Born in Nottingham on 28 December 1872, Arthur Wilikinson, a right-hand bat and right-arm medium pacer, played for Notts Castle CC. He appeared for Notts in a two-day friendly versus Warwickshire at Edgbaston in June 1892. The following year, he took part in the Notts Colts match and the subsequent game versus Yorkshire Colts; also in 1893 he played for the Professionals v Amateurs at Trent Bridge. He again played versus Yorkshire Colts in 1894, batting well in both innings for scores of 21 and 45. Wilkinson made his First-Class debut for Notts v Somerset at Trent Bridge in July 1894, when he took 6-66 in the match – he had previously been selected for the County but Nelson CC refused to release him. In his next outing at Hove he had figures of 9.1-5-9-3 in the Sussex first innings. He played a further two championship games in 1894.
The following season, he was a regular in the first-team playing 15 First-Class matches. In the championship opener against Sussex at Trent Bridge, Wilkinson hit 62 in 45 minutes and took a career best 5-56 in the first innings, but otherwise his performances were moderate. His chief claim to fame was an incident in the Yorkshire match at Trent Bridge. His wicket was put down, while he was out of the crease and the umpire, upon appeal, gave him out. Wilkinson claimed that he thought he had hit a boundary, since several fieldsmen shouted “four”. He was allowed to continue his innings; neither ball nor hit being counted. The Nottingham Daily Express described Wilkinson as a peg-away, drop on the spot, type of bowler and a dashing bat. His last First- Class game was versus Lancashire at Old Trafford in 1895. In 19 First-Class matches for Notts he scored 293 runs @9.76 and took 33 wickets @28.06.
He played as an amateur in 1893 but as a professional later, being engaged with Nelson CC in the Lancashire League during 1894 and at Cambridge University in 1895.
In later life, Wilkinson was living in Carrington. He died at Vale Brook Lodge (formerly known as Bagthorpe Workhouse) in Nottingham on 26 December 1939 aged 66 years. Despite appearing to have hit hard times he left £135 3s 3d in his will.
June 2020
Nottinghamshire First-Class Number: 232
See Arthur Wilkinson's career stats here