page_title: Sammy Woods
section_title: First year
hierarchical_section_title: Sammy Woods / Cambridge University / First year
caption_attribution_description: Jesus College Gatehouse and the “Chimney” (Cambridge)
context_page_description: Samuel Moses James Woods was an Australian sportsman who represented both Australia and England at Test cricket, and appeared thirteen times for England at rugby union, including five times as captain. He also played at county level in England at both soccer and hockey. At cricket—his primary sport—he played over four hundred first-class matches in a twenty-four-year career. The majority of these matches were for his county side, Somerset, whom he captained from 1894 to 1906. A. A. Thomson described him thus: "Sammy ... radiated such elemental force in hard hitting, fast bowling and electrical fielding that he might have been the forerunner of Sir Learie Constantine."
  Having moved to England at the age of sixteen to complete his education, Woods became entrenched in English sport. Having already played cricket and rugby growing up in Australia, at Brighton College he began playing soccer, and while still at the college, represented Sussex at the sport. Woods was also part of a strong cricket team at the college; in the 23 matches he played for them, only two were lost.
context_section_description: Woods entered Jesus College, Cambridge in 1888 and soon became a vibrant part of the social community. He joined port wine and oyster clubs, (known as Rhadegund and the Natives respectively) and played both cricket and rugby during his time at the university. He had also applied to Oxford University, who had turned him down, not realising his sporting abilities. He made his debut for the university at Fenner's in May 1888, claiming his first five-wicket haul in first-class cricket when he bowled four members of CI Thornton's XI, and had another one caught. Despite his wickets, he was relatively expensive, and the visiting side beat Cambridge easily. A week later, Woods improved on his performance against a 'Gentlemen of England' side which was also captained by Thornton, and claimed seven wickets in the first innings and another five in the second innings, top-scoring with the bat for Cambridge in-between, to help the university to a six wicket victory. This match also saw Woods take the only first-class hat-trick of his career.
  He continued to bowl effectively for the university side, claiming another twelve wickets during a match against Yorkshire, nine of the twelve being bowled. He topped both the batting and the bowling averages for Cambridge during his first year, and gained his Blue in cricket, claiming six wickets in Oxford University's only innings of a match that was drawn, due to rain, with Cambridge the better of the two sides. In Geoffrey Bolton's History of the O.U.C.C., the author offers the opinion that the Cambridge side relied on the bowling of Woods, and although the rain initially softened the ground too much for his fast bowling, "when it had dried, he was irresistible." He also gained a Blue in rugby union, despite breaking his collarbone in an early game for the university. He also gained colours for Jesus College in both rugby and soccer. During his first year at Cambridge, Woods made his first appearances in the Gentlemen v Players fixture, representing the Gentlemen at both Lord's and The Oval in early July. In the first of the two matches, he claimed five wickets in each innings to help secure the Gentlemen a narrow five run victory. He collected another five wickets in the first innings of the match at The Oval, but could not prevent the Players achieving an innings victory, scoring a duck in the first innings and six runs in the second.
caption: The Gatehouse of Jesus College, Cambridge, where Woods spent four years.
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