wilkinson was educated at eton college and at king's college, cambridge. he played cricket for eton as a middle-order batsman and a bowler and appeared in the 1832 eton v harrow match at lord's, when he was captain of the eton team. it is not known whether he was right- or left-handed in either batting or bowling. at cambridge university, he appeared in six games over three seasons that have since been designated as first-class, and was successful as a batsman. against the cambridge town club in 1833, he played an innings of 58 which was the highest of the match; against the marylebone cricket club (mcc) in 1835, he opened the innings and carried his bat for an unbeaten 86 out of a total of 170. he played in the 1834 gentlemen v players game, but made no impact. the university match between the cricket clubs of oxford and cambridge universities was not played in the seasons that wilkinson was in the cambridge side.