Rockley Wilson

Infobox Historic Cricketer


nationality = English
country = England
country abbrev = ENG
name = Rockley Wilson
picture = Cricket_no_pic.pngbatting style = Right-hand bat
bowling style = Right-arm slow
tests = 1
test runs = 10
test bat avg = 5.00
test 100s/50s = -/-
test top score = 5
test balls = 123
test wickets = 3
test bowl avg = 12.00
test 5s = -
test 10s = -
test best bowling = 2/28
test catches/stumpings = -/-
FCs = 136
FC runs = 3565
FC bat avg = 22.00
FC 100s/50s = 4/15
FC top score = 142
FC balls = 23852
FC wickets = 467
FC bowl avg = 17.63
FC 5s = 26
FC 10s = 5
FC best bowling = 7/16
FC catches/stumpings = 106/-
debut date = 25 February
debut year = 1921
last date = 25 February
last year = 1921
source = http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/22471.html

Evelyn Rockley Wilson (born March 25, 1879 in Bolsterstone, Yorkshire, died July 21, 1957 in Winchester, Hampshire), was a cricketer who played for Cambridge University, Yorkshire and England.

An amateur whose main profession was as a schoolmaster for 40 years at Winchester College, Rockley Wilson bowled slow right-arm spinners that could go either way and batted well enough to score a century on first-class debut and another one in the annual Varsity match. He played a little for Yorkshire from 1899, but after leaving Cambridge in 1902, he then played no first-class cricket for the next 10 years, preferring, or so he claimed, to play three club matches a week rather than two county games.

But after an approach in 1913 by Hampshire, where he lived, was turned down, he was persuaded to rejoin Yorkshire, the county of his birth, and stayed with them until 1923, playing mostly in August school holidays. In 1920, at the age of 41, he bowled so successfully that he finished fourth in the national averages and was given leave from Winchester to tour Australia with the 1920-21 MCC team led by Johnny Douglas.

In a disastrous series in which the Australian cricket team won all five Tests, Wilson made his Test debut at the age of 41 years and 337 days, the second oldest debutant in English cricket (after James Southerton in the very first Test match of them all in 1877). He scored five in each innings and took three wickets cheaply, but MCC still lost the match. Wilson also ran into trouble on the tour for filing reports back to the Daily Express newspaper. As a result, when he subsequently encountered Lord Harris in the Long Room at Lord's, the encounter was frosty. Harris offered him only the most cursory of handshakes, leaving him to observe loudly enough for Harris to hear as he moved on: "Lucky to get a touch really, lucky to get a touch." [EW Swanton, "Sort of a Cricket Person", Collins, 1972, p30.]

Known as a witty, self-deprecating man, Wilson is credited as a big influence on several generations of public school cricketers at Winchester. Amongst his pupils was Douglas Jardine. Just before the 1932-3 Bodyline series, Wilson was asked by a journalist what England's prospects were under Jardine's captaincy. "He might well win us the Ashes," Wilson said, "but he might lose us a Dominion."

His brother, Clem Wilson, also played for Yorkshire and England.

Notes

References

* [http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/22471.html Cricinfo profile including his Wisden Obituary]