Charlie Finlason

Charlie Finlason

Personal information
Batting style	Right-hand bat
Bowling style	Right-arm fast
International information
National side	South African
Career statistics
Competition	Tests	First-class
Matches	1	5
Runs scored	6	213
Batting average	3.00	26.62
100s/50s	0 / 0	1 / 0
Top score	6	154*
Balls bowled	12	694
Wickets	0	14
Bowling average	-	20.50
5 wickets in innings	0	0
10 wickets in match	0	0
Best bowling	-	4 / 37
Catches/stumpings	0 / 0	2 / 0
Source: CricketArchive,

Charles Edward Finlason - Sometimes dubbed the father of Kimberley cricket, Charlie Finlason was born in Camberwell, London on February 19, 1860 and died in Surbiton, Surrey on July 31, 1917, aged 57. He was an author and journalist by trade and emigrated to Kimberley in the Northern Cape province of South Africa when he was a young man. Later, in the early 1890’s, he followed the relatively new trail to Rhodesia (by ox-drawn cart no less!) with near disastrous yet entertaining consequences that he wrote about as he went. Affectionately known as “Fin”, he was a delightfully humorous character but a complete novice when it came to trekking. Being unable to read a compass sufficiently and oblivious to the dangers that he put himself in, he was fortunate to survive the trip without being eaten or trampled underfoot by wild game; indeed, even to get to his destination, Salisbury, without getting lost was an achievement!

As a cricketer, he liked to score runs quickly, often losing his wicket early as a result, and he was a fast bowler that later learned the science of break-bowling. He played for Kimberley Pirates Cricket Club (not first-class) but his first match of any real significance was South Africa’s inaugural Test played against Major Robert Gardner Warton’s touring England side at St. George’s Park, Port Elizabeth in March 1889. Under the captaincy of C.A. Smith, England won the match by eight wickets and Finlason’s contribution for South Africa was just six runs from both innings and bowling figures of 0 wickets for 7 runs. Interestingly, 1888/89 was the first season of serious cricket in South Africa with matches played on level terms becoming the norm. Indeed, this Test match was the very first first-class match in the country with the result that the entire South African team that day made their combined first-class and Test debuts. When off the field of play during the match, Finlason put his journalistic background to use but reportedly upset the visitors with his disparaging comments about them.

Over the next two seasons, 1889/90 and 1890/91, Finlason played four further first-class matches for Transvaal, Griqualand West and Kimberley. Whilst moderately successful with the ball, he was generally ineffectual with the bat although he recorded one score of 154 not out, his only century, for Kimberley against Transvaal in a Currie Cup match played at Johannesburg in April 1891. This “timeless” match played over seven days proved to be Finlason’s last first-class match and his efforts helped Kimberley to their only Currie Cup domestic title. In 1892, he played three matches at Johannesburg against W.W. Read’s touring side, none of them first-class, but was not selected for the sole Test of the visit, played at Newlands, Cape Town. His death in 1917 went unrecorded at the time and therefore no obituary appeared within the pages of Wisden for him. He was a one-time editor of the Johannesburg Star newspaper.

References

1. World Cricketers - A Biographical Dictionary by Christopher Martin-Jenkins published by Oxford University Press (1996)
2. The Wisden Book of Test Cricket, Volume 1 (1877-1977) compiled and edited by Bill Frindall published by Headline Book Publishing (1995x)
3. Who's Who of Cricketers by Philip Bailey, Philip Thorn & Peter Wynne-Thomas published by Hamlyn (1993)
4. www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players
5. Rhodesiana - Gold Series Vol. 9 - "A Nobody in Mashonaland" by C.E. Finlayson. Originally published in 1893 (publisher unknown), reprinted in 1970 (publisher unknown)

Persondata
Name	Finlason, Charlie
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1860
Place of birth
Date of death	1917
Place of death