Stepping off the soapbox

Somerset's Peter Anderson was one of the county game's most outspoken officials and vociferous supporters. Ivo Tennant reports on his retirement

The retirement of Peter Anderson effectively means that chief executives will no longer be as outspoken, omnipotent or, on occasion, as outrageous. For the best part of two decades county cricket has had no greater protector.

It was fitting that Anderson, the longest-serving employee in Somerset's history, should depart at the end of a week in which the county had beaten the Australians. He had, he said, stayed on two years longer than he had wanted and, at the age of 63, was keen to spend more time at Seaton in Devon, where he prepares the pitches and still plays for the 3rd XI. He turned down a farewell dinner at Taunton. "I am not a great fan of eulogies," he says. "There are far too many cricketers who have wanted one more year, when all we do is pass through the clubs."

Above all Anderson will be remembered for his promotion of Somerset and his defence of county cricket. "I never understood people within the game speaking against it. I felt it was below the belt for Mike Atherton's Reform Group to question my views as I did not have any Test caps, although I agree we were slow off the mark in introducing central contracts. I had a part in bringing them in but I think it was nonsense to say that England had a poor side because the standard of county cricket was poor. Don't denigrate your own profession. [Somerset captain] Graeme Smith doesn't and neither do the Australians who play here."

The background from which Anderson came is in itself unusual for a chief executive in the modern era. Atherton calls him "a former Hong Kong copper". He was, in fact, working for the Independent Commission Against Corruption and was a competent enough player to captain Hong Kong and, before that, the British Police, providing, as he put it, "cannon fodder" for Somerset sides wanting some early-season practice.

Anderson was a member of a touring party that Len Creed, a Somerset chairman, took to Antigua in 1973 and in one match he dismissed a young batsman called Vivian Richards - but not before Richards had displayed such promise that he was asked to join the club. Anderson followed 15 years later. "Vic Marks was captain at the time and told me he wanted me to be a good employer who would attract cricketers to play for Somerset. The club had gone through a difficult time off the field and I could sense no one was in charge. I have looked after players well, I think. I tried everything I could to persuade Mark Lathwell not to retire.

"One of my regrets is that the art of captaincy has gone out of the game. Somerset have struggled until now to find a leader on and off the field like Smith, who is an outstanding individual. He, Marks - a very gentle, thoughtful man with steel that you would never guess was there - and Peter Roebuck, an obdurate survivor who won't give in but who has a fragile side, are three who stand out from my time."

Anderson will continue to work for Somerset as a consultant on their ground redevelopment scheme at Taunton which, he believes, will not be under way until 2009.