Lives in Cricket No 5 - Rockley Wilson

sides. Notable among these were Northern Nomads for whom he turned in some excellent performances. In the early 1900s, when Clem Wilson was often also in the Nomads team, Rockley had several hauls of five wickets or more in a Scarborough innings, the best being nine for 23 in Scarborough’s second innings and fifteen wickets in the match in 1905. These fixtures were part of the Scarborough Local Cricket Week. As we have seen, Rockley had first experienced the Scarborough Cricket Festival at the first-class level in 1902. In the 1920s, the Festival with its holiday atmosphere and large, good-natured crowds attracted by the participation of some of cricket’s big names, was still a special occasion in the cricket calendar and one that appealed strongly to Rockley Wilson. Now among the best-known and liked of England’s amateur cricketers and with a wide circle of friends in the game and in “society”, Rockley could enjoy not only the cricket but also the socialising, dinners and entertainments that were the accompaniments to the matches. After this traditional end to the 1920 domestic season, Rockley would have been full of anticipation as he returned to Winchester for a few weeks before the start of the tour of Australia. First-Class Cricket After the War 76