About Peter May (cricketer)
Peter Barker Howard May (31 December 1929 – 27 December 1994) was an English cricketer who played for Surrey County Cricket Club, Cambridge University and England as an amateur. He was described as a "tall and handsome with a batting style that was close to classical, and... the hero of a generation of school boys" and by Wisden as a "schoolboy prodigy" who went on to become "one of England’s finest batsmen". He was made a CBE in 1981 and posthumously inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame in 2009 == Early career == Born in Reading, Berkshire, he was educated at Leighton Park School, Charterhouse and Pembroke College, Cambridge, and at both he was regarded as a batting prodigy as well as playing Eton Fives, winning the Kinnaird Cup in all three years between 1951 and 1953, partnered by his brother, J.W.H. May. Across the 1950s, he was the most consistent and prolific English batsman in both county (representing Surrey) and Test cricket. He made his Test match debut against South Africa at Headingley in 1951, scoring 138, and was then a regular England player until forced out by illness in the early 1960s. May was one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1952. May was the natural successor to Leonard Hutton as England captain after the successful defence of the Ashes on the 1954–55 tour of Australia. == Captaincy == May enjoyed a largely successful captaincy of both his county and country. Surrey had been County Champions for seven years running, with May the captain for the last two seasons, and until 1958 England were never defeated under his leadership.
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