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You know who I like? that's right! Cec Pepper.
[jq]Cecil George Pepper (15 September 1916 - 22 March 1993) was an Australian first-class cricketer. An allrounder, he was the first to complete the double twice in the Central Lancashire League. With the bat he once hit 38 runs off an eight ball over. He fought in World War Two in the Middle East and New Guinea. After retiring he became an umpire in county cricket from 1964 until 1980. He remained in England and died in 1993 at Lancashire.
Career highlights included an innings he played for New South Wales at Brisbane in 1940-41 when he made 81 with all but 7 of them coming in boundaries. His best bowling figures of 6 for 33 came in 1949-50 when touring India with a Commonwealth side. He took a hat-trick in the match.
Pepper became embroiled in a row that is widely believed to have cost him Test selection. Teammates Keith Miller and Dick Whitington regarded him as one of the best all rounders in the world and a certainty for Australian Test selection. Pepper appealed for leg before wicket against Australian captain Don Bradman in a match against South Australia. The appeal was turned down and Pepper complained to the umpire, prompting Bradman, who was also a member of the Australian Board, to lodge a complaint about Pepper. Pepper was subsequently never selected for Australia. Cricket historian Gideon Haigh said that "[team manager Keith] Johnson was clearly upset by the affair, and also by the failure of the [national] selection panel [Bradman among them] ... to send Pepper, second only to Miller as a cricketer in the Services XI, to New Zealand". Johnson tried to intercede on Pepper's behalf to no avail, although the other board members claimed that no directive had been given to the selectors to exclude Pepper.[/jq]
