Peter Sleep

Peter Raymond Sleep (born 4 May 1957) is a former Australian cricketer who played 14 Test matches for Australia between 1979 and 1990.

Peter Sleep
Personal information
Full namePeter Raymond Sleep
Born (1957-05-04) 4 May 1957
Penola, South Australia
BattingRight-handed
BowlingRight-arm legspin, googly
RoleAll-rounder
International information
National side
Test debut (cap 303)10 March 1979 v Pakistan
Last Test12 June 1990 v Pakistan
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1976/77–1992/1993South Australia
Career statistics
Competition Test FC LA
Matches 14 175 33
Runs scored 483 8,201 956
Batting average 24.15 34.89 38.24
100s/50s 0/3 15/40 1/4
Top score 90 182 109
Balls bowled 2,982 28,063 168
Wickets 31 363 4
Bowling average 45.06 39.39 44.25
5 wickets in innings 1 9 0
10 wickets in match 0 0 0
Best bowling 5/72 8/133 2/58
Catches/stumpings 4/– 104/1 12/–
Source: CricketArchive, 5 October 2013

Nicknamed "Sounda", Sleep made his national debut during the World Series Cricket period, and although his performances were not high, Sleep publicly reported that he had turned down a $15,000/year offer to play for World Series Cricket.[1]

He was a leg spinner who was in and out of the team, rarely playing two games in succession, though after taking ten wickets in the 1986–87 Ashes he was retained for the next four Tests after the series before falling out of favour again.

The 1986–87 series which included his best bowling figures in a Test innings, five for 72 in the second innings as England failed to chase 320 for the win.

However, Sleep was part of an Australian generation of spinners with bowling averages above 40 (for comparison, the first choice leg spinners in 2006, Shane Warne and Stuart MacGill, both averaged below 30 with the ball), also including Tom Hogan, Murray Bennett and Tony Mann, and the cricket website Cricinfo summed up his career as a "relatively anodyne slow bowler".[2] Sleep himself describes his test career as "mediocre".[3]

Career

Peter Sleep made his first class debut in 1976–77 while still a teenager. In only his second game he took part in a 159 run partnership with David Hookes against Queensland.[4]

In 1977–78 he scored 363 runs at an average of 40.

In 1978–79 a spell of 6–94 and innings of 91 against NSW saw him in the frame for test selection.[5] He followed this up with 5–24 in 13 overs against Queensland.[6]

By this stage Sleep had received an offer to play World Series Cricket which he turned down.[7] That summer he had scored almost 600 runs at an average of more than 35 and taken 42 wickets at 23 runs each in the Shield. He was duly selected in the Australian side the first test against Pakistan.

Test Debut

Australia had just lost 5–1 to England. The selectors decided to drop Peter Toohey, Bruce Yardley and Phil Carlson and replace them with Dav Whatmore, Trevor Laughlin and Sleep.[7] (Later on Laughlin had to withdraw and was replaced with Wayne Clark.)

For the test match, strong bowling from Rodney Hogg and Alan Hurst put Australia in a strong position. However their batsmen collapsed form 3–305 to all out for 310, taking Pakistan to victory. Sleep took 1–16 and 1–62 and scored 10 and 0.[8][9] The Australian selectors responded to the match by mass changes – something they did throughout the summer: Graeme Wood, Wayne Clark, Jim Higgs and Peter Sleep were dropped for Rick Darling, Trevor Laughlin, Bruce Yardley and Geoff Dymock.[10]

Sleep was voted the Sheffield Shield player of the year.[11] He ended the summer having scored 657 runs at 32 and taken 47 wickets at 27. (He would never take so many first class wickets in a season again.)

1979 Tour of India

Sleep was picked on the 1979 tour to India. He was one of three spinners in the squad, the others being Jim Higgs and Bruce Yardley.[12] This meant he had to break a contract with the Lancashire League, and Sleep was fined.[13]

Sleep began the Indian tour slowly but took five wickets against South Zone.[14] According to the Canberra Times "three of them [the wickets] were from loose deliveries which a batsman of Gavaskar's class would put away. He does have the happy knack of taking wickets with bad balls, but there are doubts about his ability to bowl tightly enough against batsmen who were brought up playing spin bowling."[15]

He later took 5–71 and made a fifty against Central Zone, which put him in the frame for the Australian team for the third test.[16][17] He did not achieve this but was selected in the team for the 4th test, where he took no wickets but scored 64 in Australia's second innings, helping Australia draw. Sleep took part in two crucial partnerships: 76 with Dav Whatmore and 51 with Geoff Dymock.[18][19] "He will never hit a better 64 in his life" said contemporary reports.[20]

Bruce Yardley's return from illness saw Sleep relegated to 12th man for the fifth test.[21] He was next used in the sixth test, taking no wickets and making four runs, though he did suffer stomach cramps throughout the game.[22][23]

Test Wilderness

On his return to Australia, Sleep was unable to force himself back into the test side, the selectors preferring Ray Bright, Jim Higgs and Bruce Yardley as spinner. He was overlooked for the 1981 tour of England, for instance, despite a summer where he scored 663 runs at 41 and took 22 wickets at 34.

However Sleep was an important part of South Australia's Sheffield Shield winning team in 1981–82.

1982 Tour to Pakistan

Sleep's consistent performances at first class level saw him selected on Australia's 1982 tour of Pakistan.[24] An illness to Bruce Yardley saw him picked to play in the second test, where he took 1–158 and scored 30 runs over two innings.[25][26] He was replaced in the third test by Terry Alderman.[27]

Sleep had a strong 1985–86 season, making 793 runs at 44.

1986–87 Test Recall

Sleep next played for Australia in the 1986–87 Ashes. He was recalled for the second test side, playing 12th man.[28]

He made the third test team, taking 4–132 in England's first innings.[29] In the 4th test he took 1–61 and made 16 runs.[30] However he was kept on for the fifth test, where Sleep's 5–72 in the second innings helped bowl Australia to victory.[31]

1987–88 Summer

During the 1987–88 summer Sleep played the first test against New Zealand. He took no wickets but his first innings knock of 39 was Australia's second highest score and help with a rare Australian victory.[32][33]

In the second test he took 1–109 and 3–61 plus a score of 62 with the bat.[34] For the third test Sleep top scored in Australia's first innings with 90 but only took 0–31 and 3–107 with the ball; his second innings of 20 helped Australia escape with a draw.[35] For the Bicentennial test he took 2–114 and made 41 in Australia's first innings, the second highest score.[36]

1988: Tour of Pakistan

Sleep did not play for Australia again until the 1988 tour of Pakistan. He took five wickets in a tour match against the BCCP XI[37] but was overlooked in favour of Tim May for the first test.[38]

He was picked in the second test and took two wickets in the first innings.[39]

1989–90 Summer vs Sri Lanka and Pakistan

His next test was in 1989–90 against Sri Lanka where Sleep made an important contribution to an Australian victory, top scoring in Australia's first innings with 47 and taking five wickets.[39] For Sleep's last test, against Pakistan, he took two wickets and made 20 runs in all.[40]

Post-Test career

Sleep was also a regular league professional in England and towards the end of his career was captain of Lancashire 2nd XI.

In 1991 he broke the Lancashire league batting record, held for 40 years by Everton Weekes with 1,621 runs. In 1995 he helped Rishton to win the league for the first time since the 1950s. He captained and coached the Lancashire 2nd XI to a championship where he worked with a young Andrew Flintoff.[3]

South Australia awarded Sleep a testimonial year in 1991/92, only the second time in South Australian cricket a player had been awarded a testimonial year (the first was David Hookes in 1990/91).[41]

In more recent years, Sleep was captain-coach of Yahl Cricket Club in the Mount Gambier District Cricket Association and has recently transferred to Tea Tree Gully Cricket Club in the South Australian Grade Cricket League.

He was the proprietor of a hotel named "The Wickets" in Rishton, Lancashire until 2009.

Sleep has coached for a number of years. In 2014 the website for the Darren Lehmann Cricket Academy said he had been coaching batting and bowling there for four years.[42]

References
  1. Australian Cricket, "People...", March 1979, p. 5.
  2. "Another Wasim hat-trick". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
  3. "The Saturday Interview with Peter Sleep (8 Aug 1998)" The Lancashire Evening Telegraph at Cricinfo accessed 20 Nov 2014
  4. "Hookes humbles Qld". The Canberra Times. 12 February 1977. p. 48. Retrieved 11 December 2014 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. "NSW caught napping by Sleep". The Canberra Times. 20 February 1979. p. 16. Retrieved 11 December 2014 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. "SOUTH AUSTRALIA v QUEENSLAND Peter Sleep sparks debacle". The Canberra Times. 25 February 1979. p. 8 Section: SPORT. Retrieved 11 December 2014 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. "SPORTS SECTION". The Canberra Times. 6 March 1979. p. 1 Section: SPORTS SECTION. Retrieved 11 December 2014 – via National Library of Australia.
  9. "Sarfraz Nawaz, 9–86, turns Test". The Canberra Times. 16 March 1979. p. 35. Retrieved 11 December 2014 – via National Library of Australia.
  10. "Four dropped from Australia's team". The Canberra Times. 17 March 1979. p. 41. Retrieved 11 December 2014 – via National Library of Australia.
  11. "$1,000 umpires' award to Sleep". The Canberra Times. 12 March 1979. p. 21. Retrieved 11 December 2014 – via National Library of Australia.
  12. "Wood back for tour of India". The Canberra Times. 19 July 1979. p. 30. Retrieved 11 December 2014 – via National Library of Australia.
  13. "CRICKET WILLIS AND BOTHAM HIT BACK". The Canberra Times. 2 September 1979. p. 22. Retrieved 11 December 2014 – via National Library of Australia.
  15. "OVERSEAS SPORT CRICKET Test worry". The Canberra Times. 10 September 1979. p. 14. Retrieved 11 December 2014 – via National Library of Australia.
  16. "CRICKET Australians lead Central Zone". The Canberra Times. 29 September 1979. p. 38. Retrieved 11 December 2014 – via National Library of Australia.
  17. Australia vs Central Zone 1979
  19. "CRICKET Australia 413, forces Test to be drawn". The Canberra Times. 19 October 1979. p. 22. Retrieved 11 December 2014 – via National Library of Australia.
  20. "CRICKET Team effort by Australia highlight of Test draw". The Canberra Times. 20 October 1979. p. 37. Retrieved 11 December 2014 – via National Library of Australia.
  21. "CRICKET Yardley fit to play in Test". The Canberra Times. 26 October 1979. p. 22. Retrieved 11 December 2014 – via National Library of Australia.
  22. "CRICKET Indians pile on runs in Test". The Canberra Times. 4 November 1979. p. 30. Retrieved 11 December 2014 – via National Library of Australia.
  24. "Kim Hughes to lead Pakistan-tour team". The Canberra Times. 26 March 1982. p. 22. Retrieved 11 December 2014 – via National Library of Australia.
  26. "CRICKET Yardley ill, Sleep may be named". The Canberra Times. 30 September 1982. p. 28. Retrieved 11 December 2014 – via National Library of Australia.
  27. "CRICKET Test recall for Terry Alderman". The Canberra Times. 14 October 1982. p. 28. Retrieved 11 December 2014 – via National Library of Australia.
  28. "'Unlucky' Hughes dropped Test selectors recall Sleep". The Canberra Times. 25 November 1986. p. 24. Retrieved 11 December 2014 – via National Library of Australia.
  33. "Border: More work yet". The Canberra Times. 8 December 1987. p. 22. Retrieved 11 December 2014 – via National Library of Australia.
  38. "Pakistan fights back in 1st Test". The Canberra Times. 16 September 1988. p. 24. Retrieved 11 December 2014 – via National Library of Australia.
  41. Grose, J. (1990) Hookesy – David Hookes Testimonial Year, South Australian Cricket Association: Adelaide.
  42. "Coaching Staff" at Darren Lehman Cricket Academy Archived 29 November 2014 at the Wayback Machine accessed 20 Nov 2014
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