Lives in Cricket No 5 - Rockley Wilson

Alwyn Wilson, was born in 1868. A medium-fast bowler, he played for Trinity College, Cambridge and for the University in three first-class matches but did not win a Blue – he was contemporary with the redoubtable Sam Woods. He played for various other clubs including Sheffield Collegiate, Old Rugbeians, Free Foresters, Butterflies and for Worcestershire before the county club achieved first-class status. Rowland Alwyn also entered the church and was ordained in 1894. Like his father, he ended his clerical career as a canon. Clem and Rockley also played for Sheffield Collegiate in their younger days. At least once all five brothers were in the team. Rockley’s first appearance for the club seems to have been in 1896, when he had a couple of five-wicket hauls. A photograph of the Sheffield Collegiate team against Hallam taken in 1897 or 1898 includes a youthful Rockley as well as his brothers R.A. and C.R.Wilson. While at Cambridge, and indeed for a few years afterwards, Rockley made occasional appearances for Sheffield Collegiate though not always with the success that might have been expected of such a talented cricketer. The report of a match in 1901 against Sheffield United comments “The visitors had the assistance of E.R.Wilson, next year’s Cambridge captain, but in neither department of the game was he successful, his two wickets being secured at an expensive cost while he had about ten minutes batting in which he made 11.” There were games when he justified his reputation, however. He scored 101 not out and took five for 38 against Shireoaks in 1906, for example. Sheffield Collegiate Cricket Club was therefore an important part of the cricketing lives of the Wilson family. The Club was founded in 1881 by ex-pupils of the Sheffield Collegiate School. In its early years the club played many of its matches at Bramall Lane. In due course it acquired its own ground at Tinsley, Sheffield, and then entered sides in local cricket leagues. In 1919 Sheffield Collegiate moved to Abbeydale Park since when it has been a major force in league cricket in South Yorkshire. 6 At a less serious level of cricket, in the 1880s Rex and Cyril, and occasionally one of the other brothers, played for Bolsterstone in The Wilson Family 14 6 The writer has drawn on David Wilson’s fascinating book, A Century of the Sheffield Collegiate Cricket Club , published privately in 1981. David Wilson was a prominent member of the Club after the Second World War. Rockley Wilson was the most celebrated cricketer to have played for Sheffield Collegiate until Michael Vaughan wrested that honour from him 100 years later.