Charles Turner

Who was Charles Turner?

Charles Thomas Biass Turner was a bowler who is regarded as one of the finest ever produced by Australia. Among his accomplishments were:

taking 283 wickets in the English season of 1888 for 11.27 runs each. This tally was 69 wickets ahead of Ted Peate's 1882 record, and has been bettered only by Tom Richardson in 1895 and Tich Freeman in 1928 and 1933.

taking 314 wickets in all matches in 1888.

taking 106 wickets in twelve matches in the Australian season of 1887/88 - a record for any bowler in Australia

taking 17 wickets for 50 runs against An England Eleven at Hastings in 1888. Of these 17, 14 were bowled, two lbw and one stumped.

being the first Australian bowler to reach 100 wickets in Test matches.

his 12 for 87 against England in his record season of 1887/1888 is still the best bowling analysis for a Test at the SCG.

the only bowler to take 50 wickets in their first six Test matches.

Turner was born in Bathurst, New South Wales. His early adventures in first-class cricket were unsuccessful, but in 1886/87, when he moved from Bathurst to Sydney to become a banker, his skill developed to a remarkable degree with 70 first-class wickets at 7.68 runs each from just seven matches. In two games against Victoria he took eighteen wickets for 184 runs, but it was his excellence against Alfred Shaw's touring side that brought Turner acclaim in the English cricket community. In the first Test, after England were put in on a very sticky pitch, Turner took 6/15, and in the second his combined figures were nine for 93.