Peter Michael Roebuck (6 March 195612 November 2011) was an English cricketer who later became an Australian newspaper columnist and radio commentator.
A consistent county performer with over 25,000 runs, and "one of the better English openers of the 1980s", Roebuck captained the English county side Somerset between 1986 and 1988. During 1989, Roebuck also captained an England XI one-day cricket team in two matches. His post-playing career as an erudite writer earned him great acclaim as a journalist with the Sunday Times and later as an author.
Roebuck committed suicide in Cape Town, South Africa, on 12 November 2011 after being asked by police to answer questions about an allegation of sexual assault. A book by Tim Lane and Elliot Cartledge titled Chasing Shadows – The Life and Death of Peter Roebuck was published in October 2015.
Early life
Roebuck was born in the village of Oddington, outside Oxford, on 6 March 1956, the son of two schoolteachers and one of six children; he attended Millfield School where his mother was a mathematics teacher and his father an economics teacher. The headmaster, Jack Meyer, a former Somerset County Cricket Club Captain, had offered his parents employment at the school so that they could afford the fees. Meyer was an unconventional headmaster who wanted to encourage cricket talent. On entering Meyer's office for the interview for admission, Roebuck found an orange flying through the air towards him; he caught it, and in his book It Never Rains speculated whether he would have got into Millfield if he had dropped it. He later studied law at Emmanuel College at the University of Cambridge, graduating with first-class honours in 1977. However he never practised law, finding it too confining.
Cricket career
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.
On the county circuit, Roebuck's nickname was Rupert. This arose when the Essex captain, Keith Fletcher, once addressed him as Rupert, in the mistaken belief that it was actually his name.
Roebuck was involved in Somerset's limited-over successes of the years 1979-83. In the Benson and Hedges Cup final of 1981 he helped Viv Richards in a partnership of 105 in Somerset's victory, and the following year, as Somerset successfully defended the title, helped the same player in an unbroken stand of the same amount, finishing as top-scorer.
In 1988 Roebuck was named as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year.
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 individually and collectively 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, last in 1985 and second last in 1986 – and their failure in one-day competitions since winning the NatWest Bank Trophy in 1983. A decision was precipitated by a fear that Martin Crowe of New Zealand, who had deputised as the county's overseas player in 1984 when Richards and Garner were with a West Indies touring party, might instead join Essex for 1987.
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 Crowe and Steve Waugh of Australia as overseas players, Somerset improved a little in 1987, though they remained among the weaker counties for a further six seasons; Botham and Richards meanwhile went on to achieve a measure of success with new counties (respectively Worcestershire and Glamorgan). 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 Ground, Taunton.