| Charles Mills | |
| Fullname: | Charles Mills |
| Birth Date: | 26 November 1866 |
| Birth Place: | Camberwell, England |
| Death Place: | Southwark, England |
| Batting: | Right-handed |
| Bowling: | Right-arm medium |
| Columns: | 2 |
| Column1: | Tests |
| Matches1: | 1 |
| Runs1: | 25 |
| Bat Avg1: | 12.50 |
| 100S/50S1: | 0/0 |
| Top Score1: | 21 |
| Deliveries1: | 140 |
| Wickets1: | 2 |
| Bowl Avg1: | 41.50 |
| Fivefor1: | 0 |
| Tenfor1: | 0 |
| Best Bowling1: | 2/83 |
| Catches/Stumpings1: | 2/– |
| Column2: | First-class |
| Matches2: | 8 |
| Runs2: | 160 |
| Bat Avg2: | 12.30 |
| 100S/50S2: | 0/0 |
| Top Score2: | 31 |
| Deliveries2: | 1178 |
| Wickets2: | 29 |
| Bowl Avg2: | 15.55 |
| Fivefor2: | 3 |
| Tenfor2: | 0 |
| Best Bowling2: | 5/36 |
| Catches/Stumpings2: | 11/– |
| International: | true |
| Onetest: | true |
| Country: | South Africa |
| Testdebutagainst: | England |
| Testcap: | 20 |
| Testdebutdate: | 19 March |
| Testdebutyear: | 1892 |
| Lasttestdate: | 19 March |
| Lasttestyear: | 1892 |
| Source: | https://www.espncricinfo.com/player/charles-mills-46229 Cricinfo |
Charles Mills (26 November 1866 – 26 July 1948) was a cricketer who played in one Test for South Africa in 1892.[1]
Born in London, to Charles Mills a writing engraver and Sarah Jane Wilkinson, 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, Mills 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]
Mills 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 took his best bowling figures in his last first-class match, for Western Province in the final of the 1894–95 Currie Cup against Transvaal: 5 for 36 in the second innings.[8]
He returned to England in the mid-1890s. He 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.[9]