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

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

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 throwing, 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

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

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 States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

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

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

for

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

for four seasons, and represented

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

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