Charlie Townsend
Townsend delivering the ball
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| Batting style | Left-handed batsman (LHB) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowling style | Leg Break | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Source: CricInfo | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Charles Lucas "Charlie" Townsend (7 November 1876, Bristol – 17 October 1958, , Durham, England) was a Gloucestershire cricketer. An all-round cricketer, Townsend was classically stylish, left-handed batsman, who was able to hit well despite his slender build. His off-side strokes were particularly effective, and his driving allowed him to score at a consistent pace throughout his major innings. In his younger days Townsend was also a spin bowler, who relied chiefly on a big break from leg but could also turn the ball the other way. He was often extremely difficult on sticky wickets but very rarely effective on good ones.
Townsend first emerged as a leg break bowler from Clifton College at the age of 16 in 1893. He took 21 wickets in four games and showed, despite his very slight build, the ability to get through a lot of bowling and spin the ball prodigiously from leg. In one innings against Middlesex, he bowled 70 five-ball overs (equivalent to 58 six-ball overs). In that season, his county's wicket-keeper, William Brain, completed the only instance in first-class cricket of a hat-trick of stumpings, taken off Townsend's bowling. The following year, Townsend’s record was modest though Grace gave him a good deal of bowling on soft pitches, and he was seen as not physically strong enough for county cricket by most critics of the day.
It was in 1895 that the sensation of Townsend’s career occurred. Schoolwork meant he played only one match up to 21 July - taking only two wickets for 94 - yet in Gloucestershire's remaining 11 matches he took 122 wickets. With increased physical strength, Townsend spun the ball so much on the treacherous pitches upon which almost all these games were played that, though he was often freely hit, batsmen eventually fell to his turning balls. During this period, Townsend was so successful that he was kept on by Grace for all but thirty of 659 five-ball overs bowled by Gloucestershire from one end.
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