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Peter Lever RIP

cliveclive
in Other Football and Sports

Former Lancashire and England fast bowler Peter Lever has died at the age of 84 following a short illness.

Lever was part of the England team that won the Ashes in Australia in 1970-71 under captain Raymond Illingworth, the tour in which he made his Test debut.

Lever took 41 wickets in 17 Tests and 11 more in 10 one-day internationals.

He played for Lancashire between 1960 and 1976, claiming almost 800 wickets in 301 first-class matches.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/articles/c8d4v5vzzjyo

Comments

  • Covered EndCovered End
    RIP I remember Peter Lever.
  • Pedro45Pedro45
    The man who allegedly started the bumper war with Lillee and Thompson on the 74/75 tour....

    RIP  Peter Lever
  • SimonsenSimonsen
    Sad news.

    Met him whilst on tour to Devon a few years ago. Had a good time in the bar together at Sidmouth CC. Very nice bloke and a good laugh. 
  • smsm
    Another one of Lancashire's best players who was a Yorkshireman.
  • Addick AddictAddick Addict
    RIP
  • hoof_it_up_to_bentyhoof_it_up_to_benty
    Great bowler. Part of a fabulous Lancashire side. RIP
  • AlgarveaddickAlgarveaddick
    One of the first cricketers I remember. May he RIP. 
  • lolwraylolwray
    edited March 27
    He always seemed to be enjoying what he did ..seem to remember he made his debut in the 1970 rest of the world series.Thought he deserved to get more than 17 caps.RIP
  • LenGloverLenGlover
    lolwray said:
    He always seemed to be enjoying what he did ..seem to remember he made his debut in the 1970 rest if the world series.Thought he deserved to get more than 17 caps.RIP
    He was perhaps a victim of the ongoing success of Statham and Higgs for Lancashire so did not get the opportunity to fully shine in his earlier career.
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  • addicksonaddickson
    Lovely tribute by Jonathan Agnew, RIP Peter
  • LordflashheartLordflashheart
    addickson said:
    Lovely tribute by Jonathan Agnew, RIP Peter
    Agreed - superb words by Aggers 

    RIP Peter Lever 
  • IsawlearyplayIsawlearyplay
    Competitive - always good to watch 
    RIP
  • msomertonmsomerton
    What a sad loss. Struck me as a niceman. He was one of the highlights of the summers watching cricket in 1960's even if he did not play for Kent.
    Condolences's to his family and friends.
  • killerandflashkillerandflash
    edited March 28
    Great piece by Michael Atherton in The Times, this bit is from when he was a Lancashire coach


    He came back to coach Lancashire in the mid-1980s, at a difficult time for the club — and a short stint with England as a bowling coach under Illingworth in the mid-1990s was not particularly successful — but for two or three years just before I signed professional terms for Lancashire in 1987 he had a huge influence on my development as a cricketer, for which I remain very grateful.
    Any batsman will tell you that the biggest difference as you step up from schoolboy level to representative level to first-class cricket and finally to international cricket, is the pace of the game. Pace quickens with every step up but, back then, before bowling machines were ubiquitous, pace was not always easy to prepare for. Thankfully, Lever helped me through.

    Rather like England’s selectors now, Lever was obsessed by pace. As Lancashire’s coach, he formulated a plan to get together the best and fastest young bowlers in the county to try to develop them into first-class cricketers. Twice a week, in the winter months, a squad of a dozen or so teenage bowlers would be put through their paces by Lever and I was one of the guinea-pig batsmen chosen to face them.

    It was, genuinely, a frightening experience. Because of the limited run-ups in the old indoor school at Old Trafford, bowlers were allowed to bowl off 17 yards. Helmets were a given by this stage, but there was no restriction on bouncers. Although I came to face many great fast bowlers, nothing was more terrifying than those winter nights at Old Trafford circa 1984-86.

    Not just that, but Lever demanded attendance at his home in the hills around Rochdale on Saturday mornings, from where he marked out a five-mile run and then would stand at various vantage points, bellowing encouragement. Afterwards his wife, Ros, would make us all bacon sandwiches and coffee. The young bowlers became fitter and faster — Peter Martin, the Lancashire and England fast bowler emerged from this — and the young batsmen had to be on their guard facing them.

    It was, I suppose, a form of tough love. Many of us will be able to think of formative periods in life that at the time did not seem like fun but which, looking back, were incredibly valuable and character-forming. Those Saturday mornings and twice-weekly sessions at Old Trafford for a year or two before I became a professional cricketer were like that for me. I never worried about bowling being too quick after that.

    One summer’s day, during this period, I got a call from Lever. I must have been about 17 years old, I guess. Lancashire’s first and second team were on a day off and he needed a young batsman to come to the nets to face a bowler being put through a fitness test for the following week’s game. Was I available? Naturally, looking to get on in cricket at that stage, I said I was.

    I turned up just as Lancashire’s overseas player, Patrick Patterson, possibly the fastest bowler in the world around 1985-86, was marking out his run. I was put through my paces by “Patto”. At the end of the net, Lever looked at me, didn’t say much, but nodded ever so slightly as if to say: “You’ll do.” I signed terms not long after that. Farewell, Peter.

  • soapy_jonessoapy_jones
    RIP
  • LincsaddickLincsaddick
    wholehearted bowler and not too bad a battererer (i.e. batsman) .. didn't play tests until he was 30 and was done at age 35 .. R I P Peter
  • BlackheathenBlackheathen
    RIP Peter Lever

    He is remembered in NZ for almost killing number 11 batsman Ewan Chatfield with a bouncer which cannoned off Chats’ gloves into his temple, knocking him out, cracking his skull and swallowing his tongue.
    He was saved by the quick thinking England physio who retrieved his tongue and gave him mouth to mouth.

    The year was 1975 and the first Test in a short tour of NZ after a pasting by the Aussies, especially Lillee and Thomo.  NZ were trying to stave off an innings defeat and Chatfield and Geoff Hogarth had resisted the English bowlers for half an hour.

    It was said that Peter Lever was never the same after the incident.  When he visited Chatfield in hospital the patient remarked that Peter looked worse than him.

    Protective helmets were introduced two years later.
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