Sidney James Pegler (28 July 1888 – 10 September 1972) 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. He emerged following the decline of their googly bowlers

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and Schwarz in the early 1910s. Although Pegler only played a few first-class matches in South Africa between 1908 and 1910, he was chosen for South Africa's first Test tour of 1910/1911 and immediately established himself as a Test regular, although the extremely hard Australian wickets were as difficult for him as they were for the much-acclaimed "googly" trio of Vogler, Schwarz and

Aubrey Faulkner George Aubrey Faulkner (17 December 1881 – 10 September 1930) was a South African cricketer who played 25 Test matches for South Africa and fought in both the Second Boer War and World War I. In cricket, he was an all-rounder who was among ...

. Despite taking only seven wickets in the Test series, it was no surprise when Pegler was chosen for the 1912 "Triangular Tournament" tour. On this tour, Pegler was a resounding success, playing in all but three of the South Africans' thirty-seven first-class matches and in an extremely wet summer being the leading first-class wicket-taker with 189 (eleven more than leading English bowler

Colin Blythe Colin Blythe (30 May 1879 – 8 November 1917), also known as Charlie Blythe, was an English professional cricketer who played Test cricket for the England cricket team during the early part of the 20th century. Blythe was a Wisden Cricketer of ...

). He took twenty-nine wickets in the six Tests despite the fact that South Africa only once bowled through two full innings owing to their being outclassed against both England and Australia. Pegler also did fairly well as a slogging tail-end batsman, scoring for the whole tour 643 runs at an average of over fifteen with his best scores being 79 against South Wales at Swansea and 52 against Northamptonshire's strong attack. Pegler also set a record for the fastest first-class fifty during the 1910/1911 tour when he hit 50 in fourteen minutes against Tasmania. Against genuine bowling this has been bettered only by Jim Smith in 1938 and Khalid Mahmood in 2000/2001. Pegler's bowling was chiefly focused on a medium-paced leg-cutter which was not tossed high in the airPardon, Sydney H. (editor); John Wisden Cricketer's Almanac, Jubilee Edition (1913); Part II; p. 64; published by John Wisden & Co. but he had several variations including a break-back and a faster ball - both of which obtained many wickets during his successful 1912 campaign. It might have been expected that Pegler would become the mainstay of the South African bowling attack for years to come, since he was only twenty-four and seemed to have great potential. However, his appointment as a colonial District Commissioner in

Nyasaland Nyasaland () was a British protectorate located in Africa that was established in 1907 when the former British Central Africa Protectorate changed its name. Between 1953 and 1963, Nyasaland was part of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasala ...

around this time Sid Pegler
/ref> meant that Pegler was never able to return to South Africa after playing one match for Transvaal at the beginning of 1913. Consequently, his only Test cricket after 1912 was on the 1924 tour, for which he was not even an original selection but where he was nonetheless much more successful than such bowlers as Buster Nupen, who had acquired a remarkable reputation on matting pitches. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

he was awarded the DSO and was wounded three times, once in his bowling arm.

Louis Duffus Louis George Duffus (13 May 1904 in Melbourne, Australia – 24 July 1984 in Johannesburg, South Africa) was a South African cricketer who became the country's most respected writer on the game. Life and career Duffus was educated in Johannesbur ...

, "The South Africans", ''

The Cricketer ''The Cricketer'' is a monthly English cricket magazine providing writing and photography from international, county and club cricket. The magazine was founded in 1921 by Sir Pelham Warner, an ex-England captain turned cricket writer. Warner ...

'', Spring Annual 1951, pp. 5–9. After he retired from first-class cricket in 1930, Pegler continued working in the game's administration. He managed the 1951 touring team to England.

References

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pegler, Sid 1888 births 1972 deaths South Africa Test cricketers South African cricketers Gauteng cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers South African cricket administrators Companions of the Distinguished Service Order H. D. G. Leveson Gower's XI cricketers L. G. Robinson's XI cricketers