101 Test wickets at 16.98 makes Bobby Peel one of the best left-arm spinners ever. Peate, Peel, Rhodes, Verity ... form an astonishing chain of high class left-armers in the history of Yorkshire cricket.
And then there was his link to the bathroom.
At Sydney in 1894, England followed on at Sydney and Australia were 113 for 2 chasing 177 to win in the fourth innings. Overnight rain rendered the pitch dangerous. But captain Drewy Stoddard found Peel had drowned his sorrows too deep in drink to be of any service. Promptly, the skipper pushed his trump card under the shower.
Restored to senses, Peel saw the pitch and said: "Give me the ball, Mr Stoddart, and I'll get t'boogers out before loonch!"
And he did just that. The first time a side that followed on had ended up winning the Test match.
But his days in the sun came to an end because once he did not quite use the bathroom. An inebriated Peel urinated on the pitch during a match against Lancashire and was banned from playing for Yorkshire by a fuming Lord Hawke.
Bobby Peel was born on February 12, 1857.
Text: Arunabha Sengupta
Illustration: Maha