peter Robinson at ESPNcricinfo