Charlie Dolling

{{short description|Australian cricketer}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2016}}

{{Infobox cricketer

| name = Charlie Dolling

| image = File:Charlie Dolling.jpg

| caption = Charlie Dolling, Test selector,
by Dowman, 1932

| country = Australia

| fullname = Charles Edward Dolling

| nickname =

| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1886|9|4}}

| birth_place = Wokurna, near Port Broughton, South Australia, Australia

| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1936|6|11|1886|9|4}}

| death_place = Adelaide, South Australia

| batting = Right-handed

| bowling =

| family =

| club1 = South Australia

| year1 = 1905–06 to 1922–23

| columns = 1

| column1 = First-class

| matches1 = 29

| runs1 = 1744

| bat avg1 = 34.88

| 100s/50s1 = 4/9

| top score1 = 140

| deliveries1 = 84

| wickets1 = 1

| bowl avg1 = 71.00

| fivefor1 = 0

| tenfor1 = 0

| best bowling1 = 1/15

| catches/stumpings1 = 10/0

| date = 20 November

| year = 2015

| source = http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Players/15/15951/15951.html Cricket Archive

}}

Charles Edward Dolling (4 September 1886 – 11 June 1936) was an Australian doctor, cricketer and cricket administrator.

Early life and career

File:Charlie Dolling.png

Charlie Dolling was born in the South Australian rural community of Wokurna on the Yorke Peninsula, inland from Port Broughton, to a family of German origin. He went to school at Way College in Unley and Prince Alfred College, Adelaide, where he captained the First XI in 1904–05 and 1905–06. In December 1904, in the annual match against St Peter's College, he scored 311 and took six wickets in an innings victory.{{cite web | url = http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/467/467461.html| title = Prince Alfred College v St Peter's College 1904–05| publisher = CricketArchive| accessdate = 20 November 2015}} In the corresponding match a year later he made 106 and 27 not out and took 13 wickets in a nine-wicket victory.{{cite web | url = http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/467/467462.html | title = Prince Alfred College v St Peter's College 1905–06| publisher = CricketArchive| accessdate = 20 November 2015}}

A few weeks later Dolling made his first-class debut for South Australia in a Sheffield Shield match against Victoria at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. He scored 30 in the second innings and put on 80 for the fourth wicket with Norman Claxton, and South Australia went on to win by 120 runs.{{cite web | url = http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/6/6920.html | title = Victoria v South Australia 1905–06| publisher = CricketArchive| accessdate = 20 November 2015}} In the match against New South Wales at the Sydney Cricket Ground that followed immediately, he top-scored in the second innings with 83 not out.{{cite web | url = http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/6/6924.html | title = New South Wales v South Australia 1905–06| publisher = CricketArchive| accessdate = 20 November 2015}}

While studying for a medical degree at the University of Adelaide Dolling was a regular player for South Australia. He made his first century against New South Wales in 1907–08, when his 113 in the second innings allowed South Australia to leave New South Wales to score 593 for victory, and they were eventually all out for 572.{{cite web | url = http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/7/7479.html | title = New South Wales v South Australia 1907–08| publisher = CricketArchive| accessdate = 20 November 2015}} Later that season he made 140 against the touring MCC.{{cite web | url = http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/7/7501.html | title = South Australia v MCC 1907–08| publisher = CricketArchive| accessdate = 20 November 2015}} He was selected to play for The Rest against an Australian XI at the end of the season, and again at the end of the 1910–11 season.

Once he graduated and began his medical career, Dolling had less time for cricket.{{cite news | work=Sporting Globe| first=E.H.M. |last=Baillie |date=17 June 1936| page=9 | title= Dr. Dolling's death great loss to game | url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article190328125}} In 1912 he took up a practice in Minlaton on the Yorke Peninsula.{{cite news | work=Critic |date=14 August 1912| page=6 | title= Personal | url= http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article211441886 }} He did not play any first-class cricket in the 1912–13 or 1913–14 seasons, but was nevertheless selected to tour New Zealand with the Australian team at the end of the 1913–14 Australian season. He played in both matches against New Zealand, scoring 109 in 118 minutes in the second match at Auckland.{{cite web | url = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/9/9232.html| title = New Zealand v Australia, Auckland 1913–14| publisher = CricketArchive| accessdate = 20 November 2015}}

World War I and later career

Dolling was studying and working in England when World War I began in 1914. He enlisted in the Royal Army Medical Corps in 1915 and served in Egypt, at the 15th RAMC Hospital in Alexandria,{{cite news | work=Referee| first=Eric P. |last=Barbour |date=31 May 1916| page=9 | title= Cricketers on the Nile

| url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article121174707 }} and in France. He returned to Australia in 1921.{{cite book |title=German Anzacs and the First World War|last=Williams|first=John|year=2003|publisher=UNSW Press, Sydney |isbn=0868405086|page=290}}

He captained South Australia in his last three first-class matches in 1922–23, two of them against the visiting MCC team. In Adelaide cricket for West Torrens in 1922–23 he made 856 runs at an average of 71.33, setting a new club record.{{cite news | work= Referee | date=18 June 1936| page=13 | title= Charles Dolling, Sportsman, Knight of Cricket, Passes at 49| url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article135652700 }}

On 13 February 1923, at St Paul's Anglican Church, Adelaide, he married Dorothy Clarke, a New Zealander with a degree in advanced mathematics, who shared his love of cricket. They had a daughter and a son.{{cite book | url = http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/dolling-dorothy-eleanor-10031 | title = Dolling, Dorothy Eleanor (1897–1967) | publisher = Australian Dictionary of Biography | accessdate = 20 November 2015}}

Dolling became a cricket selector for South Australia, and in 1928 he was appointed to the Australian Test selection panel. He continued to serve in both positions until his death, and also managed South Australian teams. He did post-graduate study at a London hospital in 1934, at a time that coincided with the Australian Test team's tour of England.{{cite news | work= Adelaide Advertiser | date=21 August 1934| page=17 | title= Out among the people| url= http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article35129252 }} He also studied in Germany; he spoke German fluently.

Death

Dolling suffered a seizure in his surgery on 11 June 1936 and died within an hour.Irving Rosenwater, "Sir Donald Bradman – Selector", Wisden 1972, pp. 108–09. In an obituary, The Referee, assessing his work as a selector, said he "was an exceptional judge of a cricketer and possessed a high judicial sense of fair play". Don Bradman, who was appointed to the Test selection panel in his place, said Dolling was "a wise and tactful administrator, and that, as a selector, he enjoyed the confidence of everybody".

Dorothy Dolling (1897–1967) was a prominent member of the Country Women's Association and was awarded the OBE for her welfare work during World War II.

See also

References

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