Full name Charles Geldart Wilson 1905–1912 Otago 1895–1898 Victoria | Role Batsman Name Charles Wilson | |
Born 9 January 1869 ( 1869-01-09 ) Carngham, Australia Died 28 June 1952(1952-06-28) (aged 83)Wellington, New Zealand | ||
Batting style Right-handed batsman | ||
Charles Geldart 'Gillie' Wilson (9 January 1869 – 28 June 1952) was an Australian first-class cricketer who represented Victoria and played with Otago and Wellington in New Zealand. He also played Australian rules football for St Kilda in the early Victorian Football League (VFL).
The first part of Wilson's sporting career took place in Victoria, where he had played football with St Kilda since 1887, when they were competing in the VFA. Recruited from Hawksburn originally, Wilson played two senior VFL games, the first came in the inaugural season in 1897 against Geelong at Corio Oval and the other at Junction Oval in 1900 against Melbourne. He later served as a club secretary. While a St Kilda player he made three first-class cricket appearances for his state, as a right-handed batsman, all in the 19th century and against Tasmania.
Wilson moved to New Zealand after his football career finished. He made his first-class debut in New Zealand when he took the field for the South Island against Lord Hawke's XI at Dunedin in 1902-03. He was the first player to score a century for Southland, which he did against Otago in 1903-04 with 117 not out. From 1905 to 1912 he represented Otago in the Plunket Shield and other first-class cricket fixtures before joining Wellington where he played until his retirement in 1920. He had his best summer in 1908–09, when he scored 429 runs at 71.50 with two hundreds. One of those hundreds was an innings of 188 against Hawke's Bay, where he was captain and opened the batting. He followed it up with 49 in the second innings.