Charles William Wright was a cricket

Cricket

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

er who played first-class cricket

First-class cricket

First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...

 for Cambridge University

Cambridge University Cricket Club

Cambridge University Cricket Club is a first-class cricket team. It now plays all but one of its first-class cricket matches as part of the Cambridge University Centre of Cricketing Excellence , which includes Anglia Ruskin University...

 between 1882

1882 English cricket season

-Champion County:* Lancashire, Nottinghamshire -Events:8 April . Formation of Warwickshire CCC at a meeting in Coventry.10 May. Formation of Durham CCC....

 and 1885

1885 English cricket season

The 1885 English cricket season was the third in succession in which Notts was proclaimed the champion county-Playing record :-External sources:* -Annual reviews:* James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual , Lillywhite, 1886...

 and for Nottinghamshire

Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club

Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Nottinghamshire, and the current county champions. Its limited overs team is called the Nottinghamshire Outlaws...

 between 1882 and 1899

1899 English cricket season

In the 1899 English cricket season, Surrey won the County Championship for the first time in four years, and the title turned out to be their last until 1914. Surrey's season was dominated by draws, with fourteen out of 26 games drawn, just like the season in general - especially the Australian...

. Wright also played many first-class cricket games for the Marylebone Cricket Club

Marylebone Cricket Club

Marylebone Cricket Club is a cricket club in London founded in 1787. Its influence and longevity now witness it as a private members' club dedicated to the development of cricket. It owns, and is based at, Lord's Cricket Ground in St John's Wood, London NW8. MCC was formerly the governing body of...

. His Test match

Test cricket

Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...

 career was limited to three appearances for England

English cricket team

The England and Wales cricket team is a cricket team which represents England and Wales. Until 1992 it also represented Scotland. Since 1 January 1997 it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board , having been previously governed by Marylebone Cricket Club from 1903 until the end...

 against South Africa

South African cricket team

The South African national cricket team represent South Africa in international cricket. They are administrated by Cricket South Africa.South Africa is a full member of the International Cricket Council, also known as ICC, with Test and One Day International, or ODI, status...

 in 1895-96. Wright was an opening batsman and wicket-keeper.

Wright was educated at Charterhouse

Charterhouse School

Charterhouse School, originally The Hospital of King James and Thomas Sutton in Charterhouse, or more simply Charterhouse or House, is an English collegiate independent boarding school situated at Godalming in Surrey.Founded by Thomas Sutton in London in 1611 on the site of the old Carthusian...

 and Trinity College, Cambridge

Trinity College, Cambridge

Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...

.

In total Wright went on four overseas tours, all of which were captained by Lord Hawke

Martin Hawke, 7th Baron Hawke

Martin Bladen Hawke, 7th Baron Hawke of Towton , generally known as Lord Hawke, was an English amateur cricketer who played major roles in the sport's administration....

. These were to the United States

United States cricket team

The United States national cricket team is the team that represents the United States of America in international cricket matches. The team became an associate member of the International Cricket Council in 1965...

 and Canada

Canadian cricket team

The Canada cricket team is the national cricket team representing Canada in men's international competition. It is run by Cricket Canada.While Canada is not sanctioned to play Test matches, the team does take part in One Day International matches and also in first-class games against other...

 in 1891 and 1894, to India

Indian cricket team

The Indian cricket team is the national cricket team of India. Governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India , it is a full member of the International Cricket Council with Test and One Day International status....

 in 1892-93, and then on the South African tour in which Wright played his Tests.

He is also notable for two other occurrences:

• In 1890
  1890 English cricket season
  The 1890 English cricket season was the first year the County Championship was officially held, which Surrey won after winning nine out of fourteen games...
  
   he was the first captain to declare an innings closed. In a game against Kent
  Kent County Cricket Club
  Kent County Cricket Club is one of the 18 first class county county cricket clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the county of Kent...
  
   at the Bat and Ball Ground in Gravesend
  Gravesend, Kent
  Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, on the south bank of the Thames, opposite Tilbury in Essex. It is the administrative town of the Borough of Gravesham and, because of its geographical position, has always had an important role to play in the history and communications of this part of...
  
  , Wright declared Nottinghamshire's second innings closed on 157 for 5 to set Kent a target of 231 to win. However, the tactic did not come off as the game was drawn with Kent on 98 for 9 and Nottinghamshire requiring one more wicket to win.

• In 1893
  1893 English cricket season
  The 1893 English cricket season was the first year in which the County Championship was officially won by a team other than Surrey. They finished fifth, while Yorkshire won twelve matches to take the title...
  
   Wright became the fourth batsman to be given out handled the ball
  Handled the ball
  Handled the ball is a method of dismissal in the sport of cricket.-Definition:Law 33 of the Laws of cricket provides that:"Either batsman is out Handled the ball if he wilfully touches the ball while in play with a hand or hands not holding the bat unless he does so with the consent of the opposing...
  
  after he picked up a ball that had become lodged in his pads and returned it to a fielder.

Wright retired from the game after losing his eye in a shooting accident and later became a long-standing member of the Nottinghamshire Cricket Club's committee.

Note

• ¹ Cricinfo's page on Wright erroneously states that he was the second batsman to be given out handled the ball rather than the fourth. The first three cases were: J Grundy for the MCC against Kent in 1857, George "Farmer" Bennett for Kent against Sussex in 1872 and William Scotton for Smokers against Non smokers in 1886-7. This sequence is supported by, for example, page 285 of the 2003 Wisden Cricketers' Almanack ISBN 0-947766-77-4