13 Facts About Ian Peebles

Ian Alexander Ross Peebles was a cricketer who played for Oxford University, Middlesex, Scotland and England.

Ian Peebles was born in Aberdeen and came south to London as a teenager to take up a post as secretary to the cricket school run by the former South African Test player Aubrey Faulkner.

Ian Peebles so impressed Faulkner and other observers, including Sir Pelham Warner, with his leg break and googly bowling that, when the amateurs were short of a team to play in the annual Gentlemen v Players match at The Oval, Peebles was invited to make up the numbers.

Ian Peebles took just one wicket in that game and scored only a few runs, and was not notably more successful in end-of-season festival matches at Scarborough and Folkestone.

In 1928, Ian Peebles played his first county matches for Middlesex and the following year, as a regular in the team, he took 120 wickets at less than 20 runs per wicket.

Ian Peebles was at Oxford for only one season, 1930, but took 70 wickets for the university, including 13 in the Varsity match against Cambridge.

Ian Peebles was picked as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1931.

Ian Peebles returned successfully to South Africa with the MCC, then played regularly against New Zealand in 1931.

Ian Peebles was picked for the final Test against Australia in 1934, but had to decline the invitation because of injury.

Across the 1930s, Ian Peebles was an enthusiastic member of amateur tours to far-flung places, but he played only intermittently for Middlesex until 1939, when he reappeared full-time to captain the side.

Ian Peebles lost an eye during an air raid in the Second World War, and was less effective in the matches he played from 1946 to 1948.

Ian Peebles worked for Ladbrokes in the 1930s and was later a director of the company until the 1960s.

Ian Peebles played golf at Harewood Downs Golf Club in Buckinghamshire.