Robert Anthony Gleeson (10 December 1872 – 27 September 1919) was a South African

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 str ...

er who played one

Test match Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

in 1896. A useful

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the cricket ball, ball with a cricket bat, bat to score runs (cricket), runs and prevent the dismissal (cricket), loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since Septembe ...

and a medium-pace bowler, Robert Gleeson's first-class career spanned the years 1894 to 1904, interrupted by a break of six years between 1897 and 1903. Playing for Eastern Province, he was more effective in the first half of his career, hitting up scores of, amongst others, 67 against

Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name Transvaal. * South African Republic (1856–1902; af, ...

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

in March 1894 and 71 against

Natal NATAL or Natal may refer to: Places * Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil * Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa ** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843) ** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ( ...

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Dem ...

in March 1897. He also recorded his best bowling figures during this period, 4 for 9 against

Griqualand West Griqualand West is an area of central South Africa with an area of 40,000 km2 that now forms part of the Northern Cape Province. It was inhabited by the Griqua people – a semi-nomadic, Afrikaans-speaking nation of mixed-race origin, wh ...

at Cape Town in March 1894. When

Lord Hawke Martin Bladen Hawke, 7th Baron Hawke (16 August 1860 – 10 October 1938), generally known as Lord Hawke, was an English amateur cricketer active from 1881 to 1911 who played for Yorkshire and England. He was born in Willingham by Stow, near G ...

brought an

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

side to South Africa in 1895–96, Gleeson was selected for the First

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

, played at St George's Park, Port Elizabeth. Scoring just 3 in South Africa's first innings and 1 not out in their second, as well as holding two catches, he failed to impress enough to secure a place for the other two matches in the series. Gleeson, who worked as a wool buyer, married a widow, Florence Hall, in Port Elizabeth in April 1919. He died in September that year, aged 46.

References

# ''World Cricketers - A Biographical Dictionary'' by Christopher Martin-Jenkins published by Oxford University Press (1996) # ''The Wisden Book of Test Cricket, Volume 1 (1877-1977)'' compiled and edited by Bill Frindall published by Headline Book Publishing (1995) # ''Who's Who of Cricketers'' by Philip Bailey, Philip Thorn & Peter Wynne-Thomas published by Hamlyn (1993)

External links

* 1872 births 1919 deaths South Africa Test cricketers South African cricketers Eastern Province cricketers Cricketers from Gqeberha {{SouthAfrica-cricket-bio-1870s-stub