Bobby Peel
Robert ("Bobby") Peel (born February 12, 1857 in Leeds, died August 12, 1943 in Leeds) was a Yorkshire and England cricketer: a left-arm spinner who ranks as one of the finest bowlers of the 1890s. His record in Test matches, though flattered by the primitiveness of the pitches, is still remarkable. He was also a capable batsman, who once hit 210 not out (out of a record County Championship total of 887 against Warwickshire). However, he is well remembered for being the first player in Test cricket history to have been dismissed four times in succession without scoring (in 1894/1895).
Peel emerged in first-class cricket for Yorkshire in 1882 and quickly established himself as a skillful left-arm spin bowler with extraordinary accuracy of pitch and the ability to bowl a fast ball that obtained many wickets. His ability was considered so highly by 1884 that, even though he was relatively inexperienced, Alfred Shaw took him to Australia in 1884/1885, where he appeared in all three Tests. He took 21 wickets, but played disappointingly in the dry summer of 1885. Despite recovering his form, Peel did not play in the three 1886 Tests, but in 1887/1888 he played superbly at the Sydney Cricket Ground, taking nine wickets for 58 runs and being England's match-winner.
In the extremely wet summer of 1888, Peel took 100 wickets for the first time and, on a series of sticky wickets, took 24 wickets for less than eight runs each in three Tests against Australia, including 11 for 68 in the deciding match at Old Trafford. He accomplished many bowling feats that year, the most remarkable of which was 8 for 12 and 6 for 21 against Nottinghamshire. This saw Peel named among the first batch of Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1889 (it was actually titled Six Great Bowlers Of The Year).
In the following years, Peel took over 100 wickets every year, except in 1891 when he took only 99 (a disappointing record, given the exceptionally helpful pitches of the time and the wetness of that summer). Peel equalled his 1888 haul of 171 wickets in 1890, and came close to a thousand runs in 1889 and 1891, scoring in the former year 158 against Middlesex. However, owing to competition from bowlers such as Johnny Briggs, Peel did not make consistent appearances in the England Test team playing in only one out of three Tests in both 1890 and 1893. Whilst his batting declined somewhat for a few seasons between 1892 and 1895, Peel headed the first-class bowling averages in 1893 and took a career-best 180 wickets in 1895, when after a slow start on much-improved wickets in very dry weather, his spin and guile made him almost unplayable when the weather broke up in July. His 15 for 50 against Somerset and 10 for 59 against Gloucestershire were both match-winning performances.
Meanwhile, Peel's excellent bowling on generally very hard and true Australian pitches in the tour of 1894/1895 had seemed to cement his place as the best slow bowler in the world. Though this tour is best remembered for his then-record four successive ducks, Peel did bat well on a couple of other occasions during a close and at times gruelling series.
The summer of 1896 saw Peel, aided by the remarkably rapid improvement in pitches that occurred during the 1890s, develop so much as a batsman that he hit three centuries during one of England's driest Mays on record. The excellent pitches did nullify his spin and his average at one point was twice his 1895 average, but he was as effective as ever when rain-affected pitches returned and, chosen because of a soft wicket for the last Test, he was so unplayable that Australia lost their first nine wickets for 25 runs.
However, in 1897, during a disappointing season by his own standards, Peel's behaviour saw him disciplined by the Yorkshire club's committee over disagreements concerning pay and other occasions when he had to be helped from the pitch. There is a famous story about him bowling in the wrong direction and even urinating on the pitch. These issues were never reconciled, and Peel, still bowling and batting well, never played county cricket again. In fact, apart from one match for an England XI in 1899, he never played first-class cricket again. Unlike the more sober Johnny Briggs, his main competitor for an England place, he lived a long life. Peel died on August 12, 1941.
