Charles Russell

Charles Albert George Russell was known as one of the leading batsmen in county cricket post World War I. Known for his remarkable strength of leg side playing technique, he was known to be effective player on difficult pitches as he could maintain good concentration and used to be watchful on times.

Russell played his debut match for Essex in 1908, though he didn’t establish himself as a player till 1913. In 1913, he made 1,000 runs and for the next three years, followed suit with such record. With 197 against Middlesex team at Lord’s, Russell was a top class batsman with 2,432 runs being the third highest in the country. He did well with an average of 58.42 for all of the matches, which included 135 runs at Adelaide. After 1920, he scored two centuries, which was also one of his finest seasons. With 2,575 runs to his credit, he was nominated as the Cricketer of the year, scoring 162 at Lord’s.

In 1922 winter, he went to South Africa, achieving success of 436 runs of an average of 63. However, in the last test, his health deteriorated due to a serious illness and he was not able to play. Yet, after 140 runs in the first innings, 111 in four and a half hours in the second innings, proved Russell to be the first batsman to score a century in both innings of the same test match for the team.

In 1923, his illness got worsened which affected his performance too and his average fell from 52 to 29.71. In 1925, he hit 7 centuries scoring 2,080 runs and by 1928, he scored 131 and 104 against Lancashire. In 1949, he was known as the first professional cricketers to be given the MCC membership.