Before Shane Warne's arrival, Australia spent a number of years selecting random spinners to fill up that slow bowling slot in the team. Some had promise but withered away while many got selected purely because of lack of other options. Peter Sleep falls somewhere in between these two categories. A leg spinner by designation, he got his maiden Test cap when Australia were pruned by the World Series that was in effect in 1979. After playing a couple of games, Sleep got sidelined and over the next few years, hardly featured in the side until the 1986-87 season. That was also the time when he recorded his only five-wicket haul in Tests, an effort that won an Ashes Test for the country.

That performance apart, Sleep barely set the ball rolling as far as his leg spin was concerned. His staggeringly low strike-rate and high bowling average further drive this point home. While his bowling lacked the penetration required for international cricket, he did compensate at times with his dogged batting efforts. He was a more than useful batsman lower down the order but a dip in his primary skill meant that Sleep was fading away gradually from the side. To be fair to Sleep, there were times when he looked in good touch in the tour games of a trip but wasn't picked for the main matches.

After the Pakistan series at home in 1990, Sleep was never picked again and consequently, retired. He continued to be a main figure in domestic cricket in Australia and also in England where he represented Lancashire. He was a long term captain in these associations and eventually took to coaching as well. Sleep's coaching career has been vast and he has been at the helm of many teams during his tenures. During his County stint at Lancashire, he also started a hotel named 'The Wickets' in county. It was quite popular and ran smoothly until the year 2009.

By Hariprasad Sadanandan