Mervyn Kitchen - Somerset Regular

Somerset Regular

At the end of the 1965 season, Peter Wight, who had been a fixture in the Somerset side since 1955, batting at No 3, but whose form had declined markedly in the previous three seasons, was not re-engaged for the following year. The resulting vacancy in the Somerset batting line-up in 1966 was filled by Kitchen and he responded with his most successful season, finishing top of the county's batting averages with 1422 runs in all first-class matches. The batting style had changed as well, and Kitchen was a much more attacking player than he had been, exemplified by an innings in July in a non-first-class match against the International Cavaliers team at Bath, where he won the match by hitting both of the last two balls of a 38-over match from the South African Test bowler Neil Adcock for six. After this innings, Kitchen became a much more confident batsman and in the space of just over a week at the end of the season he made his first two first-class centuries and was awarded his county cap: "Until then in 142 innings he had not scored a century and had averaged under 20," says the history of Somerset cricket.