50     Charles Allan

Left-Hand Bat & Wicket-Keeper

M	I	NO	R	HS	AVE	CT	WK CT	ST
168	163	13	3435	129	22.90	14	62	59

Right-Arm Off-Spin

O	M	R	W	AVE
35.0	1	185	7	26.43

Batting head-gear: Cap

Tours: 35
Tour Joker: 1983,2009
Tortoiseless Trophy: 2003
PBH May Gaffer's Trophy: 2010
Tour Manager: 1997,1998(2),1999,2000,2002,2003,2004,2005,2007(2),2008,2009(2),2010

Debut: 26.09.1982  House: School  At LP: 1978-1983

One of the club's great characters, for whom the cliche 'larger than life' is, frankly, a cliche. Charlie is the archetypal bon viveur with a passion for the horses, fine French wines, work junkets to the States and sunbathing in a nappy (a sight not quickly forgotten). Though his warm genilaity periodically yields to a dark, brooding gloom, this usually only happens when he's (a) got out cheaply, (b) lost a bet, or (c) just heard the Leeds score.

As a batsman, Charlie is one of the few club members who could be put in the 'bar-emptying' category: when he gets going, deliveries of any line and length are prone to be dispatched to the boundary with a series of satisfyingly clean hits. When he doesn't get going, it's back to the pavilion with a grumble about left-handers being given out when they shouldn't be, or another such excuse.

As a wicket keeper, his chirpy banter winds up opposition batsmen and his standing up to the stumps winds up his own bowlers, some of whom didn't think they were that slow. Not that he has anything against bowlers: he is one himself occasionally, and has a few wickets to prove it.

Off the field, Charlie has proved himself as a fine leader of men with his cup captaincy and organisation of tours; indeed, his mastery of the logistics of cricket tour organisation is such that on trips to the East Midlands he can often be heard switching effortlessly between two languages when giving tour speeches: broad Derbyshire, and refined Old Leightonian. CCS

desert island discs
1) All Blues - Miles Davis
2) Panic in Detroit - David Bowie
3) Hedonism - Skunk Anansie
4) Elvira Madigan - Mozart
5) Money in my pocket - Dennis Brown
6) Rock Bottom (Live) - UFO
7) I wouldn't believe your radio - Stereophonics
8) Tripping - Skin

Book: Wisden

Luxury Item: Race Horse

Three films
1) The Third Man
2) The Sting
3) Defence of the Realm


Favourite Graham Carter nick-name: Arthur Flat Cap

Cheese or Chocolate: Cheese
Beer or Wine: Both
Tea or Coffee: Coffee
Boys or Girls: Girls
Greenland or Ibiza: Greenland
Wet Shave or Dry Shave: Wet


W.G. or Bradman: Bradman
Botham or Sobers: Sobers
Pietersen or Boycott: Pietersen
Marshall or McGrath: Marshall
Read or Jones: Read
Warne or Murali: Warne
Hair or Bowden: Hair


For Room 101...
1) Religion
2) Caravans
3) Nasty Antipodieans