Bobby Peel

Bobby Peel

Bobby Peel in 1897
Personal information
Born	(1857-02-12)12 February 1857 Churwell, Yorkshire, England
Died	12 August 1941(1941-08-12) (aged 84) Morley, West Yorkshire, England
Batting style	Left-handed batsman
Bowling style	Slow left-arm orthodox
International information
National side	English
Test debut	12 December 1884 v Australia
Last Test	12 August 1896 v Australia
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1883–1897	Yorkshire
Career statistics
Competition 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
Source: Cricinfo, 8 January 2014

Robert "Bobby" Peel (12 February 1857 – 12 August 1941) was an English professional cricketer who played first-class cricket for Yorkshire between 1883 and 1897. Primarily a left-arm spin bowler, Peel was also an effective left-handed batsman who played in the middle order. Between 1884 and 1896, he was regularly selected to represent England, playing 20 Test matches in which he took 101 wickets. Over the course of his career, he scored 12,191 runs and took 1,775 wickets in first-class cricket. A match-winning bowler, particularly when conditions favoured his style, Peel generally opened the attack, an orthodox tactic for a spinner at the time, and was highly regarded by critics.

Peel began playing for Yorkshire in 1883 but, after a successful debut, was overshadowed in the team by Edmund Peate and often played only a minor role with the ball. Improvements in his batting and his excellence as a fielder kept him in the team, and when Peate was sacked for drunkenness in 1887, Peel became Yorkshire's main spinner. He had already played for England, touring Australia with two professional teams, although he did not play a Test in England until 1888. Over the following years he regularly took over 100 wickets in each season and often played in the prestigious Gentlemen v Players matches. He was generally Yorkshire's leading bowler—until the emergence of George Hirst, he generally received little support from other members of the attack—and often among their leading batsmen. His best season in county cricket came in 1896, when he recorded the double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets, and made his highest first-class score of 210. Among his notable feats in Tests, he bowled England to victory after they had followed on in Australia in 1894–95 and took six for 23 in his final Test. The first English cricketer to reach 100 wickets against Australia, in 1894–95 he also became the first player to fail to score in four successive Test innings.