Vale Peter Taylor
Randwick Petersham Cricket Club | September 22, 2023
By Lyall Gardner
I am shocked and saddened to report the passing of Peter Taylor, a proud Randwick Petersham Cricket Legend and former 1st Grade captain of the old Petersham-Marrickville club. Peter was found deceased in his Meadowbank home unit on Thursday 21 September. It appears he passed away up to a week before that. Many of his friends had been following him on Facebook as a result of his recent stint in Concord Hospital with a “mystery” illness which turned out to be a problem with his kidneys. After his discharge from hospital, he commented in a Facebook post some 10 days ago that he had received some physio and he felt “terrific” (his description). He is survived by two sisters, Cathy at Terrigal and Jann in Brisbane. Peter would have been 70 on 2 October.
Peter Taylor was an experienced Sydney Grade cricketer when he joined Petersham-Marrickville in 1980-81. He had completed seven seasons in 1st Grade with Balmain and another with Sydney scoring 2,695 runs in the process. Indeed, he was a member of the Balmain premiership winning team in the Rothman’s Limited Overs premiership of 1975-76. But despite hitting a 94 as part of a season total of 579 runs in 1976-77, he had never scored a 1st Grade century. That all changed when he joined Pete’s as he rattled up 114 against Penrith at Petersham Oval in his very first game. In 1987-88 he was installed 1st Grade captain, leading the side to take the minor premiership after finishing last the previous season.
In his nine seasons with Pete’s, Taylor scored 3,978 runs of which 3,395 were made in 1st Grade. He was the highest scoring batsman for the club across all grades in the 1980s and was also the highest run-scorer in 1st Grade in that same period. He had five centuries to his credit with three in 1s while his highest score was 131 in 2nd Grade. And with his performances in other clubs, he completed a brilliant Sydney Grade Cricket career as the scorer of 6,468 1st Grade runs.
Funeral details will be advised when known.
RIP Peter “Digger” Taylor.
