Lives in Cricket No 5 - Rockley Wilson

century wore on, it came increasingly to be challenged by the appeal of the less leisurely baseball. In 1844 a cricket match between teams from the United States and Canada became the first international sporting event in the modern world. By the middle of the century Philadelphia had become the leading centre for cricket though it was also played in other places including New York, Boston, Baltimore, Chicago and Pittsburgh. Haverford College, ten miles from Philadelphia, founded in 1833 by Quakers and one of North America’s leading liberal arts colleges, became a nursery of many great American players. (When the College had toured England in 1896, Rockley Wilson had played against them for Rugby School.) The College and the club sides in Philadelphia, often coached by English professionals, thrived. In the sport’s heyday there were more than one hundred cricket clubs in the area. From the ranks of the local clubs, the Gentlemen of Philadelphia teams were selected. There were cup and league competitions and an annual Gentlemen v Players fixture. Tours to England were organised. From 1870 onwards there were frequent tours of North America by teams from England and Australia and West Indies. The cricket was of such a standard that there was serious talk of Test matches being played one day. 27 The first match of Bosanquet’s tourists was against Eighteen Philadelphia Colts on 20, 21 and 23 September, 1901 and the final one against an Eleven of Canada in Toronto on 11 and 12 October. In between a twelve-a-side match was played against the Knickerbocker Athletic Club of Bayonne, New Jersey and two matches against the Gentlemen of Philadelphia. These latter were the matches that mattered both to the team and in terms of the development of Rockley Wilson’s career. The tour was not a success and for Rockley it was a very great disappointment. The tourists won three and lost two of their matches. In all matches, Wilson scored only 67 runs, top score 37, at an average of 8.37. With the ball, he took only 14 wickets at an average of 15.71. Of the two first-class matches against the Gentlemen of Philadelphia, the tourists won the first game by 61 runs but were soundly beaten by 229 runs in the second. Wilson’s performances were wretched. Opening the innings in both matches, his scores were two, nine, seven and nine, an average of 6.75. He also had limited success School and University 32 27 The writer has drawn on Rowland Bowen, Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development throughout the World , Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1970, for information on cricket in America at this time: likewise, later, for information on cricket in the West Indies and Argentina.