Peter Sleep

Sleep's breakthrough season came in the summer of 1978-79, when Australian was being toured by England and Pakistan.

Sleep was not selected for any tests against England, which Australia lost 5-1; the preferred choices were Bruce Yardley and Jim Higgs. In a SA vs NSW game, Sleep took 6–94 and scored 91 which 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]

By the end of the summer Sleep had scored almost 600 runs at an average of more than 35 and taken 42 wickets at 23 runs each in the Shield. Australia had lost 5–1 to England and the selectors decided to make changes to the side for the first of what would be two tests against Pakistan. Batsman Peter Toohey, spinner Bruce Yardley and all-rounder Phil Carlson were replaced with batsman Dav Whatmore, a medium pace all rounder Trevor Laughlin and Sleep.[7] (Later on Laughlin had to withdraw and was replaced with Wayne Clark.)

Strong bowling from Rodney Hogg and Alan Hurst put Australia in a strong position to win the game. However chasing in the second innings, Australia's batsmen collapsed from 3–305 to be 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 this loss by making mass changes to the side for the next test match – something they had done 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.)

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 Sleep had to break a contract he had signed 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 selection in 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]

On his return to Australia, Sleep was unable to force himself back into the test side at home or in the tour of Pakistan, the selectors preferring to select Ray Bright, Graeme Beard and Jim Higgs. In 1979-80 he made 514 first class runs at 34.26 and took 19 wickets at 36.78.

In 1980 he scored 663 runs at 41 and took 22 wickets at 34, but was overlooked for the 1981 Ashes in favour of Bright and Beard.

In 1981-82 Sleep scored 438 first class runs at 29.20 and took 26 wickets at 33.76, being an important part of South Australia's Sheffield Shield winning team.

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 Sleep 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] He took one first class wicket on tor with an average of 246.00.

Sleep next played for Australia in the 1986–87 Ashes. Greg Matthews' form began to slide and Sleep was recalled for the second test side, but was relegated to 12th man.[30]

Sleep played in the third test team, taking 4–132 in England's first innings.[31] In the 4th test he took 1–61 and made 16 runs.[32] However he was kept on for the fifth test, where his 5–72 in the second innings helped bowl Australia to victory.[33]

Sleeps first class figures that summer were 408 runs at 24.00 and 30 wickets at 32.03. He missed out on selection in Australia's World Cup Squad in favour of Peter Taylor and Tim May.[34]

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 helped them to a rare victory.[35][36]

In the second test he took 1–109 and 3–61 plus a score of 62 with the bat.[37] 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.[38] "I think I have turned the corner as an all rounder," said Sleep after his 90.[39]

For the Bicentennial test he took 2–114 and made 41 in Australia's first innings, the second highest score.[40]

Sleep made 775 runs that summer at 40.78 and took 32 wickets at 46.21. He kept his place in the Australian side on the 1988 tour of Pakistan.

Sleep took five wickets in a tour match against the BCCP XI[41] but was overlooked in favour of Tim May for the first test.[42]

He was picked in the second test and took two wickets in the first innings.[43]

Sleep was not selected in the Australian side over the 1988-89 summer as the selectors went for Trevor Hohns and Tim May. They were the spinners chosen on the 1989 tour of England. In 1988/89 Sleep made 587 runs at 41.92 and took 14 first class wickets at 63.92.

Sleep's next test was in 1989–90 against Sri Lanka where he made an important contribution to an Australian victory, top scoring in Australia's first innings with 47 and taking five wickets.[43] For Sleep's last test, against Pakistan, he took two wickets and made 20 runs in all.[44]

That summer he made 376 runs at 26.85 and took 22 wickets at 47.95.