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Bobby Peel England (Eng)
Batting style	Left-handed batsman
Bowling type	Slow left-arm orthodox
	Tests	First-class
Matches	20	436
Runs scored	427	12,191
Batting average	14.72	19.44
100s/50s	0/3	7/48
Top score	83	210*
Balls bowled	5,216	88,721
Wickets	101	1,775
Bowling average	16.98	16.20
5 wickets in innings	5	123
10 wickets in match	1	33
Best bowling	7/31	9/22
Catches/stumpings	17/0	214/0
Test debut: 12 December, 1884 Last Test: 12 August, 1896 Source: [1]

Robert ("Bobby") Peel (February 12, 1857 in Leeds – August 12, 1941 in Leeds) was a Yorkshire and England cricketer: a left-arm spinner who ranks as one of the finest bowlers of the 1890s. 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 and accurate left-arm spin bowler with the ability to bowl a fast ball that obtained many wickets. He was consider good enough 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 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, including 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. 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 bowling on generally very hard and true Australian pitches in the tour of 1894/1895 had seemed to cement his place as a successful slow bowler. 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 series.

The summer of 1896 saw Peel, aided by the improvement in pitches that occurred during the 1890s, develop as a batsman and hit three centuries. The pitches did nullify his spin and his average at one point was twice his 1895 average, but he was effective when rain-affected pitches returned.

However, in 1897, during a disappointing season, 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 are stories of 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. Peel died on August 12, 1941.

External links

• Player Profile: Bobby Peel from Cricinfo
• Player Profile: Bobby Peel from CricketArchive