Peter Eyre 1939-2025

I was so sorry tonight to hear the news of the passing of Peter Eyre, another of my childhood favourites. Coming so soon after the death of his good friend Brian Jackson, it has been a sad time for the High Peak and for Derbyshire cricket.

Peter was perhaps the very definition of a journeyman professional. He didn't always reach the heights and there were times when he was not an automatic choice in the Derbyshire eleven. Yet when opportunity came, he seldom let them down.

He played for the county between 1959 and 1972 and took 418 wickets in that time. His bustling fast medium pace always commanded respect, never more so than when he destroyed Sussex in the 1969 Gillette Cup semi-final. Harold Rhodes and Alan Ward softened them up, Fred Rumsey was parsimony personified but it was Peter who delivered the knock-out blows, returning figures of 6-18 on an afternoon when he was nigh unplayable. 

1969 was a good year and Chesterfield a good ground for him, because he also returned his best first-class figures of 8-65 against Somerset there that summer, as well as recording his only first-class century, against Leicestershire on the same ground. A fine one too, against an attack containing three international bowlers, Graham McKenzie, Barry Knight and Ray Illingworth.

He burst onto the scene as a young bowler of talent, who was sadly caught up in the throwing controversy that falsely blighted the career of his team mate and good friend Harold Rhodes. He was filmed after one of the 1961 Australians felt there was something 'different' about his action, but that was all it was - different. But as he told me when I interviewed him for my second book, 'I always felt under scrutiny afterwards, whether from officials or umpires. I was never called, but it was always on my mind'.

In 1967 he emerged from a few years of struggle to take 64 wickets at less than 20 runs each, taking the new ball for a good part of the season. Yet that halcyon summer of '69 marked the start of a decline, after a cartilage injury sustained playing football in the following winter. He then contracted debilitating glandular fever, which took him a long time from which to recover.

When he finished playing professional cricket he captained Hathersage Cricket Club for several seasons and also played for Knypersley, where he spent some successful summers as a professional. 

A builder to trade, he was well known in and around the High Peak. Some will remember him from the shire horses that he kept, doing weddings with them and giving rides in a cart at Carsington Water and at Chatsworth for a number of years.

He was kind enough to come along to both of my book launches, having been very patient with my many questions when I interviewed him for the second one. He had a wry sense of humour and recalled with a chuckle when he experimented with a wig for a short time. He suffered from alopecia as a young man, which made him stand out, at a time when hairstyles were getting longer. 

The experiment was abandoned when he realised the method of securing his wig was not effective and the slip fielders were watching it bounce up and down when he ran in, rather than focusing on the ball and the edge of the bat.

It was a story indicative of the man and he had a ready smile and collection of funny tales. When I thanked him for coming along to my book launch at Chesterfield Library, he shook my hand and gave me that trademark grin 

'I allus liked Chesterfield anyway' came his reply, with the afterthought 'and the book is a good 'un too.'

Peter Eyre was a good 'un alright, one of the very best.

Rest in Peace and thank you for everything, Peter.