Peter Burge (cricketer)

Peter John Parnell Burge (17 May 1932 – 5 October 2001) was an Australian cricketer who played in 42 Tests between 1955 and 1966. After retiring as a player he became a highly respected match referee, overseeing another 25 Tests and 63 ODIs.

He was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1965 and in 1997 was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) "for service to cricket as a player, administrator and international referee, and to harness racing."

Burge was born in Kangaroo Point, Queensland into a cricketing family. His father Thomas John "Jack" Burge was a salesman who rose to be a departmental manager of D. & W. Murray, a retail outlet, before becoming a state representative for Nile Industries, a textile firm. Jack Burge represented Eastern Suburbs in Brisbane's grade cricket competition and later became a cricket administrator. The elder Burge served on the Queensland Cricket Association executive from 1945 until his death in 1957. He also represented Queensland on the Australian Board of Control from 1952 until 1957, and was a state selector from 1944 until 1949. Peter recalled "My dad was the best frustrated Test cricketer I ever knew. He always wanted to play, was involved in it for as long as I could remember."

Burge was inculcated with a love of cricket by his father, who reputedly gave him a rattle in the shape of a ball and bat when he was a baby. First holding a bat at the age of three, Burge infuriated his mother by striking a ball wrapped in a sock and tied to a rope, for hours on end. Aged five, he went to Buranda Boys' State School and due to his father's coaching, was by far the best cricketer at the school. He played his first competitive match when he was eight and a half, and scored his first century at nine. At the age of nine, Burge scored 223 for Buranda and then decided to retire because of extreme heat. His father berated him for handing the opposition his wicket. Burge said "It was good advice. I never did it again."

In his final year at primary school, playing as an opening batsman and wicketkeeper, he scored a double century, eight centuries, 97 and 0 in 11 innings.

Aged thirteen he moved to Anglican Church Grammar School, one of the state's elite private schools, and represented Queensland in a schoolboy competition in Sydney, scoring 100 against Victoria. He played in the first XI in his final three years, and made his first grade debut in his final year. He remained a wicketkeeper and batted at number three. When he was considered for state selection, his father had to stand aside from the Queensland selection panel. Despite this, Burge's rise through the ranks as continuously accompanied by murmurs of nepotism. He studied chartered accountancy, and was selected for the state U-23 side under the coaching of Wally Walmsley.