With close to 1000 First-Class wickets at an incredible average that was a shade below 15, Charles Turner was arguably the greatest ever bowler produced by Australia. His Test career wasn't a long one but even there, he ended with more than 100 wickets with the average once again being spectacular. The damp and uncovered pitches of the 19th Century did allow the ball to dominate the bat most of the times but nothing can take away the skill levels that Turner had as a pacer. Speed wasn't his strength and instead he focused on accuracy, relentlessly hitting the right lines and lengths, thereby allowing the pitch to do the rest. Also, despite not being genuinely quick, he still had enough pace to keep the batsmen honest. The man from New South Wales was extremely ambitious to be a cricketer from his childhood but it was his shift to Sydney, caused by the demands of his job, that kickstarted a career redemption that stunned everyone around him.

In just seven FC games, Turner racked up a mind-boggling 70 scalps, often bamboozling the batsmen with his movement off the pitch. That season set the ball rolling for him and he never really looked back after that. Facing Turner, especially in rain-affected matches was a horrific experience for the batsmen who had no clue and were often struggling to cope with his spells. Having said that, he did rely a lot on the conditions for success and this meant that on pitches that were relatively good for batting, Turner struggled to penetrate. Unlike usual Australian pacers, he loved to bowl in English conditions than at home, primarily due to his design as a swing/seam bowler who didn't depend much on pace or bounce to get wickets. Nevertheless, such was reputation generally, due to his deadly spells on lively decks, that he was nicknamed 'Terror' Turner. He took up administration after his cricketing career and later on shifted to business.

By Hariprasad Sadanandan