John Victor Saunders (21 March 1876 – 21 December 1927) was an Australian

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er who played in 14 Test matches between 1902 and 1908. On his Test debut, he took five wickets in the second innings against England in Sydney. He went on to take 79 Test wickets. Jack Saunders was a medium-paced left-arm spin bowler. The sharp flick of the wrist he used in his delivery gave rise to doubts about its legality, and although he was never called for

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, these doubts may have prevented his selection for more than one tour of England. His best Test figures were 7 for 34, when he bowled unchanged to dismiss

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for 83 in the Second Test at Johannesburg in 1902-03. His best first-class figures were 8 for 106 (13 for 194 in the match) for Victoria against

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

a few months later. He had an outstanding season in England in 1902, taking 123 wickets at an average of 16.95, taking five or more wickets in an innings 10 times. After the 1909–10 Australian season Saunders moved to New Zealand, where worked as coach and groundsman to the Wellington Cricket Association.''The Oxford Companion to Australian Cricket'', Oxford, Melbourne, 1996, p. 461. He played

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for

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for four seasons, and represented

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in one match against the touring Australian team in 1913–14.

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* 1876 births 1927 deaths Australia Test cricketers Victoria cricketers Wellington cricketers Australian cricketers Pre-1930 New Zealand representative cricketers Cricketers who have taken five wickets on Test debut Cricketers from Melbourne {{Australia-cricket-bio-1870s-stub