Lives in Cricket No 5 - Rockley Wilson

aiming to pitch on a pocket handkerchief. Rockley’s skills were reinforced by a keen appreciation of a batsman’s strengths and weaknesses. He was adept at setting the right field for each opponent and many a batsman was lured into hitting the ball to the precise spot where a fielder had been positioned. He hardly ever pitched short. If Rockley was to be hit, a batsman had to be prepared to use his feet to get to the pitch of the ball and to correctly judge its pace and flight. Even then it was a risky business and the fact is that Rockley Wilson was rarely knocked off his length in any serious match. He did not mind conceding the odd boundary when it was part of his plan to get a wicket. In one county match at Bramall Lane, Frank Mann (a good friend of Rockley) hit him for two successive sixes into the bowling green alongside the pavilion. As Rockley would have it, the next ball was a little wider and a little higher and was skied to Waddington in the deep, exactly as the bowler had planned. 5 Exaggeration or not, Rockley’s accuracy and guile are beyond question. When it came to fielding, in his early years Rockley was a good close fielder, his best position being in the slips. And he was always an excellent fielder off his own bowling. But he had a weak throwing arm and was something of a liability if posted to the outfield. As we shall see this weakness was to bring him much distress when he played in Australia in 1920/21. The three elder brothers were all competent cricketers but not in the same class as Clem and Rockley. The eldest, Reginald Thorp Wilson (always known as Rex) born in 1866, played for Cambridge Crusaders, effectively the University’s Second XI, and for Sheffield Collegiate Cricket Club after he had established himself in the family solicitor practice in the town. He was President of Sheffield Collegiate from 1910 to 1953. Cyril Reynold Wilson was born in 1867. At Oxford he played for Exeter College but not for the University. He also became a solicitor in Sheffield and played for Sheffield Collegiate Cricket Club. He was a leg break bowler of a similar style to Rockley Wilson and in a long playing career he took many wickets for the club. His enthusiasm for cricket over many years made him the best known of the Wilson brothers in the Sheffield area. Cyril was a Vice-President of Sheffield Collegiate in the 1920s and served for 32 years on the Committee of the Yorkshire County Cricket Club. The third of the brothers, Rowland The Wilson Family 13 5 Rockley took Mann’s wicket eleven times in first-class cricket, more often than any other batsman who faced him.