Peter McIntyre

Peter McIntyre was a legspinner whose talents saw him represent Victoria, South Australia and Australia. His opening taste of first-class cricket came in 1988-89 at Melbourne, where the effect of a string of consistent club performances helped to elevate him into the Victorian state team. Around a stint at the Australian Cricket Academy in 1991, McIntyre was a member of the state squad for a period of four years thereafter but was unable to ever cement a truly permanent berth. Shane Warne's emergence ultimately spelt his demise in his native state and encouraged him to relocate to South Australia to court further opportunities. From his uncomplicated action and his tendency to rip the ball away from right handers, the move proved an almost immediate success. He enjoyed what was then his best ever first-class season in 1992-93 and, within another two years, had been awarded (in the form of selection against England in the Fourth Test of the 1994-95 series) a maiden Test cap. Another appearance at the elite level came in the one-off Test in India in 1996-97. He nevertheless continued to play second fiddle to Warne throughout that period and struggled to match his 1992-93 returns again. Allied to the ongoing success of Warne, the rise of another legspinner in Stuart MacGill, and increasing soreness in his right shoulder (which led to surgery during the 1998-99 season), conspired to deprive McIntyre of the chance to add to his international record. His task was also made more difficult on account of the fact that the majority of his first-class bowling was undertaken on a pair of grounds that were generally depicted as being the least suited to spin bowling in Australia.
John Polack (April 2004)