Peter James Eele (27 January 1935 – 25 January 2019) was an English

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

er who played for

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

and was later a first-class

umpire An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The term derives from the Old French , , and , : (as evidenced in cricke ...

. Eele was a lower-order left-handed batsman and a wicketkeeper. He was the reserve wicketkeeper to

Harold Stephenson Harold William Stephenson (18 July 1920 – 23 April 2008) was an English first-class cricketer who played for Somerset. He captained Somerset from 1960 until his retirement in 1964. Stephenson is easily the most successful wicket-keeper in his ...

at Somerset in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and his first-class cricket career was dictated largely by Stephenson's state of health. So 43 of Eele's 54 first-class matches came in two seasons: 1958, when Stephenson was injured for the second half of the season, and 1964, when Stephenson was able to play only three times. When Stephenson left the county somewhat unwillingly at the end of the 1964 season, Somerset recruited Geoff Clayton of

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

as his wicketkeeping replacement. Eele stayed as Clayton's deputy for a couple of seasons, but then left the staff. Eele's batting was his weak point. He passed 40 in a first-class innings only once, though he then went on to make an unbeaten 103 against the

Pakistan Eaglets Pakistan Eaglets were a team of young cricketers from Pakistan, founded by Justice A.R. Cornelius. They toured England and Wales every year from 1952 to 1959, Malaya and Ceylon in 1960–61, and England again in 1963. Most of their matches were n ...

team in 1963. As a wicketkeeper, he was "tidy and unshowy". After leaving Somerset, Eele played

Minor Counties The National Counties, known as the Minor Counties before 2020, are the cricketing counties of England and Wales that do not have first-class status. The game is administered by the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), which comes unde ...

cricket for

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

. From 1981 to 1984 and then again from 1989 to 1990 he was on the first-class umpires list. He umpired 124 first-class and 101 List A matches.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Eele, Peter 1935 births 2019 deaths English cricketers English cricket umpires Somerset cricketers Devon cricketers International Cavaliers cricketers Cricketers from Taunton Wicket-keepers 20th-century English sportsmen