Hertfordshire Cricket

THE man who gave Roland Butcher, the first Caribbean-born cricketer to play for England, a first taste of senior cricket, is stepping down as president of Stevenage Cricket Club.

Peter Allen, 78, a member of the Ditchmore Lane club for 57 years, says "It's time to hand over to a younger man.''

Stevenage CC commemorated the move by breaking from tradition and for the first time in its history, naming its pavilion after him. As of last month, it's the Peter Allen Pavilion - a structure that Peter, a carpenter by trade, helped build.

The pavilion was erected in the summer of 1963, when Stevenage CC had just £4,000 to spend.
Peter, who subsequently became a draughtsman, originally worked at the former ESA factory, before going into the shop fitting trade.

Peter was skipper of the first XI when he controversially selected Roland Butcher, then just 13 and at school, for the first-team.

"It was extremely controversial and I was called before the full club committee meeting to explain why I had selected someone so young for the first XI. I told them he was a natural and they should back my judgement. Fortunately they did and on his debut against Hitchin,
I remember Roland took their attack apart.

"He was as good a player I have ever played with, even at that age and believe me, we have had some good players over the years here at Stevenage,''

Peter skippered the side successfully for five seasons, during which time they reached the regional semi-finals of the National K-O Cup, finally losing to Camberley CC from Surrey.

He also fondly remembers captaining the club against a Lord's Taverners XI, which included Sir Len Hutton and Denis Compton and losing his wicket, lbw to Alec Bedser. "I suppose he was the best bowler I ever faced,'' he says.

Towards the end of his career as a hard-hitting middle order batsman and off spin bowler, he played a couple of seasons in the club's lower sides before going into umpiring, serving as a Herts League umpire for a decade.

"I've never regretted retiring as a player, but I wanted to stay involved in the sport and with the club, so I took up umpiring,'' he says.

Since then he has held many roles at Stevenage CC, with his wife Gill, who made the teas for many years, before Peter became president - only Stevenage's fourth since the war.

Stevenage Old Town born and bred and educated at Barclay School, he played his first cricket during National Service in the RAF. A Radar technician stationed on Bardsey Island, off the coast of Suffolk, he says his first competitive cricket was for Felixstowe CC, when he was on leave.

"I didn't get enough time on leave to come back and play for Stevenage until I was demobbed in 1960, when I first played in the first-team.''
From then on, he was a regular for an incredible 35 years.

His services won't be lost to the club. "I still intend helping whenever and wherever I can. Cricket's been a large part of my life, I would say that 70-80 per cent of my family's friends have come from cricket.''