The Controversial Cec Pepper and the Australian Services Cricket Team: The Test Career That Never Was.

The Australian Services cricket teams of both WWI and WWII played an important role in the immediate post-war period. A number of the players involved went on to forge successful Test cricket careers. This paper mentions the exploits of some of the players involved in these matches with particular focus on Cecil (Cec) Pepper. Cec Pepper represented the WWII Australian Services Team with distinction during the exhausting schedule of matches played in England, India and Australia from June 1945. However, in the match between the Australian Services Team and South Australia played at the Adelaide Oval over the Christmas–New Year period of 1945/1946, Pepper was involved in a controversial incident with the South Australian captain Donald Bradman and umpire Jack Scott. The incident and its subsequent ramifications were to have a huge impact on Pepper's cricket career. Pepper should have been in contention as a future Australian Test player. Instead, his career took another direction completely. This paper discusses Pepper's career and traces further links between the three Adelaide protagonists, Bradman, Scott and Pepper. A comparison is also made between Cec Pepper and other Australian spin bowlers of the era. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]