page_title: Tom Wills
section_title: Grace and comeback attempt
hierarchical_section_title: Tom Wills / Grace and comeback attempt
caption_attribution_description: English: Lithograph, 37 x 23.5 cm.
context_page_description: Thomas Wentworth Wills was an Australian sportsman who is credited with being Australia's first cricketer of significance and a founder of Australian rules football. Born in the British penal colony of New South Wales to a wealthy family descended from convicts, Wills grew up in the bush on stations owned by his father, the squatter and politician Horatio Wills, in what is now the state of Victoria. As a child, he befriended local Aboriginal people, learning their language and customs. Aged 14, Wills went to England to attend Rugby School, where he became captain of its cricket team and played an early version of rugby football. After Rugby, Wills represented Cambridge University in the annual cricket match against Oxford, and played at first-class level for Kent and the Marylebone Cricket Club. An athletic bowling all-rounder with tactical nous, he was regarded as one of the finest young cricketers in England.
  Returning to Victoria in 1856, Wills achieved Australia-wide stardom as a cricketer, captaining the Victorian team to repeated victories in intercolonial matches.
context_section_description: W. G. Grace, the Victorian era's most famous cricketer, brought an English team to Australia in 1873–74. Wills strove to play for Victoria against Grace and rival factions fought over his possible inclusion. Hammersley, a selector, ensured that he missed out. Wills went on to tour with, and play against the Englishmen. Irked by Wills' constant presence, Grace remarked that he seemed to regard himself as a representative of the whole of Australia. It was assumed that, on his homeward journey, Grace would play a final match in the South Australian capital of Adelaide, but he bypassed the city when Kadina, a remote mining town in the Copper Triangle, offered him more money. Wills coached Kadina's miners and captained them against Grace's XI. Played in an open, rock-strewn plain of baked earth, the game was deemed a farce. Wills made a pair and Grace later wrote of the "old Rugbeian" as a has-been. Grace neglected to mention that Wills bowled him, ending with 6/28.
  In Geelong, Wills was still idolised, though he seemed discontented, seeking any chance to earn money through cricket in the major cities. He maintained an interest in the development of football, what he called "the king of games". He continued to suggest rule changes, such as the push in the back rule to curb injuries, and, as captain of Geelong, helped shape the sport's playing style. Utilising the speed and skill of Geelong's young players, Wills devised an innovative game plan—what he called "scientific football"—based on passing and running into open space. He pioneered another tactical manoeuvre in Ballarat by ordering his men to flood the backline to prevent the home side from scoring. Having enraged the crowd, he and his men incited them further by wasting time and deliberately kicking the ball out of bounds. A few years later, in a rare act of diplomacy, Wills quelled tensions after a rival club used his "unchivalrous tactics" against Geelong. He played his last football game in 1874.
  After Wills' ejection from top-class cricket in 1872, the Victoria XI suffered a streak of losses against New South Wales. In his 1874–75 Australian Cricketers' Guide, Wills argued that Victoria needed a new captain. "No one reading his words could mistake its intent—what Victoria needed was Tom Wills", writes de Moore. For the first time in years, Wills' name appeared on the Victorian selectors' shortlist of players for the next intercolonial against New South Wales. Noting his faded skills and sullied reputation, the Melbourne press lamented, "There is some sentimental notion afloat that as a captain he is peerless." Pessimism gave way to hope as Wills promised to restore the colony's glory, and in February 1876 he led the Victoria XI onto the Albert Ground. Batting last in the order, he went for 0 and 4 and failed to take a wicket despite bowling the most overs of his side. The media blamed him for Victoria's 195-run loss. In turn, he blamed his teammates.
caption: An 1873 caricature of W. G. Grace. In his obituaries, Wills was referred to as "the Grace of Australia".[214]
exif: {}