George Coles (Kent cricketer)


George Edward Coles was an Indian-born English amateur cricketer who played for Kent County Cricket Club. He was born in Ratnagiri in British India in 1851. He studied at the Royal Indian Civil Engineering College at Cooper's Hill in southern England.
Coles made his debut for Kent in 1873 against Sussex at Lord's in the only match which took place in the "County Championship Cup", an experimental competition organised by Marylebone Cricket Club. On a pitch that Wisden reported as "dangerously bad", Coles took six wickets in the Sussex first innings and four in the second as he "repeatedly struck the batsmen" and "battered the batsmen into submission". He made one further appearance for Kent against Surrey later in the same season and played in one non-first-class match for the Gentlemen of Kent.
Coles returned to India soon after his summer of cricket and died at Naini Tal in the country in 1903 aged 52.