The Reverend Vernon Royle — Lancashire amateur, future schoolmaster and one of the greatest cover-point fielders in cricket history — was the first wicket of Spofforth's hat-trick at Melbourne in January 1879. He played one Test, scored 18 runs, but lived in cricket folklore for his fielding. Tom Emmett's quip when his partner called for a single while Royle was at cover — 'Woa, mate, there's a policeman' — became a 19th-century cricket catchphrase.
Royle was educated at Rossall School and Brasenose College, Oxford. He won Blues at cricket in 1875 and 1876 and played for Lancashire from 1873.
Lord Harris had picked Royle on the 1878-79 tour explicitly for his fielding. The Test at Melbourne was his only international appearance.
Royle was 24 in 1879, an Oxford Blue (1875, 1876) and Lancashire amateur, on Lord Harris's tour as one of the strongest amateur fielders in England. His cover point fielding was famous: ambidextrous, quick across the ground, with a deadly accurate throw. Tom Emmett, calling his partner back for a single during a tour match, said 'Woa, mate, there's a policeman' — meaning Royle in the covers, as immovable as a constable. At Melbourne in January 1879, Royle came in at first wicket down for England's first innings and was bowled by Spofforth — the first wicket of the first Test hat-trick. He scored 3 in the second innings and never played another Test. He returned to England, was ordained, and became headmaster of Stanmore Park school, where he served until his death in 1929. His one-Test legacy is the combination of two extreme firsts: greatest fielder of his era, and first victim of a Test hat-trick.
Royle comes in at first wicket down at MCG
Spofforth bowls him — first wicket of Test cricket's first hat-trick
Out for 3 in second innings
Never plays another Test
Ordained a clergyman in 1892, becomes headmaster
Jan 1854
Born in Brooklands, Cheshire
1875-76
Wins Oxford Blues at cricket
Oct 1878
Sails with Lord Harris's tour party
2 Jan 1879
First wicket of Spofforth's Test hat-trick at Melbourne
1892
Ordained
May 1929
Dies at Stanmore
“Woa, mate, there's a policeman.”
Royle's fielding reputation outlived his international career. After ordination he became briefly a master and then, from 1901 until his death, headmaster of Stanmore Park school. He died on 21 May 1929 aged 75.
Cricket's greatest cover-point and the first wicket of the first Test hat-trick. A Test career of one match, two innings, 21 runs.
Royle is one of only a handful of cricketers whose reputation survives almost entirely on a fielding career. His cover-point work was idolised by W.G. Grace and Tom Emmett, both of whom mentioned him decades after his retirement. Tom Emmett's 'policeman' line is preserved in Royle's Times obituary.
Yorkshire v Essex
1932-06-16
On 15-16 June 1932 Herbert Sutcliffe (313) and Percy Holmes (224*) put on 555 for the first wicket against Essex at Leyton, breaking the world first-class record for any wicket and adding a layer of folklore — including a scoreboard that read 554 for several minutes and a hastily reversed declaration — that has clung to the partnership ever since.
Australia v England
1933-02-14
With the fate of the Bodyline series in the balance and England 216 for 6 chasing 340, Eddie Paynter checked himself out of a Brisbane hospital where he was being treated for acute tonsillitis, taxied to the Gabba in pyjamas and a dressing gown, and batted for nearly four hours to score 83. England drew level on first innings, won the Test by six wickets and the series 4-1.
Australia
1934-09-25
Days after the 1934 Oval Test, Bradman fell seriously ill with appendicitis that progressed to peritonitis. With antibiotics not yet available, he was given little chance of survival; his wife Jessie left Adelaide on a sea voyage to England prepared for the worst. He recovered after weeks of intensive nursing in a London nursing home and returned to first-class cricket the following Australian summer.