Charles Thomas Biass Turner, nicknamed 'The Terror', was the outstanding bowler of the late 1880s. In the wet English summer of 1888 he took 283 first-class wickets at 11.27 — a tally only ever bettered by Tom Richardson in 1895 and Tich Freeman in 1928 and 1933. The previous Australian summer he had become the only bowler ever to take 100 first-class wickets in a single Australian season. He reached 50 Test wickets in only six matches (still the record) and was the second bowler in history to 100 Test wickets, behind Johnny Briggs by three days in 1895.
Australian cricket in the late 1880s rested on a small group of professional and quasi-professional bowlers, of whom Spofforth was the elder statesman and Turner the rising prodigy. NSW pitches and country wickets — uncovered, often unrolled — produced bowlers comfortable on any surface.
By the time Turner reached the Australian Test side in 1886-87 he had been demolishing intercolonial sides for two seasons. His pairing with the left-armer Ferris in his debut Test produced an 18-wicket partnership in a match Australia still managed to lose by 13 runs.
Turner was born at Bathurst, NSW, in 1862 and developed his bowling on rough country pitches in the Central West. He was a fast-medium right-armer with a relatively long, rhythmic run-up and a high action; what made him exceptional was a sharply turning off-cutter that broke back from a length on any pitch with the slightest moisture. On rain-affected wickets — the norm in 1880s Test cricket — he was unplayable.
In the Australian summer of 1887-88, against Shrewsbury's and Vernon's two touring sides, he took 106 first-class wickets in only 12 matches, the only time any bowler has reached 100 wickets in an Australian season. He took 17 wickets in the only Test, at Sydney, sharing the new ball with the young left-armer JJ Ferris.
His tour of England in 1888 was historic. In a sodden summer ideal for his methods, he took 283 first-class wickets — a figure 69 wickets ahead of Ted Peate's previous record from 1882 and one that has been bettered only twice since (Richardson 1895, Freeman 1928 & 1933). He took 21 Test wickets in three Tests, including 5/27 and 5/36 at Lord's where Australia won by 61 runs.
Turner played 17 Tests, taking 101 wickets at 16.53 — the lowest average of any specialist bowler with 100 Test wickets at the time. He reached 50 wickets in six Tests, a Test record that still stands. In February 1895, in his last Test, he became the second man (after Briggs three days earlier) to take 100 Test wickets.
He was named one of the first six Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1889 — all six being bowlers, all six having profited from the wet summer.
1887-88: 106 first-class wickets in an Australian season — only time it has been done.
1888 tour: 283 first-class wickets at 11.27.
Lord's Test 1888: 10/63 in match (5/27 and 5/36).
1888-89: 12 wickets at the SCG against Vernon's XI.
Wisden Cricketer of the Year 1889 (one of six bowlers).
Feb 1895: Reaches 100 Test wickets in his 17th Test (his last).
16 Nov 1862
Born at Bathurst, NSW.
1886-87
Test debut at Sydney; 17 wickets in two Tests.
1887-88
106 first-class wickets in Australian season — unique record.
1888
283 first-class wickets in England at 11.27.
1889
Wisden Cricketer of the Year.
Feb 1895
Reaches 100 Test wickets in his 17th and final Test.
1 Jan 1944
Dies aged 81.
“On a sticky wicket Turner is the most difficult bowler I have ever seen.”
Turner left Test cricket abruptly after the 1894-95 series, dropped by selectors at 32 with his powers seemingly intact. He carried on in NSW domestic cricket and lived to see the inter-war Australian sides, dying in 1944 at the age of 81.
The bowler of the 1880s. Turner's 283 wickets in 1888 and his 17-wicket Test debut series are both records that have stood for well over a century in their respective categories.
Turner's strike rate (one wicket every 51 balls) is the best of any Australian Test bowler with 100 wickets and one of the best in history. The 283-wicket tally in 1888 is the gold standard for a single Australian tour of England. He remains, with Spofforth, one of the two bowlers around whom Australia's foundational Test sides were built.
Yorkshire v Essex
1932-06-16
On 15-16 June 1932 Herbert Sutcliffe (313) and Percy Holmes (224*) put on 555 for the first wicket against Essex at Leyton, breaking the world first-class record for any wicket and adding a layer of folklore — including a scoreboard that read 554 for several minutes and a hastily reversed declaration — that has clung to the partnership ever since.
Australia v England
1933-02-14
With the fate of the Bodyline series in the balance and England 216 for 6 chasing 340, Eddie Paynter checked himself out of a Brisbane hospital where he was being treated for acute tonsillitis, taxied to the Gabba in pyjamas and a dressing gown, and batted for nearly four hours to score 83. England drew level on first innings, won the Test by six wickets and the series 4-1.
Australia
1934-09-25
Days after the 1934 Oval Test, Bradman fell seriously ill with appendicitis that progressed to peritonitis. With antibiotics not yet available, he was given little chance of survival; his wife Jessie left Adelaide on a sea voyage to England prepared for the worst. He recovered after weeks of intensive nursing in a London nursing home and returned to first-class cricket the following Australian summer.