Lives in Cricket No 5 - Rockley Wilson

Chapter Three After Graduation There was little time after Rockley had returned from the tour to assess the resources he would have at Cambridge for the 1902 season. Following the drawn matches in the three previous years, his main ambition as captain was to beat Oxford, a feat which his brother Clem had not achieved in his year as captain. He knew that he would be handicapped by the limitations of his bowling attack which, as in 1901, was heavily dependent on E.M.Dowson and himself. He pointed up this problem in a controversial way in a trial match at the beginning of the season. Captaining the First Twelve against the Next Sixteen in a trial match, he took fourteen for 73 in the Next’s second innings. There was criticism that he had bowled himself so much, but his reason was that the bowling he had at his disposal in the Best Twelve was so weak that he had to bowl to make the trial match of any value. Events were to justify his view and the incident showed the imagination that Rockley could bring to his captaincy. Of the eleven first-class matches that Cambridge played that season, four were won, four lost and three drawn. The summer of 1902 was exceptionally wet and a number of Cambridge’s fixtures early in the season were ruined by rain. Had the weather been better there is no doubt that the University’s results would have been impressive. Among Cambridge’s victories was a splendid win against Surrey at The Oval. The University would in all probability have beaten them in the match at Fenner’s earlier in the season had rain not brought the match to a premature close with Surrey following on in their second innings, having been shot out in the first for 92 with Wilson taking four for 53 and Dowson six for 33. A powerful Australian side beat the University by an innings and 183 runs with Victor Trumper scoring 128 out of Australia’s 337. 29 Although Rockley Wilson took some punishment in this match, finishing with 4 for 107 off 38 overs, he would surely have admired 36 29 This innings was the highest of eleven centuries scored by Trumper in the 1902 season, showing that, once past the hundred mark, he was often ready to make way for a team-mate.