Quick Facts
Biography
Charles Edward "Charlie" 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.
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.
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. As of December 2014, this remains a record for the last wicket for Griqualand West.
Later, Finlason described an expedition as newspaperman to Salisbury, Rhodesia (as that city and country were then called) by ox-drawn cart, with near-disastrous but very entertaining results, 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.