possible early reference to his gamesmanship. As a "dodger" in the forward line who served his house's kicker, he took long and accurate shots at goal. Wills also shone in the school's annual athletics carnival and frequently won the long-distance running game Hare and Hounds. Wills cut a dashing figure with "impossibly wavy" hair and blue, almond-shaped eyes that "[burnt] with a pale light". By age 16 at 5'8" he had already outgrown his father. In Lillywhite's Guide a few years later he measured in at 5'10" and it was written that "few athletes can boast of a more muscular and well-developed frame". Consumed by sport, Wills fell behind in academics, much to his father's chagrin. One schoolmate recalled that he "could not bring himself to study for professional work" after "having led a sort of nomadic life when a youth in Australia". Suffering from homesickness, Wills decorated his study with objects to remind him of Australia, including Aboriginal weapons. In a letter to Tom, Horatio informed him that his childhood friends, the Djab wurrung, often spoke about him: "They told me to send you up to them as soon as you came back." Libertine cricketer In June 1855, nearing his 20th birthday, Wills finished his schooling. Hailed as Rugby's exemplar sportsman, his status as a cricketer had come to define him in the eyes of others. In a farewell tribute, fellow students referred to him simply as "the school bowler". After leaving Rugby, and with a steady supply of money from his father, Wills roamed Britain in pursuit of cricketing pleasure. Regarded as "one of the most promising cricketers in the kingdom", he played with royalty, made first-class appearances for the MCC, Kent County Cricket Club, and various Gentlemen sides, and also fell in with the I Zingari—the "gypsy lords of English cricket"—a club of wealthy amateurs known for their exotic costumes and hedonistic lifestyles. Against Horatio's wishes, Tom, having failed to matriculate, did not continue his studies at Cambridge, but played for the university's cricket team (as well as Magdalene College), most notably against Oxford in 1856 when rules barring non-students from playing in the University Match were ignored, Cambridge claiming to be "one man short". In June, Wills played cricket at Rugby School for the last time, representing the MCC alongside Lord Guernsey, the Earl of Winterton, and Charles du Cane, governor-to-be of Tasmania. Following a month