Peter Lever

Aggressive in nature, Peter Lever was an effective fast medium bowler who represented England in the 1970s. The biggest example of intimidatory nature with the ball was the bouncer incident nearly killed New Zealand's debutant Ewen Chatfield who was batting at no.11 and got struck near the temple. Not sparing even the tailenders showed Lever's ruthless nature. A giant in the domestic circuit with close to 800 First-class wickets, he could have represented England earlier if not for the tremendous competition for spots in the fast bowling department. As a result, his Test debut came only when his age touched 30. Nevertheless, he played international cricket for five years, in both Tests and ODIs, finding more success in the shorter format. Apart from being an attacking bowler, Lever was also a useful batsman who could classify as a bowling all-rounder.

Written by Hariprasad Sadanandan