Peter Hall (cricketer)

{{short description|New Zealand cricketer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2016}} {{Use New Zealand English|date=May 2016}} {{Infobox cricketer | name = Peter Hall | image = | country = | fullname = Peter James Hall | birth_date = {{birth date|1927|12|4|df=yes}} | birth_place = The Peak, Hong Kong | death_date = {{death date and age|2014|5|30|1927|12|4|df=yes}} | death_place = Wellington, New Zealand | batting = Right-handed | bowling = Right-arm medium | role = | club1 = Cambridge University | year1 = 1948–1949 | clubnumber1 = | club2 = Otago | year2 = 1955/56 | clubnumber2 = | date = 13 May | year = 2016 | source = http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/37298.html ESPNcricinfo }}

'''Peter Hall''' (4 December 1927 – 30 May 2014) was a Hong Kong born cricketer. He played first-class cricket for Cambridge University between 1948 and 1949 and for Otago during the 1955–56 season.<ref name=ci>{{Cite web|url=http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/37298.html |title=Peter Hall |accessdate=13 May 2016 |work=ESPNCricinfo}}</ref><ref name=ca>{{Cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/22/22023/22023.html |title=Peter Hall |accessdate=13 May 2016 |work=CricketArchive}}</ref>

Hall was born at The Peak in Hong Kong in 1927 and educated at Geelong Grammar School in Australia from 1942 to 1946.<ref name=mc>McCarron A (2010) ''New Zealand Cricketers 1863/64–2010'', p. 61. Cardiff: The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians. {{isbn|978 1 905138 98 2}} ([https://archive.acscricket.com/cricketers_series/new_zealand_cricketers_1863-64_2010/index.html Available online] at the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians. Retrieved 5 June 2023.)</ref><ref>Deaths, ''Light Blue'', issue 97, May 2016 (Geelong Grammar School).</ref> He went up to Cambridge and played cricket for a variety of university-based sides during 1948. Described as "a tall fast-medium bowler",<ref name=obit>Hall, Peter James, Obituaries in 2014, ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', 2015. ([https://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/973115.html Available online] at CricInfo. Retrieved 9 July 2023.)</ref> he made his first-class debut during the season, appearing for the side against Northants at Fenner's in mid-May. After playing in the next match against Middlesex he dropped out of the side until the following season.<ref name=ca/>

During 1949 Hall played in nine matches for Cambridge. He won his Blue in the 1949 University Match, taking two wickets and scoring 12 runs in a Cambridge victory. In total Hall played 11 first-class matches for the university, taking 27 wickets and scoring 172 runs. His only five-wicket haul in top-level matches came against Somerset.<ref name=ca/><ref name=obit/><ref>Bowlers on top in county matches, ''The Advertiser'', 1 July 1949, p. 13. ([https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/36673993 Available online] at Trove. Retrieved 9 July 2023.)</ref>

Between the 1955–56 and 1956–57 seasons, Hall played cricket for Otago. He scored 69 runs against Hutt Valley in January 1956, an innings which won the match for Otago, ''The Press'' reporting that he "timed his drives beautifully" during the innings.<ref>Otago beats Hutt, ''The Press'', volume XCIII, issue 27870, 19 January 1956, p. 4. ([https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19560119.2.23 Available online] at Papers Past. Retrieved 9 July 2023.)</ref> Later in the month he played in his only Plunket Shield match for the side, a fixture against Wellington at the Basin Reserve. He scored 33 runs, again batting well, "with fluent drives and shots through the covers" in what ''The Press'' called a "stylish effort" in the first innings<ref>Otago all out for 219, ''The Press'', volume XCIII, issue 27872, 21 January 1956, p. 10. ([https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19560121.2.101 Available online] at Papers Past. Retrieved 9 July 2023.)</ref> and was the only Otago player who "looked a real batsman" in the second as Otago collapsed for a score of only 102.<ref>Otago out for 102, ''The Press'', volume XCIII, issue 27873, 23 January 1956, p. 12. ([https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19560123.2.108 Available online] at Papers Past. Retrieved 9 July 2023.)</ref>

This was Hall's only first-class match in New Zealand, although he played in the annual match against Southland in both seasons he played for Otago sides as well as in other matches, including for the Second XI. In March 1966 he played in for Hong Kong against the England side returning from its tour of Australia and New Zealand, taking the wickets of Geoff Boycott and Barry Knight, England's established Test match batsmen.<ref name=ca/><ref name=obit/>

Hall died in 2014 at Wellington. He was aged 86.<ref name=obit/>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * {{ESPNcricinfo|id=37298}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, Peter}} Category:1927 births Category:2014 deaths Category:New Zealand cricketers Category:Cambridge University cricketers Category:Otago cricketers Category:People educated at Geelong Grammar School Category:20th-century New Zealand sportsmen