Robert Anthony Gleeson - A useful batsman and a medium pace bowler, Robert Gleeson was born in Port Elizabeth, Cape Province

Cape Province

The Province of the Cape of Good Hope was a province in the Union of South Africa and subsequently the Republic of South Africa...

, on December 6, 1873 and died in the same city on September 27, 1919, aged 45. His first-class

First-class cricket

First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...

 career spanned the years 1894 to 1904 but in truth it was interrupted by a break of six years between 1897 and 1903. Playing for Eastern Province

Eastern Province cricket team

Eastern Province cricket team is the team representing the Eastern Province in domestic first-class cricket in South Africa.-Honours:* Currie Cup - 1988–89, 1991–92; shared - 1989–90* Standard Bank Cup - 1989–90, 1991–92...

, he was more effective in the first half of his career, hitting up scores of, amongst others, 67 against Transvaal

Transvaal cricket team

Gauteng cricket team is the first-class cricket team of the province of Gauteng in South Africa....

 at Cape Town

Cape Town

Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...

 in March 1894 and 71 against Natal at Johannesburg

Johannesburg

Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...

 in March 1897. He also recorded his best bowling figures during this period, 4 wickets for 9 runs against Griqualand West

Griqualand West cricket team

The Griqualand West cricket team is the first-class cricket team that represents the province of Griqualand West in South Africa. For the purposes of the SuperSport Series, Griqualand West has merged with Free State to form the Eagles from October 2004....

 at Cape Town in March 1894. When Lord Hawke brought an England

Marylebone Cricket Club

Marylebone Cricket Club is a cricket club in London founded in 1787. Its influence and longevity now witness it as a private members' club dedicated to the development of cricket. It owns, and is based at, Lord's Cricket Ground in St John's Wood, London NW8. MCC was formerly the governing body of...

 side to South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

 in 1895/96

History of cricket in South Africa to 1918

This article describes the history of South African cricket from its known beginnings until the end of the First World War in 1918.First-class cricket was introduced to South Africa in the 1888-89 season with the arrival of the first English touring team and the presentation by Sir Donald Currie of...

, Gleeson was selected for the 1st Test

Test cricket

Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...

, played at St. George's Park

Sahara Oval St George's

St George’s Park Cricket Ground is a cricket ground in St George's Park, Port Elizabeth, South Africa. It is the home of the Port Elizabeth Cricket Club, one of the oldest cricket clubs in South Africa, and the Eastern Province Club...

, Port Elizabeth. Scoring just 3 in South Africa’s first innings

Innings

An inning, or innings, is a fixed-length segment of a game in any of a variety of sports – most notably cricket and baseball during which one team attempts to score while the other team attempts to prevent the first from scoring. In cricket, the term innings is both singular and plural and is...

 and 1 not out in their second, as well as holding two catches, he failed to impress enough to secure a place for the other two matches in the series. His relatively early death in 1919 went unrecorded at the time and no obituary appeared within Wisden for him.