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Full name | Peter William Denning | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born |
Chewton Mendip, Somerset, England |
16 December 1949|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Died | 17 July 2007 Taunton, Somerset, England |
(aged 57)|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nickname | Dasher | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Batting style | Left-handed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bowling style | Right-arm offbreak | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Role | Opening batsman | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Domestic team information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Years | Team | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1969–1984 | Somerset | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
First-class debut | 28 June 1969 Somerset v Glamorgan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Last First-class | 30 June 1984 Somerset v Northamptonshire | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
List A debut | 6 July 1969 Somerset v Lancashire | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Last List A | 9 September 1984 Somerset v Nottinghamshire | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: CricketArchive, 13 October 2009 |
Peter William Denning (16 December 1949 – 17 July 2007) was an English first-class cricketer who played for Somerset from 1969 to 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. Denning was a left-handed top order (often opening) batsman and scored 1,000 runs in a season on six occasions.
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 joined Somerset when they were struggling. However, Somerset later became a strong one-day side with Brian Close as captain and a team containing three world-class players in Viv Richards, Ian Botham and Joel Garner. 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. The following year, in partnership with Ian Botham, he added 310 for the fourth wicket against Gloucestershire at Taunton in 1980, which remains a record for Somerset.