Ian Peebles was born at Aberdeen in 1908 where he was discovered at 13 years of age by George Geary, after which he came south to play for Chiswick Park C.C. in London. Making his first-class debut at 19 years for the Gentlemen versus Players at the Oval in 1927 his first wicket was Andy Sandham. He later represented Middlesex from 1928 to 1948, playing 251 first-class matches, he took 923 wickets with a best performance of 8 for 24 and he scored 2,313 runs. He played only one Varsity match for Oxford University in 1930 taking 13 for 237 and he also represented Scotland in 1937. Playing 13 Tests for England between 1927/28 and 1931 he toured abroad twice to South Africa. He took 45 Test wickets with a best performance of 6 for 63 versus South Africa at Johannesburg in 1930/31. Captaining Middlesex in 1939 his career ended tragically following damage to his eye in a wartime air raid. He subsequently entered the wine trade and later became the Cricket Correspondent of The Times and wrote several cricket books. He died at Speen, Buckinghamshire in 1980.
