Charles Mills (South African cricketer)

Charles Henry Mills (26 November 1867 in Peckham, England – 26 July 1948 in Southwark, England) was a cricketer who played in one Test for South Africa in 1892.[1]

For the cricketer born 1816, see Charles Mills (English cricketer).

Charles Mills
Personal information
Full nameCharles Henry Mills
BattingRight-handed
BowlingRight-arm medium
International information
National side
Career statistics
Competition Tests First-class
Matches 1 8
Runs scored 25 160
Batting average 12.50 12.30
100s/50s 0/0 0/0
Top score 21 31
Balls bowled 140 1178
Wickets 2 29
Bowling average 41.50 15.55
5 wickets in innings 0 3
10 wickets in match 0 0
Best bowling 2/83 5/36
Catches/stumpings 2/- 11/-

Life and career

Born in London, Charles Mills was educated at Dulwich College in London. After leaving school he briefly studied art before deciding to become a professional cricketer.[2] A medium-pace bowler and a steady batsman, he played for Surrey from 1885 to 1896, mostly for the club's secondary teams, but including two first-class matches in 1888.[3]

With his Surrey colleague Bill Brockwell he went to South Africa for the 1889–90 season in the hope of finding a coaching position, which they both did in Kimberley.[2] In Mills's first match for the Kimberley Club he scored 297, which was at the time a record score in South Africa.[2] He played a first-class match for Kimberley later that season, when Brockwell took 10 wickets in an innings victory over Natal.[4]

In 1890-91 Mills took up a coaching position in Cape Town, where he stayed for four years, playing in the Western Province team that won the Currie Cup in 1893–94.[5] In March 1892 he played for South Africa in the Test against England, scoring 4 and 21 in a match in which the highest score by a South African batsman was 24.[6] He toured England with the South African team in 1894, in which no first-class matches were played, scoring 452 runs at an average of 14.58, and taking 28 wickets at 23.71.[7]

He later coached in Philadelphia and Scotland and at the English public schools Haileybury, Bradfield and Mill Hill.[2] He umpired Minor Counties matches, mostly involving Norfolk, from 1904 to 1906.[8]

References
  1. "Charles Mills". cricketarchive.com. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
  2. W. A. Bettesworth, "Chats on the Cricket Field: C. Mills", Cricket, 1 June 1905, pp. 161-62.
  3. "Miscellaneous matches played by Charles Mills". CricketArchive. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  4. "Kimberley v Natal 1889-90". CricketArchive. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  5. "Western Province v Natal 1893-94". CricketArchive. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  6. "Only Test, England tour of South Africa at Cape Town, Mar 19-22 1892". Cricinfo. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  7. Cricket, 23 August 1894, p. 350.
  8. "Charles Mills as Umpire in Minor Counties Championship Matches". CricketArchive. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
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