Charles Standish Elliott MBE (24 April 1912 – 1 January 2004) was an English

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officia ...

er who played for

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the no ...

between 1932 and 1953, an international

umpire An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The term derives from the Old French nonper, ''non'', "not" and ''per'', ...

and a part-time

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

. Elliott was born in

Bolsover Bolsover is a market town and the administrative centre of the Bolsover District, Derbyshire, England. It is from London, from Sheffield, from Nottingham and from Derby. It is the main town in the Bolsover district. The civil parish for th ...

, Derbyshire. In the 1931–1932 season, he played football for

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed the ...

, where he was a capable defender, but did not play again for them for several years. In the summer of 1932 he began his cricketing career at Derbyshire where he was an opening batsman and fine close fielder. Elliott's first spell for Derbyshire lasted from 1932 to 1937 and he played for the side that won the

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It b ...

in 1936.Charlie Elliott at Cricket Archive
/ref> Because of a financial crisis at the club he was released and became a professional for Stourbridge. At the start of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

he joined the Coventry

Fire Brigade A fire department (American English) or fire brigade ( Commonwealth English), also known as a fire authority, fire district, fire and rescue, or fire service in some areas, is an organization that provides fire prevention and fire suppression ...

, and was on the roof of Coventry Cathedral during the blitz which destroyed it. After the war, he played again for Derbyshire and he scored 1,000 runs in six consecutive seasons from 1947 to 1952. In total he played 468 innings in 275 matches with nine centuries and an average of 27.25. His best score was 215 against

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

in 1947, when he shared a stand of 349 with John Eggar. In bowling he took eleven wickets at an average of 47.81 and a best performance of 2–25. He also played football for Coventry City again in the 1947–48 season bringing his

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

appearances total 95. He was caretaker-manager for Coventry for six months in 1954–55. Elliott served as a first-class umpire from 1956 to 1974. He umpired in 42

Tests Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

between 1957 and 1974 and in five

One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World Cup ...

s between 1972 and 1974. He served on the England Test selection panel from 1975 to 1981, and was President of Derbyshire in 1993 and 1994. Elliott was in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a me ...

when the Third Test of the 1970–71 Ashes series was washed out. He was asked to award the

Man of the Match In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...

award in the first ever

, arranged at the last minute to replace the Test, and gave it to

John Edrich John Hugh Edrich, (21 June 1937 – 23 December 2020) was an English first-class cricketer who, during a career that ran from 1956 to 1978, was considered one of the best batsmen of his generation. Born in Blofield, Norfolk, Edrich came from ...

for his top-scoring 82 as "without John's 82 there'd have been no match".p122, Richard Whitington, ''Captains Outrageous? Cricket in the seventies'', Stanley Paul, 1972 A dapper man with immaculately groomed black hair, which he retained into old age, he died at

Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...

, where he had kept a guest house, eight years short of his century. Elliott was the nephew of Harry Elliott, the Derbyshire and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

Test wicketkeeper and played alongside his uncle in pre-Second World War games and in 1947, when Harry reappeared in four matches at the age of 55 because of a Derbyshire injury crisis.

References

External links

*
Cricinfo obituary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Elliott, Charlie 1912 births 2004 deaths People from Bolsover English Test cricket umpires English One Day International cricket umpires Derbyshire cricketers Elliott Charlie English cricketers Coventry City F.C. managers Coventry City F.C. players English football managers English footballers England cricket team selectors Association football defenders English cricketers of 1919 to 1945 20th-century British businesspeople