by Peter Lever, who died at the age of 84, was a quick bowling player for the Lancashire for 17 years and for England in 17 test games. In many ways, he was the quintessence of the faithful English professional cricket player, devoted, modest and devoted to the game he loved. And yet, throughout his career, he has experienced moments far beyond the norm, one of which was heartbreaking to the extreme.
He turned twice in Australia, under the captain of Ray Illingworth in 1970-71, when England found the ashes with lever playing in five of the six tests, then during the less successful expedition under Mike Denness four years later, during a team without mistrust for the first time. It was just after this series where a battered England team had gone to New Zealand that raising had the most traumatic experience of her life.
During the first test in Auckland, Lever was the Bowling at the New Zealand Tailender Ewen Chatfield. He deliberately propelled a short ball, which lit the gloves of a drummer with a very modest capacity before hitting him on the head. Catfield fell to the ground. The Physio of England, Bernard Thomas, ran in the middle to give oral resuscitation before Chatfield was stretched from the field and taken to the hospital.
Lever was naturally distraught. “I honestly thought that I had killed him when I saw him lying there in convulsions,” he would remember. “I felt sick and ashamed of what I had done and all I could think of my return to the pavilion was that I wanted to retire.”
Lever left the field crying. As soon as possible, he went to the hospital to visit Chatfield, who did not carry a grudge. It was a professional risk, especially at a time before the drummers wear helmets. Without a doubt, raising was a man relieved like Catfield told him from his bed: “You look worse than me.”
It was an unforgettable point of view in a distinguished career. The culmination, even if raising participated in a victory in ashes, could well have been his first outing for England in 1970 when he played against the rest of the world.
It was a unique series, which had been quickly organized after the anti-apartheid demonstrations led to the cancellation of the South African tour, a decision which raised would have approved even if it left it in the minority in the world of cricket.
This series then refused the status of testing, a confusing decision, because there was no doubt of the quality of the opposition. In what was then supposed to be his beginnings in England, raising took seven windows in the first rounds of the final match at the oval; His victims were Eddie Barlow, Graeme Pollock, Garry Sobers, Clive Lloyd, Mike Procter and Intikhab Alam, which is undoubtedly the best transport of seven counters in history.
Raising was born in Todmorden, West Yorkshire. “Technically, I’m a Yorkie,” he said, “but I don’t boast about it.” In Old Trafford, he acquired the nickname “board” but there must have been a touch of irony there – he was brilliant and articulated with a warm regional accent, and he went to the local Grammar School between the two cricket players for the local club side.
In 1960, he was one of the Lancashire staff and he quickly played in the wind “for about seven years” while Brian Statham, one of the most beautiful pacemen in England and a Lancastrienne legend, turned the wind upset. Statham gave a wonderful example, but he was not a coach, so raising learned simply by looking at him. It was only when Statham retired that he was lucky to bowl with the wind.
When Jack Bond resumed the post of captain in 1968, the Lancashire, now lifting a pavement of the attack, has become the best side of a day in the country, winning the Gillette Cup three years in a row as well as the new Sunday League. They were exhilarating days in Old Trafford with crowds far superior to 20,000 for the big games. The only lifting regret was that with such a strong side, they never won the county championship during this period.
He was the most unreservedly of the questions, very popular with colleagues and adversaries, but it was also difficult to fight with his employers if he thought that this was justified at a time when the county’s cricket operated with a version of the 20th century of the feudal system.
He had spent his 30th anniversary when he played for England in Australia. With an action lowered after a long lively break, which he finally reduced, raising could swing the balloon of right -handed drummers with rhythm and venom. His best tests, 6-38, were carried out in Melbourne in the lonely victory of England of the 1974-75 tour.
After his days of play, he became a very respected coach at the professional and recreational level. In Lancashire, he had a fruitful relationship with the young Mike Atherton and in 1995, he found Atherton, who was then captain of England, when Illingworth, the new Supremo, used him as a Bowling coach alongside John Edrich as a horseshoe, a trio of many bleeding crickets and experience.
Raising finally retired in the midst of Devon, where he led to Lewdown CC. He even played for them in his 70s so that the club was not sentenced to a fine for not having produced a team of 11 men in a championship match. He ended up taking two cheap counters and having trouble getting out of bed the next morning. He was a familiar and very loved silhouette in Bratton Clovelly, where he was loved by inhabitants by planting wild flowers in the village. From Todmorden to Lord to Bratton Clove, everyone was delighted to hit him.
He is survived by his wife, Ros.
• Peter Lever, cricket player and professional coach, born September 17, 1940; Died March 27, 2025
