Lives in Cricket No 5 - Rockley Wilson

to continue his cricketing education. The first first-class match in the Caribbean had been in 1865, the first inter-colonial tournament in 1891 after which West Indian cricket developed rapidly. The first tour of the West Indies had been in 1895 and the first West Indies tour to England in 1900. Bennett’s party was not as strong as the one with which Rockley toured America. Almost all the players were under 30, “young blades” mostly from wealthy backgrounds. Only six of the party had played a full season of English cricket: there were only three regular bowlers, Bosanquet, E.M.Dowson and Wilson, and there was no depth to the batting. The side took their own umpire, A.A.White, at 31 one of the younger umpires in English first-class cricket: he had, though, umpired in the West Indies before, with A.A.Priestley’s touring side of 1897. The tour was a long and arduous one, involving some 2,800 miles of travel by steamship between venues, on top of the 3,800 miles outward journey. The tourists played no fewer than 19 matches between 22 January and 9 April, 1902 of which 13 were won, five lost and one drawn. Thirteen of the matches were of first-class standard, namely two against each of Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and British Guiana and three matches against Combined West Indies XIs. The West Indies won this “series” by two matches to one. Immediately on arriving in the West Indies Rockley received the news that his mother had died in Bolsterstone. There was of course no way in which a touring cricketer could return home in such circumstances. Not surprisingly Wilson stood down for the first match of the tour, with J.A.Davenport, an Army officer, being co-opted into the eleven as not all the side had arrived in Barbados. (Davenport scored two ducks, did not bowl and did not take a catch.) But after this sad beginning, and despite finding the climate decidedly uncomfortable, the tour was more successful for Rockley than his earlier trip to North America. Playing in 18 of the 19 matches, he scored 446 runs, with a highest score of 81, at an average of 20.27, and topped the bowling averages with 78 wickets at 10.37. In the first-class matches, Wilson scored 402 runs at an average of 25.12 and took 67 wickets at 11.44, conceding only 1.84 runs per six-ball over. His best performance came in the third match against the Combined West Indies XI, at Georgetown, British Guiana, which the visitors won by an innings and 330 runs. Wilson did not trouble the scorers in his innings, but had an outstanding match with the ball taking seven for 46 and seven for 16 in the 34 School and University