Born 1932 Brisbane | Played for : Queensland and Australia

 

Peter Burge was a tall right-handed batsman, feared by most bowlers in the 1960's. Unlike most tall men, he was an exceptional hooker of the ball, and loved to attack the ball at every opportunity. His first cap came against England at Sydney in the 1954/6 season, taking the wicket of Len Hutton with his first touch of the ball. He continued to be erratic with the bat until he scored 181 against England at The Oval in 1961. He headed the averages in the next series against England in Australia scoring at an average of 61.25. Burge seemed to have found his footing in test and first class cricket and his confidence increased. Scoring his highest first class score of 283 against New South Wales in 1963, he went on tour to England in 1964 where he came second in the averages to Bobby Simpson.

 

In all Burge scored 4 Test centuries including a further two centuries against England. He averaged 38.16 in all his Tests scoring 2,290 runs in total. Burge became one of the first ICC referee to officiate in Test matches. In 1994 he had to discipline Michael Atherton twice!!