Charlie Llewellyn
Charles Bennett "'Buck" Llewellyn' was a South African cricketer who played in fifteen Test matches for South Africa and had an extensive domestic career in English county cricket with Hampshire, and later in club cricket in the North of England. Born in Pietermaritzburg to a Welsh father and a mother, reputedly of colour, from Saint Helena, Llewellyn's racial status and later allegations of racial discrimination would become a contentious subject both during and after his career. An all-rounder, he began his first-class career in South Africa with Natal in the 1894–95 Currie Cup. His subsequent performances as a slow left-arm wrist-spinner led to his Test selection for South Africa in March 1896. His Test career was sporadic, spanning fifteen matches to 1912. He was one of the first bowlers in international cricket to bowl slow left-arm wrist spin, and is credited with being the inventor of the chinaman, a delivery equivalent to a leg spinners googly.
With the encouragement of the Hampshire cricketer Robert Poore, Llewellyn left South Africa in 1899 to play county cricket in England for Hampshire. After completing his two-year residential qualification period he established himself as an all-rounder in the Hampshire side, forming a successful bowling partnership with Hesketh Hesketh-Prichard and later with Jack Newman. In 1910 he was chosen as one of five Wisden Cricketers of the Year. He played for Hampshire until 1910, when he left to pursue a career in club cricket with Accrington in the Lancashire League. For Hampshire, he made 196 first-class appearances, scoring 8,772 runs and taking 711 wickets. He achieved the double of a thousand runs and a hundred wickets in a season on three occasions in first-class cricket. He continued to play club cricket in northern England until 1938. In retirement, he moved to Chertsey, where he died following a gas explosion at his residence in June 1964.
Cricket career
Career in South Africa
Llewellyn was born out of wedlock in Pietermaritzburg on 29 September 1876 to a Welsh father, Thomas Buck Llewellyn, from Pembroke and a Saint Helenan mother, Ann Elizabeth Rich, who was reputedly coloured. The ethnicity of his mother has variously been described as black, Madagascan, or Indian; the latter two would categorise her as a Cape Malay. His father was employed as a painter and decorator, later forming his own successful business. Despite his reputed mixed-race heritage, his fair skin colour saw him regarded as a "white man" by the South African Cricket Board of Control, thus helping to clear a racial hurdle to him progressing in the game; this contrasted with other coloured players of the time, where the racism of late nineteenth-century South Africa had led to leading non-white players being prevented from pursuing the sport as a career. Before coming to prominence as a cricketer, Llewellyn was employed in Durban by the father of the cricketer Herbie Taylor as a "coloured clerk", an employment he maintained as his early cricket career developed.Aged 18, Llewellyn made his debut in first-class cricket for Natal against Transvaal at Pietermaritzburg in the 1894–95 Currie Cup, taking match figures of 4 for 71 with his slow left-arm wrist-spin bowling. His performance did not equate immediate success to the Natal selectors, and it was not be until the following season that he played for Natal again. On this occasion, he was chosen to play for a Natal XV against Lord Hawke's touring England XI; his steady bowling performance in the match led to his selection in the South African team for the Second Test against England at Johannesburg in March 1896. In a match dominated by England, Llewellyn bowled 14 wicketless overs in England's only innings, conceding 71 runs, and was not retained for the Third Test. During the tour, he also featured for a Pietermaritzburg XV against the tourists, taking seven wickets in the match and impressing the Hampshire batsman Robert Poore, who was in South Africa on military service with the British Army.
Following his Test debut, it was over a year before he played first-class cricket again. He made three appearances in the 1896–97 Currie Cup for Natal, with success. Against Western Province, he took match figures of 9 for 128, claiming his maiden five wicket haul in the process; he followed this up with match figures of 11 for 123 against Eastern Province. His three appearances yielded 30 wickets at an average of 12.13, taking five wickets in an innings on five occasions and best figures of 7 for 73. He began the following season by playing in a first-class match for Natal against Abe Bailey's Transvaal XI, before making three appearances in the 1897–98 Currie Cup. He took 16 wickets in his Currie Cup matches that season, with his consistent performances earning him a recall to the South African Test side. He played in the First Test against England at Johannesburg in February 1899, but despite taking five wickets in the match, he was not retained for the Second Test.
Move to England
Early years
At the end of the 1898–99 series Llewellyn, left South Africa to play for English county side Hampshire as a professional, on the recommendation of Poore. In order to play for Hampshire in the County Championship, he had to qualify to play for Hampshire through a two-year residency period, the first year of which was sponsored by Hampshire. He spent his two-year qualification period living at Charles Hoare's training establishment Mercury. He made his debut for Hampshire in a first-class match against the touring Australians at Southampton in August 1899, with immediate success. With the ball, he took figures of 8 for 132 in the Australians first innings, while with the bat he made scores of 72 and 21. As a result of his performance against the Australians, Llewellyn was chosen as one of Ranjitsinhji's twelve-man touring team to North America in the winter of 1899. He played in five matches during the touring, including two first-class matches against the Gentlemen of Philadelphia, taking eight wickets across the two first-class fixtures. He did not feature in any first-class matches for Hampshire in 1900, but did play a minor match against the touring West Indians, taking 13 wickets across the match and scoring 93 runs in Hampshire's first innings.By the following season, Llewellyn had successfully completed his two-year residential qualification period. He made his County Championship debut in 1901 against Lancashire at Portsmouth. In eighteen appearances that season, he took 115 wickets at an average of 23.25; his bowling average that season was the best by a Hampshire player since their admission to the County Championship in 1895. During the season, he took five wickets in an innings on fifteen occasions and ten-wickets in a match on four. His best bowling figures during the season of 8 for 72 led Hampshire to a 121 runs victory against Leicestershire. Against Somerset in August, he scored 153 runs in just over 90 minutes and took match figures of 10 for 183. The cricket historian Patrick Allen credited Llwellyn with carrying Hampshire's weak bowling attack in 1901, with him delivering over 2,000 balls more than Victor Barton. His all-round credentials were further enhanced by scoring 1,025 runs across the season, with two centuries. His maiden first-class century came at Southampton against the touring South Africans, when he made 216 runs in three hours. His performance subsequently led to him being asked to assist the South Africans in two tour matches against London County and Liverpool and District, where he took 25 wickets and scored two half centuries. His performances in 1901 were said to have " the face of Hampshire cricket". Amongst all-rounders in the 1901 season, he was third only to George Hirst and Jack Mason in terms of runs scored and wickets taken.
His impressive form with the ball continued the following season, with Llewellyn taking 170 wickets at an average of 18.61 from 26 matches. In the County Championship, he took 94 wickets at an average of 17.67; his tally of wickets was 56 more than Hampshire's next highest wicket-taker, Hesketh Hesketh-Prichard. He spent the early part of the season playing for W. G. Grace's London County, for whom he took his career-best bowling figures of 9 for 55 against Cambridge University at Crystal Palace, which included three wickets in four balls. Despite his efforts with the ball, London County lost the match by 5 wickets. Llewellyn scored 832 first-class runs at an average of 21.33 in 1902, recording one century against Derbyshire in the County Championship in August. Such was his form in 1902, that he was selected in Englands fourteen-man squad for the First Test of the 1902 Ashes Series against Australia at Edgbaston, but did not make the starting eleven. His inclusion was controversial to the Australians, with Warwick Armstrong allegedly questioning if Australia were playing England or South Africa. Toward the end of the Australians tour, he played against them for the Players at Harrogate; as a paid professional he was eligible to represent the Players, in contrast to unpaid amateurs who played for the Gentlemen.
Returning to Test cricket and loss of form
Llewellyn returned to South Africa in the winter of 1902, where he was selected in the South African team to play Australia on their maiden tour of South Africa, that followed their tour of England. In the drawn First Test at Johannesburg, he batted at batted at number three, scoring 90 runs, his highest Test score, in South Africa's first innings, whilst sharing in a partnership of 173 runs for the second wicket with Louis Tancred. Their partnership was a South African record for the second wicket against Australia, remaining so until it was broken by Hashim Amla and Graeme Smith in 2011. With the ball, he took 6 for 92 in Australia's first innings, with overall match figures of 9 for 216. In the Second Test, also played at Johannesburg, he played an important role with the ball, taking figures of 5 for 43 and 5 for 73 in the Australian's innings', though could not stop South Africa losing the match by 159 runs. In the Third Test, played at Cape Town, Llewellyn took figures of 6 for 97 in the Australian's first innings, but was unable to stop South Africa succumbing to defeat by ten wickets. He led the South African bowling with 25 wickets at an average of 17.92; the next highest South African wicket-taker was Jimmy Sinclair with nine. Llewellyn tried to resume his domestic career in South Africa with Transvaal, but his status as a professional was deemed unacceptable by some in South African cricket. Put to a vote by the SACBOC, his inclusion in the Transvaal side was voted down by the three Cape unions, and with the absentation of the Natal union, he was debarred from participating in domestic cricket by the SACBOC.Returning to England for the 1903 season, Llewellyn played four first-class matches for the Marylebone Cricket Club at Lord's in May, followed by another in June. For Hampshire in the 1903 County Championship, he lost his bowling form, with Allen remarking that "staleness" had crept into his bowling. In the County Championship, he took 39 wickets at an average of 39.64, a significantly higher average when compared to previous seasons, and claimed five wickets in an innings just once. With the bat, his 542 runs placed him second behind Edward Sprot's 835 runs in Hampshire's batting aggregates. His best performance for Hampshire during the season came against the touring Gentlemen of Philadelphia, when he scored an unbeaten century and took figures of 6 for 109 in the Philadelphian's only innings. During the season, he also played one match each for London County against Gloucestershire and for the Players of the South against the Gentlemen of the South at the end of the season. Llewellyn's bowling form for Hampshire did not improve in 1904, with him taking 40 wickets in the County Championship at an average of 37.15, and once again took five wickets in an innings just once. With the bat, he scored 411 runs at an average of 14.94 from seventeen Championship appearances. He was utilised by the touring South Africans during the 1904 season, where his performances contrasted with those for Hampshire. He made six first-class appearances for the South Africans during their tour, taking 16 wickets at an average of 25.31 and scoring 338 runs at an average of 56.33. He was again selected to play for the Players of the South against the Gentlemen of the South at the conclusion of the season. His overall struggles with the ball in 1903 and 1904 had led to him being termed by "an utter failure" by Wisden.
Llewellyn encountered his worst season as a bowler in county cricket in 1905, when he took just 33 wickets at an average of 37.18. His struggles during this period would later be attributed by Wisden in 1911 to him being overworked, due to him sharing much of the burden of carrying the Hampshire attack with Hesketh-Pritchard. Whilst he struggled for form as a bowler, he batted consistently during the season. He scored 1,280 runs from 22 matches at an average of 35.55, whilst contributing several noteworthy performances. Against Derbyshire in the County Championship he scored two centuries in the match, with scores of 102 and 100. In the season concluding Players of the South versus Gentlemen of the South match at Bournemouth, he made 186 runs in the Players of the South first innings; in their total of 496 all out, the next highest score was 73 runs, made by opening batsman Frederick Bowley. prior to the match, he had represented an England XI against the touring Australians, with both matches forming part of the Bournemouth Cricket Week. He returned to form as a bowler whilst playing exclusively for Hampshire in first-class cricket in 1906, taking 47 wickets at an average of 26.25. His batting form remained consistent, with Llewellyn scoring 1,013 runs at an average of 31.65, placing him second behind Sprot in Hampshire's Championship batting aggregates.