Lives in Cricket No 5 - Rockley Wilson

however, and suggested that the authorities should take steps to stop it. This led the mayor of the township to say that Wilson’s sarcastic reaction to the crowd’s shouts made him the responsible party. It was reported that Wilson responded that he would see that MCC never visited Bendigo again, though Rockley strongly denied he had said any such thing. After this match, Rockley wrote to his sister that he was the most unpopular man in Australia. Did he but know it, his popularity was destined to sink even lower. Travelling immediately after the Second Test at Melbourne by train to another country match against a Ballarat XV, a game where Rockley captained the MCC side, he was involved in a bizarre incident that led to more criticism and unpleasantness. He was playing cards with his overcoat over the players’ knees for a table when the coat, with some valuables in the pockets, was suddenly whisked through the carriage window. The communication cord was pulled and the items quickly and successfully recovered, but Rockley was reported for pulling the communication cord without justification and inconveniencing other passengers. There is some dispute whether or not it was Rockley who stopped the train, but it was certainly Rockley who was pilloried when the story was reported in the newspapers as “the man who stopped our train.” One irate Australian even sent him a miniature lavatory chain with his abusive letter: the letter remains among the Wilson papers – but not the chain. After these incidents, Wilson was regularly barracked by the Australian crowds at any match and, in his turn, so was Fender. It got to such a pitch that police protection was requested for the MCC team for the second match against Victoria in February that was immediately to precede the Fourth Test at Melbourne. The request, which hardly endeared the tourists to the crowd, was refused. In the Test, Fender was noisily barracked, a section of the crowd shouting in unison P lease G o H ome F ender, a chant that was taken up on all his subsequent appearances on the tour. It was in the final Test at Sydney, however, that the most serious incidents occurred. It all began when England took the field in the final stages of the first day, having scored only 204 in their first innings. Jack Hobbs had torn a thigh muscle in the previous match against New South Wales and had only agreed at the last minute to play in the Test, and then only under a deal of pressure from his captain. Hobbs was much handicapped in the field and his laboured running after the ball was greeted with derisory shouts Australia and After 83