Peggy Antonio

Infobox cricketer biography
playername = Peggy Antonio
female = true


country = Australia
living =
dayofbirth = 02
monthofbirth = 06
yearofbirth = 1917
placeofbirth = Melbourne
countryofbirth = Australia
dayofdeath = 11
monthofdeath = 01
yearofdeath = 2002
placeofdeath = Bundoora, Melbourne
countryofdeath = Australia
heightft =
heightinch =
heightm =
batting = Right-Handed
bowling = Right Arm Leg break googly
role = Bowler
international = true
testdebutdate = 28 December
testdebutyear = 1934
testdebutagainst = England women
testc

lasttestdate = 13 July
lasttestyear = 1937
lasttestagainst = England women
club1 = Victoria women
year1 = unknown
clubnumber1 =
club2 =
year2 =
clubnumber2 =
deliveries = balls
columns = 1
column1 = Tests
matches1 = 6
runs1 = 128
bat avg1 = 11.63
100s/50s1 = –/–
top score1 = 37
deliveries1 = 990
wickets1 = 31
bowl avg1 = 13.90
fivefor1 = 3
tenfor1 = 0
best bowling1 = 6/49
catches/stumpings1 = 15/–
date = 17 August
year = 2007
source = http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/53474.html Cricinfo.com

Peggy Antonio (2 June 1917 – 11 January 2002, Melbourne, Australia) was an Australian women's Test cricketer, known as the "Girl Grimmett".

Antonio was raised in Port Melbourne, Victoria, a working class suburb of Melbourne. Her father was a Chilean docker of French and Spanish descent who died when she was 15 months.cite book |last=Haigh |first=Gideon |authorlink=Gideon Haigh |coauthors= |title=Game for Anything: Writings on cricket |year=2004 |publisher=Black Inc. |location= Melbourne|isbn=1863953094] With the encouragement of her uncle she learnt her cricket from the boys in her neighbourhood streets. As a young girl during the Great Depression, she was lucky enough to find work at a shoe factory in the industrial suburb of Collingwood. The factory was home to a women's cricket team where Antonio came to the attention of Eddie Conlon, a club cricketer with an encyclopaedic knowledge of the game. With the assistance of Conlon, Antonio developed a rare mix of leg spin and off spin, including a top spinner and a wrong'un.

She came to the attention of the Australian Women's Cricket Council and was invited to play for Victoria against the travelling English team. Taking 10/48, including the star batswoman, Molly Hide, she was selected to represent Australia in the inaugural women's Test match at the Brisbane Exhibition Ground at the tender age of 17.cite web
url = http://www1.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1930S/1934-35/OTHERS+ICC/ENG-WOMEN_IN_AUS/ENG-WOMEN_AUS-WOMEN_WT1_28-31DEC1934.html
title = Test # 1:England Women in Australia, 1934/35, 1st Test
publisher = Cricinfo
accessdate = 2007-04-05] The first Australian to take a wicket in women's Test cricket, Antonio took twelve wickets in the three Test series and was considered suitable for a publicity date with the great Don Bradman.cite web
url = http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/53474.html
title = Peggy Antonio
work = Player profile
publisher = Cricinfo
accessdate = 2007-04-05]

Invited to tour England in 1937, the £75 passage was beyond the means of a shoe factory worker and her family. A campaign started and thanks mainly to the generosity of James McLeod, a businessman and sometime acquaintance of her late father, the necessary funds were raised to allow her to take her place in the squad. Antonio proved successful again on the tour taking 9/101 in Northampton and 8/65 at Blackpool.

The final Test of the series at The Oval would be Antonio's last. Tiring of the grind and no longer finding the game enjoyable, she retired from cricket at the age of 20. In 1943 she married Eddie Howard, an Englishman resident in Australia, and settled down into domestic life, raising a large family. She died in Melbourne in 2002.

References

Persondata
NAME= Antonio, Peggy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Peggy Howard
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Cricketer
DATE OF BIRTH=2 June 1917
PLACE OF BIRTH=Melbourne, Australia
DATE OF DEATH= 11 January 2002
PLACE OF DEATH=Melbourne, Australia