Peter Roebuck

Peter Michael Roebuck (born March 6, 1956, in Oxford, United Kingdom) is a former cricket player and is now a newspaper columnist and radio commentator. He studied law at Cambridge University, and was the captain of the English county side Somerset. He also captained an England one-day cricket team to defeat in Holland.

Career

Tall, bespectacled and of bookish appearance, Roebuck was a right-handed batsman, often used as an opener, and occasionally bowled right-arm offspin. He played for Somerset's second eleven at the age of 13, and regular first-class cricket from 1974 until his retirement in 1991. He later played Minor Counties cricket for Devon.

In 335 First Class matches he scored 17,558 runs at an average of 37.27, making 33 centuries with a highest score of 221* and took 72 wickets at 49.16. In 298 one day matches he scored 7244 runs at 29.81 while taking 51 wickets at 25.09.

Roebuck was named as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1988.

1986 controversy

Roebuck became a controversial figure in 1986 when, at the end of his first season as captain of Somerset, he was instrumental in the county's decision not to renew the contracts of its two overseas players, Viv Richards and Joel Garner, whose runs and wickets had brought the county much success in the previous eight years.

Roebuck and his supporters argued that both Richards and Garner were now ageing, that individual and collective their contributions had declined dramatically, and that younger overseas and home-grown players should be recruited to replace them. They cited the recent performance of the team in the County Championship — namely, bottom in 1985, and next-bottom in 1986 — and its failure in one-day competitions since winning the NatWest Bank Trophy in 1983.

Opposition to the decision not to re-employ Richards and Garner came loudest from Somerset's English-born star, the all-rounder Ian Botham, who refused a new contract for himself and joined Worcestershire. In the event, under Roebuck's captaincy and with Martin Crowe of New Zealand and Steve Waugh of Australia as overseas players, Somerset improved a little in 1987, though they remained among the weaker counties for a further half dozen seasons. After many years of bitterness and the eventual removal of Roebuck from the club, Richards was honoured with the naming of a set of entrance gates and a stand after him at the County Cricket Ground, Taunton. In 2000, Richards was named by a 100-member panel of experts one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Century.

After Retirement

Roebuck in 2001 was given a suspended jail sentence after admitting caning three young cricketers he had offered to coach. He pleaded guilty to three charges of common assault involving three South African teenagers between 1 April and 31 May, 1999. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/1608831.stm BBC News | ENGLAND | Cricketer sentenced for caning trainees ] ] Roebuck was originally accused of indecent assault but pleaded guilty to lesser charges of common assault. However, the judge, Graham Hume-Jones, said he did not accept the purity of Roebuck's motives. He said: quote|"It was not appropriate to administer corporal punishment to boys of this age in circumstances such as these. It seems so unusual that it must have been done to satisfy some need in you." Ian Fenny prosecuting said:

He now resides in Sydney, Australia, where he writes columns for the Sydney Morning Herald, and the Melbourne Age, as well as commentating for the ABC radio cricket coverage in Australia. He is known for wearing his trademark straw sunhat at all times, even in the commentary box.

Sources

http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/ci/content/story/106221.html

References