Charlie Finlason

Charles Edward Finlason (19 February 1860 – 31 July 1917) played a single match of Test cricket for the South African national side, against England in March 1889.

Charlie Finlason

Personal information
Born	19 February 1860 Camberwell, Surrey, England
Died	31 July 1917 (aged 57) Surbiton, Surrey, England
Batting	Right-handed
Bowling	Right-arm off-break
International information
National side	South Africa
Only Test (cap 2)	12 March 1889 v England
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1890	Transvaal (now Gauteng)
1890–1891	Griqualand West (or Kimberley)
Career statistics
Competition Test FC 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 n/a 20.50 5 wickets in innings 0 0 10 wickets in match 0 0 Best bowling 0/7 4/37 Catches/stumpings 0/– 2/–
Source: CricketArchive, 27 December 2014

Finlason was born in Camberwell, London, and died in Surbiton, London. He played first-class cricket in South Africa for Griqualand West (also known as Kimberley at the time) and Transvaal between 1888 and 1891. In 1889, he played a single Test match for South Africa against England, scoring six runs across two innings and failing to take a wicket.^[1][2]

In April 1891, Finlason recorded his single first-class century, for Griqualand West against the Transvaal in the second season of the Currie Cup. The match, at the Wanderers ground in Johannesburg, was designated "timeless", and finished with a Griqualand West victory after six days of play spread over a week. Finlason scored 154 not out in Griqualand West's second innings. He featured in a 95-run tenth-wicket partnership with Alfred Cooper, who finished with 41 runs.^[3] As of December 2014, this remains a record for the last wicket for Griqualand West.^[4]

Later, Finlason described an expedition as a newspaperman to Salisbury, Rhodesia by ox-drawn cart in his 1893 book A Nobody in Mashonaland.

Other reading

• Finlayson [sic], C. E. (1893). A Nobody in Mashonaland. Unknown publisher. Reprinted in 1970 as Rhodesiana Reprint Library: First (Gold) Series, Volume 9 ISBN 0-86920-016-X (standard) and ISBN 0-86920-017-8 (de luxe).
• Frindall, Bill, ed. (1979). The Wisden Book of Test Cricket, Volume 1 1877–1977. London: MacDonald & Jane's. ISBN 978-0354085359.
• Bailey, Philip; Thorn, Philip; Wynne-Thomas, Peter (1993). Who's Who of Cricketers. London: Hamlyn. ISBN 978-0600577294. 2nd edition.
• Martin-Jenkins, Christopher (1996). World Cricketers: A Biographical Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0192100054.