Born in Victoria in 1890, Tom Carlton was a tall left-arm pace bowler and useful tail-end batsman who bowled "an impeccable length" and moved the ball away from right-hand batsmen. He made his first-class debut for Canterbury in a friendly match against Otago in December 1909, a few days after his 19th birthday. Opening the bowling, he took 4 for 58 and 6 for 42 in Canterbury's four-wicket victory. He thus achieved his best innings and match figures in his first match. A few weeks later he made his highest first-class score of 63 against the touring Australians, adding 167 for the seventh wicket with Daniel Reese after coming to the wicket when Canterbury were 80 for 6. He was part of Canterbury's Plunket Shield-winning team in 1910–11 and 1912–13, and was selected to tour Australia with the New Zealand team in 1913–14, although he took only one wicket in the two first-class matches he played on the tour. When he returned to New Zealand he played for Canterbury against the touring Australian team, taking 6 for 142 in the innings in which Victor Trumper and Arthur Sims set the worldrecord eighth-wicket partnership of 433 in 181 minutes. In the deciding match of the 1914–15 Plunket Shield he top-scored for Canterbury in the second innings with 50 made at number five, and took 5 for 65 and 4 for 38 in the team's victory over Wellington. It was his last match for Canterbury.
Victoria, 1919–20
Carlton played three matches for Victoria in the 1919–20 season, including one Sheffield Shield match, with moderate success.
Otago, 1920–21 to 1921–22
He returned to New Zealand, making his debut for Otago late in the 1920–21 season against his old side, Canterbury. He took 5 for 39 and 5 for 76 in a 94-run victory. He captained Otago in 1921–22 when they lost all three matches in the Plunket Shield. He was the team's leading wicket-taker with 14 wickets at an average of 27.78, and made a few useful runs in the middle order. At the end of the season he was also the leading wicket-taker, with six wickets, for South Island in a match against North Island.
Victoria, 1922–23 to 1923–24
He returned to play in Australia in 1922–23, taking 5 for 67 for Victoria in a victory over South Australia in his first match. He played one more match that season and two in 1923–24 but made only modest contributions.
South Australia, 1928–29 to 1931–32
After a gap of five years Carlton appeared for South Australia in the second half of the 1928–29 season at the age of 38. In his second match he took 5 for 64 off 31 eight-ball overs against Marylebone Cricket Club, including the wickets of Jack Hobbs, Patsy Hendren, Maurice Leyland and Les Ames. He played throughout the next three seasons. In all he played 27 matches for South Australia, taking 77 wickets at an average of 28.22. He had his most successful season of all in 1930–31, when he took 31 wickets at 21.38. He played his last game at the end of the 1931–32 season at the age of 41.
