Colin Blythe (30 May 1879 – 8 November 1917), also known as Charlie Blythe, was an English first-class cricketer, active from 1899 to 1914. Born in Deptford, he played for Kent as a slow left arm orthodox (SLA) bowler and a right-handed batsman. He played in nineteen Test matches for England from 1901 to 1910.

Blythe was one of the five Cricketers of the Year in the 1904 edition of Wisden Cricketer's Almanack. He is generally regarded as one of the greatest bowlers in cricket history, and is one of only 33 players who has taken 2,000 wickets in a first-class career. He shares (with Tom Goddard and Hedley Verity), the world record for the highest number of first-class wickets (17) taken in a single day's play.

Blythe was killed in the Second Battle of Passchendaele while on active service with the British Army during World War I. He enlisted in the armed forces at the outbreak of war despite suffering from epilepsy. A memorial at Kent's home ground, the St Lawrence Ground in Canterbury, is dedicated to Blythe, and to other members of the club who died on active service in the war.

Blythe was born at 78, Evelyn Street, Deptford. His parents were called Walter and Elizabeth (née Dready). Walter Blythe was an engineering fitter at the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich. Blythe was the eldest of 13 children, seven boys and six girls, who were born between 1879 and 1902; twelve of them survived infancy. The family moved house four times while he was young, but all their homes were within the same close vicinity. Blythe attended Duke Street Infants School until he was seven, and then Alverton Street School until April 1892 when he was nearly thirteen. Thirteen was then the statutory minimum age for leaving school and, with the growing family needing an extra breadwinner, he joined his father at the Arsenal as an apprentice fitter and turner. He began studying for a Whitworth Scholarship in mechanical engineering, but suffered a breakdown in his health with the onset of epilepsy. He was forced to discontinue his studying.

Blythe's biographer Christopher Scoble refers to a "mythology" concerning his introduction to cricket and his early development as a bowler. It has been said that Blythe never played cricket at school and, aged 18, was "discovered" the first time he ever played by Captain William McCanlis. Scoble prefers a different version in which Blythe played both cricket and football on Blackheath as a member of a boys' club team. He accepts, however, that Blythe might have been eleven years old before he started bowling. According to Albert Kinross, Blythe played village cricket in his teenage years, and it is possible he played for "in-house" teams at the Arsenal.

Scoble says that Saturday, 17 July 1897 was "the day that changed Blythe's life". He decided to attend the final day's play in the County Championship match between Kent and Somerset at Rectory Field in Blackheath. At close of play on the Friday, the second day, Kent in their second innings were 246 runs ahead with three wickets standing (they went on to win by 213 runs). When Blythe arrived that morning, there was only a small crowd and the Kent all-rounder Walter Wright was in the nets looking for someone to bowl to him. He was the next batsman in and needed some practice before play began. Blythe later recalled that Wright called to him and asked if he would "bowl him a few". Blythe was happy to oblige and William McCanlis, who was standing nearby, liked what he saw. McCanlis offered Blythe a trial at the Angel Ground where Kent ran their "Tonbridge nursery", a training centre for younger players which became renowned for producing top-class cricketers, including Blythe, Arthur Fielder, and Frank Woolley. It closed in 1927.

Blythe was successful at the trial, and was immediately engaged by the club as a trainee bowler. He continued his engineering job through the winter of 1897–98, and joined the nursery ahead of the 1898 season, taking lodgings in Tonbridge. The regime at the Angel Ground was one of intensive practice, generally in the nets, with match experience being gained in local club cricket. It was here that Blythe learned the key cricketing skills such as line-and-length bowling and variations in the flight and bounce of the ball which he would deploy with great success in his first-class career. On Wednesday, 20 July 1898, Blythe made his début for Kent's Second XI in a two-day Second XI Championship match against Sussex Second XI at the County Cricket Ground, Hove. Sussex won by 8 wickets. Blythe bowled in the first innings only and took one wicket for 28 runs. He batted at number 11, last in the order, scoring 0* and 8*.

Blythe continued to make progress at Tonbridge through the 1899 season in which he took 105 wickets in local matches. On Monday, 21 August, he made his first-class debut for Kent in the County Championship match against Yorkshire at the Angel Ground, which he now regarded as his "home ground". Kent, whose season to date had been poor, surprisingly won the match by 8 wickets against the Championship favourites. Yorkshire, captained by Lord Hawke, won the toss and decided to bat. Somewhat sensationally, Yorkshire were quickly reduced to 18 for 3 by Kent captain Jack Mason, who took all three wickets for just one run. The situation changed when Frank Mitchell came in as, with support from Ted Wainwright and George Hirst, he began to punish the Kent bowlers. The score had reached 86 for 4 with Mitchell 55 not out when Mason decided to introduce Blythe into the attack. With his first-ever ball in first-class cricket, Blythe pitched it just off the wicket and it turned to beat Mitchell's lunge and remove his legside bail. He took another wicket in the second innings and retained his first team place in each of the three remaining matches. He ended the season with 14 wickets, including six in the match (three in each innings) against Surrey. The 1900 edition of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack described him as a "new and promising bowler".