Peggy Antonio

Who was Peggy Antonio?

Peggy Antonio 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. 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 age of 17. 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.