Peel was the first English bowler to take 100 Test wickets against Australia. At a time when international matches were relatively rare, his 20 Test matches were a considerable achievement, and it was unusual for a player to tour Australia as often as he did: he went there four times. His main rival as a spinner and for a place in the England team was Johnny Briggs; Peel bowled faster, which made him harder to hit. Archie MacLaren, who captained England from the late 1890s and was a team-mate and captain of Briggs, described Peel as "the cleverest bowler of my time". MacLaren stated that Peel thoroughly understood tactics and could spot weaknesses in a batsman's technique. He concluded: "I place Peel first on my list of great left-handed bowlers on account of his wonderful judgement, his diabolical cleverness and his great natural ability." When Rhodes took over the role of left-arm spin bowler in the Yorkshire team, there was some debate over who out of Peate, Peel and Rhodes was the best left-arm spinner to play for Yorkshire. Historians regard Peel as part of a long-lasting chain of successful Yorkshire left-arm spinners, preceded by Peate and succeeded by Rhodes.