Peter Denning

Peter William Denning (16 December 1949 – 17 July 2007) was an English first-class cricketer who played for Somerset County Cricket Club between 1969 and 1984. He was known to Somerset cricket fans as 'Dasher' due to his "pace over the ground", and he was also known for an unorthodox stroke called the 'Chewton carve' or 'Chewton chop', a stroke that cut the ball away between the slips and the covers.

Cricket career

Denning was born in the village of Chewton Mendip in Somerset, where his father was the butcher. He was educated at Millfield, where he was captain of cricket and also played tennis, rugby and football. He later studied at St Luke's College, Exeter (now part of the University of Exeter), and qualified as a teacher.

He made his first-class cricket debut for Somerset against Glamorgan in June 1969. He played much of his career as an opener in partnership with Brian Rose. He was awarded his Somerset cap in 1973. He made his top score, 184, against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge. He hit two centuries in the match against Gloucestershire in 1977, and his 145 in a one-day game against Glamorgan in 1978.

His most prolific year came in 1979, when he made 1,222 runs at a batting average of 42.13. It was a memorable year for Somerset as well as they won the Gillette Cup and Sunday League under Rose's captaincy. Denning was a good limited overs player having the ability to run quick singles.

He was a member of the Somerset team that won the NatWest Trophy in 1983. He won seven man-of-the-match awards in the one-day game.

Denning died of cancer in Taunton in 2007. He is survived by his wife and two daughters. Brian Rose, Denning's former opening partner and Somerset Director of Cricket paid the following tribute to his former teammate: "To me Peter epitomised all that should be good in a professional cricketer. He was hard, stubborn and made it difficult for the opposition – especially when he growled at them. His sad death is a tremendous loss to Somerset cricket."