Charlie Llewellyn

Charles Bennett "Buck" Llewellyn (29 September 1876 – 7 June 1964) 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.