school in the country. In his scheme for his children, Horatio wanted Tom to go on to study law at the University of Cambridge and return to Australia as a "professional man of eminence". Tom arrived in London after a five-month sea voyage. There, during school holidays, he stayed with his paternal aunt Sarah, who moved from Sydney after the death of her first husband, convict William Redfern. Reforms enacted by famed headmaster Thomas Arnold made Rugby the crucible of muscular Christianity, a "cult of athleticism" into which Wills was inculcated. Wills took up cricket within a week of entering Evans House. At first he bowled underhand, but it was considered outdated, so he tried roundarm bowling. He clean bowled a batsman with his first ball using this style and declared: "I felt I was a bowler." Wills soon topped all of his house's cricket statistics. At bat he was a "punisher" with a sound defence; however, in an era when stylish stroke-play was expected of amateurs, Wills was said to have no style at all. In April 1852, aged sixteen, he joined the Rugby School XI, and on his debut at Lord's against the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) a few months later, he took a match-high 12 wickets. While his bowling proved vital that year in establishing Rugby as the greatest public school in English cricket, anonymous critics in the press stated that he ought to be no-balled for throwing. Rugby coach John Lillywhite, considered an authority on bowling, came to his protégé's defence, rescuing him from further scandal. Wills went on to play with, and attracted praise from the leading cricketers of the age, including Alfred Mynn. He ended 1853 with the season's best bowling average, and in 1854 his hero William Clarke invited him to join the All-England Eleven, but he remained at school. The next year, he became Rugby XI captain. Like other English public schools, Rugby had evolved its own variant of football. The game in Wills' era—a rough and highly defensive struggle often involving hundreds of boys—was confined to a competition amongst the houses. Spanning his school years, Wills is one of the few players whose on-field exploits feature in the newspapers' otherwise brief match reports. His creative play and "eel-like agility" baffled the opposition, and his penchant for theatrics endeared him to the crowds. One journalist noted his use of "slimy tricks", a