73 Facts About Sammy Woods

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.

Sammy Woods played at county level in England at both soccer and hockey.

Sammy Woods was part of a strong cricket team at the college; in the 23 matches he played for them, only two were lost.

Sammy Woods made his first-class cricket debut shortly after leaving Brighton College, in August 1886, playing for GN Wyatt's XI against the touring Australians.

Woods played the first three of his six Test cricket matches during his first year at Cambridge, called up to the Australian squad to face England in 1888 after Sammy Jones contracted smallpox.

Sammy Woods twice claimed in excess of a hundred first-class wickets in an English season, and averaged under twenty in five consecutive seasons from 1888.

Primarily an aggressive batsman, Sammy Woods had fast footwork and was capable of powerful strokes all around the ground, though he favoured the square cut.

Samuel Moses James, or Sammy as he commonly came to be known, was born to John Woods and Margaret Ewing on 13 April 1867.

Sammy Woods's parents, both born and raised in Ireland, had emigrated to Australia in 1853 shortly after their wedding.

Sammy Woods was one of five boys all of whom were athletic, and at the age of ten he played a match for an under-16s team captained by one of his elder brothers.

Sammy Woods often missed school to watch cricket, and recounts that on more than one occasion he "got a jolly good caning".

Sammy Woods played a number of matches for the Manly cricket club, taking part in challenge matches which on occasion included famous cricketers of the day such as Fred Spofforth and Billy Murdoch.

When he was aged 16, Sammy Woods' father decided to send him and his younger brother, Harris, to complete their education in England.

Sammy Woods joined Brighton College in August 1884, and after playing a couple of cricket matches, the weather turned and the football season began.

Sammy Woods's newly discovered prowess at soccer did not detract from his cricketing skills.

Alongside the Sammy Woods brothers were a number of other players who would go on to appear in county cricket; George Cotterill and George Wilson both played for Sussex, while Leslie Gay made one Test appearance for England in addition to representing Hampshire and Somerset.

Sammy Woods topped the bowling averages in both his years at the school; in the first he claimed 59 wickets at an average just over eight, figures which he improved upon during his second year when he took 78 wickets at an average of 7.3.

Sammy Woods claimed that after practising the delivery for hours, he took a wicket with the first one he ever bowled, dismissing GG Hearne caught and bowled in a match against the Marylebone Cricket Club and Ground.

Sammy Woods left Brighton College in 1886, aged 19, and shortly after, in August of the same year, he made his first-class cricket debut.

Sammy Woods claimed that he strained his side trying to bowl too fast, and would have done better otherwise.

Sammy Woods reflected in his reminiscences that his father wanted him to "learn business habits" before he went to university.

Sammy Woods soon became a key figure in the town's sport, playing for both the cricket and rugby teams.

Somerset were not at the time a first-class county, and Sammy Woods travelled up to Edgbaston, Birmingham to play Warwickshire, who similarly lacked first-class status.

Sammy Woods continued to play for Somerset in 1887, generally batting as part of the lower order.

Sammy Woods collected ten wickets against the Marylebone Cricket Club during this time.

Sammy Woods entered Jesus College, Cambridge in 1888 and soon became a vibrant part of the social community.

Sammy Woods joined port wine and oyster clubs, and played both cricket and rugby during his time at the university.

Sammy Woods had applied to Oxford University, who had turned him down, not realising his sporting abilities.

Sammy Woods 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.

Sammy Woods continued to bowl effectively for the university side, claiming another twelve wickets during a match against Yorkshire, nine of the twelve being bowled.

Sammy Woods 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.

Sammy Woods gained colours for Jesus College in both rugby and soccer.

Sammy Woods 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.

Sammy Jones, an all-rounder from Sydney, fell ill with smallpox early during the tour, and due to the Australians only having a thirteen-man squad, Woods was invited into the tourists squad.

Sammy Woods scored 18 and 3 batting from number six, and claimed one wicket during the first innings; the only wicket taken by Australia that did not fall to either Charlie Turner or John Ferris during the match.

Sammy Woods claimed two wickets in each of the other two Test matches, but failed to reach double figures when batting in any innings.

In 1889, Sammy Woods was named by Wisden Cricketers' Almanack as one of the "Six Great Bowlers of the Year" due to his performances for Cambridge and Australia.

Sammy Woods picked up five first innings wickets in his second match of the year, against the Marylebone Cricket Club, and in his next match a couple of day later, achieved his best bowling analysis in an innings to that point, claiming eight wickets against AJ Webbe's XI.

Sammy Woods claimed another eleven wickets in the match against Yorkshire, taking five in the first innings and six in the second.

Sammy Woods proved one of the deciding factors, claiming eleven wickets in the match, of which seven were bowled, and two were in combination with wicket-keeper Gregor MacGregor.

Sammy Woods performed well, but without much note in the two Gentlemen v Players fixtures in London, claiming three wickets in an innings twice, but both games resulted in victories for the Players.

Sammy Woods continued this wicket-taking form into his next two matches, both first-class, taking seven wickets in the second innings against I Zingari for the Gentlemen of England, aggregating eleven wickets in the match, and a few days later he claimed ten wickets in a match for the Marylebone Cricket Club against Yorkshire.

Sammy Woods completed his second full season of first-class cricket with 74 wickets, at a bowling average of 16.74, roughly equivalent to his figure from the previous season.

Sammy Woods took on the captaincy of the university side during his third year, a role he had taken up twice before in 1889.

Sammy Woods picked up four wickets in each innings, but more significantly, Oxford were restricted to 42 in their first innings.

Sammy Woods top-scored with the bat for Cambridge in their second innings, hitting 27 runs.

Sammy Woods, who had not been ready to bat, ran to the wicket without pads or gloves, and hit the first ball he was delivered for a boundary to long-on.

Sammy Woods led the Cambridge bowling averages in each of the four seasons that he played at the university, and in 28 first-class matches for the side he claimed 190 wickets at an average of 14.93, taking five wickets in an innings on 19 occasions, and ten wickets in a match seven times.

Sammy Woods continued to bowl well throughout the season, and finished as Somerset's leading wicket taker in the Championship in 1891, claiming 72 of his 134 wickets for the county.

Sammy Woods took ten wickets, and scored a half-century in the match against Yorkshire at Park Avenue, Bradford, and in so doing reached 100 first-class wickets in a season for the first time.

Later in the same month, Sammy Woods opened the Somerset bowling alongside Ted Tyler against Gloucestershire.

Sammy Woods claimed a further three wickets in Gloucestershire's second innings, and Somerset completed an innings victory on day two of the match.

Sammy Woods fared significantly better in the second match, having apparently found his 'land-legs'.

Sammy Woods collected 15 wickets for 86 runs against the same opponents, and the visitors won by four wickets.

Sammy Woods did not spend long at this peak though; he averaged below twenty in each of his first five full seasons, from 1888 until 1892, but did not manage the feat again during an English season.

Sammy Woods soon developed into a more accurate and tactical bowler, including variety intentionally.

The slower ball that Sammy Woods developed after watching George Lohmann became a vital part of his attack, and Warner believed it was this ball, and his ability to disguise it, that was "what made him a really great bowler".

Sammy Woods was described by Grace as having "a high action".

When Sammy Woods moved to Bridgwater in 1886 after completing his time at Brighton College, he almost immediately began playing for the town's rugby team.

Sammy Woods described his first two seasons with the club as being wonderful, especially 1887, in which Bridgwater only lost one match, the last of the season against Exeter.

Sammy Woods began his time at the club as a three-quarters back, and was called into the Somerset side for their first tour of the north of England.

Sammy Woods selected to play for the South in 1888, and although England did not compete internationally that year due to disputes between the national boards, Woods was disappointed not to be chosen as part of the "imaginary XV".

Sammy Woods played over 30 times for Somerset, and captained the county between 1893 and 1896.

Sammy Woods was often a guest of the Hancock family, and appeared a number of times for Wiveliscombe, for whom seven of the ten Hancock brothers appeared.

Sammy Woods joined him on occasion, and soon became an irregular player, appearing for the side throughout the early 1890s.

Around the same time, Sammy Woods became one of the founding members of the Barbarians, and served on the club's committee for some time.

Sammy Woods was one of eight England debutants in the match, in which he played as a forward.

Sammy Woods played in both of England's other two 1890 Home Nations Championship matches, both of which were won by England, who shared the championship with Scotland.

Sammy Woods captained them again in 1893, but took on the captaincy on a more permanent basis in 1895, taking charge of the team for all three Home Nations matches.

Sammy Woods was known for his strong tackling, described by an 1892 publication, Football, the Rugby Union Game, as "exceedingly severe", while Gilbert Jessop joked that an opponent may prefer to be hit by a motor-car than tackled by Woods in a close match.

Sammy Woods served initially as a temporary lieutenant in the Royal Warwickshire Fusiliers before transferring to the Devon Regiment in 1916.

Sammy Woods was forced to resign his commission on 14 March 1919 due to ill-health and was given the substantive rank of captain.

Sammy Woods remained a very popular and well-known figure in Somerset even after his cricket-playing days were long over.