Lives in Cricket No 5 - Rockley Wilson

raiser against A.J.Webbe’s XI, and four matches for Yorkshire, the last against Essex at Harrogate starting on 2 August. For Cambridge, after a slow start to the season, he scored 569 runs at 29.94, placing him third in the University’s batting averages. His highest score was 82 against Sussex at Hove and the next 80 against Surrey at Fenner’s. He took 21 wickets for Cambridge at 26.76, with one quite outstanding performance of seven for 79 against MCC at Lord’s. He also had the satisfaction of dismissing W.G. in the return fixture against London County at Crystal Palace. While Grace was in the twilight of his career, it can be pointed out that he had made his final Test appearance for England only in the previous season. Rockley’s satisfaction at his dismissal would have been increased had he known that W.G.’s opinion of him, on first seeing Wilson bowl, was “Well! Of all the bad bowlers I’ve ever seen, this fellow is the very worst.” In the high-scoring drawn match against Oxford University, Wilson batted competently, scoring 45 and 23 not out in Cambridge’s two innings, but he failed to take a single Oxford wicket. Reviewing the Cambridge season, Wisden referred to Wilson as a “capital” batsman but added cuttingly that as a bowler he “could not inspire batsmen with the least feeling of apprehension.” The Press could also be scathing of his bowling in his early years at Cambridge. The Evening News , for example, reported that “Wilson serves up a slow, tired-looking sort of ball.” 25 Rockley was to show that these were premature judgements. His slow right-arm bowling was to prove increasingly effective as he gained experience against top-class batsmen. This experience continued in four matches for Yorkshire where the absence of Stanley Jackson and Frank Mitchell provided a further opportunity. But Rockley did not make good use of his chance. He scored only 63 runs, 41 of them in one innings against Nottinghamshire and was rarely bowled, taking only four wickets, albeit at a miserly 6.75. He had been injured during the second match, against Worcestershire, and then had to miss a few games, but this was hardly an excuse. Taking the season as a whole he scored 632 runs at 27.47 and took 25 wickets at 23.56. These were respectable figures, but after his disappointing performances for Yorkshire, it was not surprising that the county did not call upon him in 1901. School and University 28 25 Interview in Cricket , 6 July, 1905, p.242, also the source for the remark by W.G.Grace.