Peter James Sainsbury (13 June 1934 â 12 July 2014) was an English first-class cricketer who played for Hampshire from 1954 to 1976 and the Marylebone Cricket Club from 1955 to 1960.
Peter James Sainsbury was born on 13 June 1934 in Chandler's Ford, Hampshire. He was educated at Bitterne Park Secondary Modern School, playing both cricket and football for combined Southampton schools. Aged 14, he was amongst the first to play for Hampshire's newly formed colt's side in 1949, under the guidance of coach Arthur Holt. He joined the staff at Hampshire the following year, and played for the Second Eleven a week after his 16th birthday. The start of his career was interrupted by two-years compulsory National Service, beginning in July 1952. Sainsbury later made his first-class debut for Hampshire against Oxford University at Oxford; following this match, he played twice for the Combined Services against the touring Pakistanis and Yorkshire. He made his County Championship debut in the 1954 County Championship, when he played against Nottinghamshire at Southampton, scoring 63 runs in Hampshire's second innings and added 90 runs for the eighth wicket with Desmond Eagar. Sainsbury made six Championship appearances in the latter half of the 1954 season. In his first season, he took 25 wickets with his slow left-arm orthodox bowling at an average of 27.96; he took his first five wicket haul (5 for 63) against Kent.
Sainsbury established himself in the Hampshire team in 1955, making 30 first-class appearances. He took 102 wickets at an average of 18.50, taking five or more wickets in an innings on six occasions. Against Essex in June, he took 7 for 25 to help Hampshire to victory by seven wickets. On his 21st birthday against Yorkshire, he took 5 for 19 in their first innings and 4 for 43 in their second, dismissing Len Hutton twice in a day. Hampshire won the match by an innings, their first victory over Yorkshire in 23 years. He was Hampshire's second-highest wicket-taker in the 1955 County Championship with 97, behind Derek Shackleton's 147. With the bat, he scored 586 runs at an average of 15.42. He was awarded his county cap at the end of the season, and was chosen for the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) 'A' tour of Pakistan during the winter. He made nine first-class appearances, playing in two of the four representative matches against Pakistan. He took 16 first-class wickets on the tour, at an average of 16.75. Upstaged on the tour by fellow spinner Tony Lock, Sainsbury attempted to emulate his bowling, negatively affecting his own game for the next two years.
In the 1956 season, he took 59 wickets with two five wicket hauls from 32 first-class matches, his average having risen to 28.38. His batting yielded him 741 runs at an average of 22.45, with two half centuries. He had played for the MCC at the start of the season, making two appearances at Lord's against Yorkshire and Surrey, followed by a third later in the season against the touring Australians. The following season, he took 57 wickets at an average of 24.49 from 28 appearances, though he took five wickets in an innings just once. He scored 652 runs at an average of 18.11, passing fifty once â a score of 94 against Worcestershire that formed part of a 154 runs partnership made in 135 minutes with Leo Harrison. Prior to the 1958 season, Sainsbury received coaching from former Surrey bowler Alf Gover. In that season, he took 71 wickets at an average of 19.98 from, with two five wicket hauls from 34 matches. As a consequence of Jimmy Gray breaking his arm prior to the season, Hampshire were left without an opening partner for Roy Marshall; Sainsbury was one of five batsman to [note] open the batting prior to Gray's return at the end of May. Sainsbury scored 886 runs at an average of 22.78 during the season, scoring his maiden first-class century (105 runs) against Worcestershire in August.
That period coincided with the county's most successful time in first-class cricket: Hampshire won the County Championship for the first time in 1961 and did it again in 1973. Sainsbury was the only player who featured in both teams, and he was named as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in the 1974 edition of the almanack.
After a few games for Hampshire and the first-class Combined Services team in 1954, Sainsbury was a big success in his first full season in 1955, taking 102 wickets and scoring 586 runs. He was picked for the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) "A" tour to Pakistan in 1955âÂÂ56 and played in two of the four representative matches. But in an era when England's spin bowling options included Tony Lock, Fred Titmus, Ray Illingworth and Derek Underwood, this was as close as he came to Test cricket.
In fact, Hampshire's successes over the next 20 years were built largely on seam bowling, first with Derek Shackleton and later, at the end of Sainsbury's career, with Andy Roberts, and Sainsbury took 100 wickets in a season only once more: 16 years later, in 1971. With no great spin, he was often used defensively as a bowler, but he took 50 or more wickets in 16 seasons. He was also successful in one-day cricket, one of the first slow bowlers to be used successfully in a form of cricket that was dominated in its early days by seam bowling. Indeed, in 1965 he became the first man to take seven wickets in a one-day match when he claimed 7âÂÂ30 against Norfolk in the first round of the Gillette Cup.
His batting developed usefully. No stylist, he could tailor his game to the needs of the side, providing obduracy or attack as required. For a side that for many years relied very heavily on the runmaking of just two or three players, Sainsbury's runs, usually made at No 6 in the batting order, gave Hampshire solidity. He scored more than 1,000 runs in a season six times and in 1971 was within 50 runs of the all-rounder's double of 1000 runs and 100 wickets.
A superb fieldsman close to the wicket, Sainsbury was near the top of the fielding statistics for many seasons in the late 1950s and 1960s. In all first-class cricket, Sainsbury played in 618 matches, scored 20,176 runs, took 1,316 wickets, and held 617 catches. He retired from first-class cricket in 1976.
Early in his career had an action with the body forward on arrival at the wicket, that was said to not cater for much spin, though generated flight. He was considered an excellent fielder.