Peter May (cricketer)

For other people named Peter May, see Peter May.

Peter May

Personal information

Full name

Peter Barker Howard May

Born

31 December 1929
Reading, Berkshire, England, UK

Died

27 December 1994 (aged 64)
Liphook, Hampshire, England, UK

Batting style

Right-handed

Role

Batsman

International information

National side

England

Test debut (cap 361)

26 July 1951 v South Africa

Last Test

17 August 1961 v Australia

Domestic team information

Years

Team

1950–1963

Surrey

1950–1952

Cambridge University

Career statistics

Competition	Tests	FC
Matches	66	388
Runs scored	4537	27592
Batting average	46.77	51.00
100s/50s	13/22	85/122
Top score	285*	285*
Balls bowled	–	102
Wickets	–	–
Bowling average	–	–
5 wickets in innings	–	–
10 wickets in match	–	–
Best bowling	–	–
Catches/stumpings	42/–	282/–

Source: Cricinfo, 27 December 1994

Peter Barker Howard May, CBE (31 December 1929^[1] – 27 December 1994) was an English amateur cricketer, who played for Surrey, Cambridge University and England. On 9 July 2009, May was posthumously inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.^[2]

Early career

Born in Reading, Berkshire, he was educated at Charterhouse and Pembroke College, Cambridge, and at both he was regarded as a batting prodigy. Across the 1950s, he was the most consistent and prolific English batsman in both county (representing Surrey) and Test cricket. He made his Test match debut against the South Africans at Headingley in 1951, scoring 138, and was then a regular England player until forced out by illness at the end of the 1950s.^[1] May was one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1952. May was the natural successor to Leonard Hutton as England captain after the successful defence of the Ashes on the 1954-55 tour of Australia.

Captaincy

Peter May cracks another on-drive off Bill Johnston in 1954–55. He was England's top scorer in both the triumphs of 1954–55 and 1956 and the debacle of 1958–59 and was seen by many as England's greatest post-war batsman

May enjoyed a largely successful captaincy of both his county and country. Surrey had been County Champions for seven years running, with May the captain for the last two seasons, and until 1958 England was never defeated under his leadership. He had beaten South Africa 3–2 in 1955, considered by many to have been the most exciting Test series since the war, Australia 2–1 in 1956, the West Indies 3–0 in 1957 and New Zealand 4–0 in 1958. He was widely regarded as the best post-war batsman England produced, tall, strong and disciplined with a near-perfect technique, a straight bat and a complete range of strokes.^[3]^[4]^[5] His standards improved with the responsibilities of captaincy and his Test average as captain was 54.03.^[6] His highest score was at Edgbaston in 1957 when England trailed West Indies by 288 runs in the first innings; he made 285 not out,^[7] the highest score by an England captain until Graham Gooch's 333 in 1990,^[8] adding 411 with Colin Cowdrey (154) – still an England record for any wicket – and destroyed the mesmerising hold the spinner Sonny Ramadhin had over English batsmen. In the low scoring Ashes series of 1956 he had made 453 runs (90.60) and was out only once for less than 50, when he made 43. Although himself a highly educated amateur and a gentleman he realised that the old class divisions in English cricket were breaking down and under Len Hutton's leadership the amateur and professional had merged. He enjoyed the complete loyalty of the team and the selectors and was ready to help his players and smooth down feathers.^[9] As a captain he was a strict team disciplinarian who expected high standards, he was ruthless when the occasion demanded, but could be inflexible and unimaginative and lacked the charisma of a natural leader.^[4]^[5]^[10] In 1958–59 he played too defensively and surrendered the initiative too readily to Richie Benaud and he concentrated on saving runs instead of trying to get batsmen out. Faced with Ian Meckiff's questionable bowling in the disastrous First Test he declined to make an official complaint as it would appear unsporting. After the Australian tour May beat New Zealand 1–0, India 5–0 and led England to its first series victory in the West Indies 1–0. He lost 2–1 to the 1961 Australians and retired due to ill-health having been captain in a then record 41 Tests (20 wins, 10 defeats and 11 draws), Benaud being the only man to defeat him in a Test series. He retired entirely from first-class cricket in 1963, taking up a post in the City.^[1] with the insurance brokerage Willis Faber Dumas -now Willis Group.

Cricket administrator

May succeeded Alec Bedser as Chairman of the England cricket selectors in 1982 and held the post for seven years, including presiding over the notorious 1988 Summer of four captains. The reappointment of David Gower as captain for the disastrous 1989 Ashes series was widely seen as a mistake and precipitated May's departure from the role.^[1] He served as President of the Marylebone Cricket Club and posthumously as President of Surrey CCC from 1995 to 1996.

Personal

He married Virginia Gilligan, a daughter of the former England captain Harold Gilligan and they had four daughters. May died at Liphook, Hampshire, from a brain tumour on 27 December 1994, four days before what would have been his 65th birthday.

Miscellaneous

Peter May served his National Service in the Writer branch of the Royal Navy.^[11]
May has a stand named after him (the 'Peter May Enclosure') at the Oval, Surrey, England.
Peter May was also an outstanding Eton Fives player, winning the Kinnaird Cup (effectively the national championship) three years running (from 1951 to 1953), partnered by his brother, J.W.H. May. As a pair, the May brothers were invincible, and were never defeated.
May is mentioned in the Peter Hammill song "(No More) The Sub-Mariner", from the 1974 album, In Camera.

Peter May's career performance graph.

Sporting positions
Preceded by Len Hutton	English national cricket captain 1955-1959-60	Succeeded by Colin Cowdrey
Preceded by Colin Cowdrey	English national cricket captain 1961	Succeeded by Ted Dexter

References

1 2 3 4 Bateman, Colin (1993). If The Cap Fits. Tony Williams Publications. pp. 118–119. ISBN 1-869833-21-X.
↑ "Chappell, May, Graveney inducted into Hall of Fame".
↑ p72, Bailey, etc…
1 2 p175-77, Arlott
1 2 p53-54, Graveney and Giller
↑ http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Records/Tests/Batting/Most_Runs_in_Career_as_Captain.html Most Runs in a Career as Captain] from Cricket Archive.
↑ http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/22/22448.html
↑ http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/53/53210.html
↑ p219-220, Trueman
↑ p128, Brown
↑ http://www.criclife.com/lists/chronicles/peter-may-22-facts-about-the-former-england-captain-60047

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Peter May.

England Test cricket captains

1876/77: Lillywhite 1878/79–1884: Harris 1881/82: Shaw 1882; 1884: Hornby 1882/83: Bligh 1884/85–1886/87: Shrewsbury 1886; 1888: Steel 1887/88–1891/92: Read 1888–1896; 1899: Grace 1888/89: C. A. Smith 1888/89: Bowden 1893; 1894/95–1897/98: Stoddart 1895/96: O'Brien 1895/96–1898/99: Hawke 1897/98; 1899–1909: MacLaren 1903/04–1905/06: Warner 1905: Jackson 1907: Foster 1907/08; 1909/10: Fane 1907/08: Jones 1909/10: Leveson Gower 1911/12–1920/21; 1921; 1924: Douglas 1912: Fry 1921: Tennyson 1922/23: F. Mann 1924–1924/25: A. Gilligan 1926; 1929: A. Carr 1926; 1928–1930/31: Chapman 1927/28: Stanyforth 1927/28: Stevens 1928/29; 1929: White 1929/30: H. Gilligan 1929/30: Calthorpe 1930; 1932/33; 1933; 1934–1935: Wyatt 1931–1933/34: Jardine 1934: Walters 1936–1947/48: Allen 1937: Robins 1938–1946/47: Hammond 1946/47; 1947–1950: Yardley 1947/48: Cranston 1948/49–1949: G. Mann 1949; 1950; 1950/51–1951: Brown 1951/52: Howard 1951/52: D. Carr 1952–1954/55: Hutton 1954: Sheppard 1955–1961: May 1959; 1959/60; 1960; 1961; 1962; 1966–1968/69: M. Cowdrey 1961/62–1964: Dexter 1963/64–1965/66; 1966: M. Smith 1966; 1967: Close 1968: Graveney 1969–1973: Illingworth 1972/73: Lewis 1973/74–1974/75; 1975: Denness 1974/75: Edrich 1975–1976/77: Greig 1977–1981: Brearley 1977/78; 1977/78: Boycott 1980–1980/81; 1981: Botham 1981/82: Fletcher 1982–1983/84; 1983/84: Willis 1982; 1983/84–1985/86; 1986; 1989: Gower 1986–1987/88; 1988: Gatting 1988: Emburey 1988: C. Cowdrey 1988; 1988–1993: Gooch 1989/90; 1990/91: Lamb 1992/93; 1992/93–1998/99; 2000; 2001: Stewart 1993; 1993/94–1997/98; 2001: Atherton 1999–2003: Hussain 1999: Butcher 2003–2008: Vaughan 2004; 2005/06: Trescothick 2006–2006/07: Flintoff 2006; 2007; 2008/09–2012: Strauss 2008–2008/09: Pietersen 2010; 2012–: Cook

Italics denote deputised captaincy

Australian first-class cricket season leading run-scorers (1950–51 to 1999–2000)

1950–51: Hassett 1951–52: Hassett 1952–53: Harvey 1953–54: McDonald 1954–55: Harvey 1955–56: Burke 1956–57: Pinch 1957–58: O'Neill 1958–59: May 1959–60: Simpson 1960–61: Simpson 1961–62: Simpson 1962–63: Barrington 1963–64: Simpson 1964–65: Trimble 1965–66: Lawry 1966–67: Favell 1967–68: Simpson 1968–69: I. Chappell 1969–70: G. Chappell 1970–71: Richards 1971–72: I. Chappell 1972–73: Sheahan 1973–74: G. Chappell 1974–75: G. Chappell 1975–76: G. Chappell 1976–77: Hookes 1977–78: Ogilvie 1978–79: Border 1979–80: G. Chappell 1980–81: G. Chappell 1981–82: Wessels 1982–83: Hookes 1983–84: Yallop 1984–85: Wessels 1985–86: Border 1986–87: Marsh 1987–88: Boon 1988–89: Taylor 1989–90: Taylor 1990–91: Law 1991–92: Jones 1992–93: Hayden 1993–94: Bevan 1994–95: Jones 1995–96: Lehmann 1996–97: Cox 1997–98: Hills 1998–99: Blewett 1999–2000: Lehmann

Leading run-scorers: 1850–51 to 1899–00 1900–01 to 1949–50 1950–51 to 1999–00 2000–01 onwards Leading wicket-takers: 1850–51 to 1899–00 1900–01 to 1949–50 1950–51 to 1999–00 2000–01 onwards

Authority control	WorldCat Identities VIAF: 107366087

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