The first non-white cricketers to play for South Africa, Charlie Llewellyn was a skillful all-rounder who could bowl slow medium pace assorted with a lot of cutters and the odd one that spun off the pitch. He was an excellent bowler even on the flattest of pitches and this was due to his ability to be relentlessly accurate. Born in Pietermaritzburg, Charlie belonged to a mixed background as his father was from England while his mother was of Saint Helenian origin. A fantastic all-round show in 1899 against the touring Australian side in a practice game is what brought Charlie to the limelight and there was no looking back since then. He only represented South Africa in 15 Tests with fairly decent returns but the best of him came out in first-class cricket where he was an elephant of the biggest size with an aggregate of over 11000 runs and a staggering wickets tally of over 1000.

Apart from playing for Hampshire for a considerably long time, Charlie also was a part of the London county and of course, Natal. While his exploits with the ball were laudable, Charlie’s skills with the bat were equally efficient. Not a pretty batsman to watch but an entertainer nevertheless due to his immense power game that at times left the spectators gasping in admiration. Pay disputes and some disagreements with the selectors saw him quitting international cricket at a prematurely but FC cricket kept him going as he dominated against all sorts of opponents in the County circuit. Charlie was an exceptional fielder too who could position himself anywhere on the park although his best acts came at mid-off. A hazardous accident in 1960 saw him suffering a thigh breakage, rendering him immovable and eventually leading to death.

By Hariprasad Sadanandan