Lives in Cricket No 17 - Fuller Pilch

match to be played at the new Christ Church Cricket Ground. The Oxford Journal reported: The match excited considerable interest and attracted a large number of spectators to witness it, for whom there was ample accommodation in the way of tents, stands, seats, etc. Mr Greenwood, of the Maidenhead Inn, was on the ground with a spacious booth, where ‘creature comforts’ were liberally dispensed, so that hunger could be appeased, or thirst quenched, in the most effectual manner, and at a moderate charge. In consequence of the proximity of this new cricket ground to the town, a large number of farmers and others from the country availed themselves of the opportunity of witnessing the play on Saturday. The eleventh All-England match was played at Lord’s on 9, 10 and 11 June, against Fourteen of Marylebone and is the only match where MCC played with the odds of more than eleven men. The match ended with controversy. All-England had been set 115 runs to win and, thanks to 50 from Fuller, reached 114 for the loss of five wickets. Then time was called and the match declared as unfinished with all bets drawn. Scores and Biographies later commented: ‘Though the MCC were correct, strictly speaking, in drawing the stumps exactly at the time, and thus preventing England from winning, still it certainly was not cricket or sportsmanlike, and it created (at the time) quite an uproar.’ The next three All-England matches were against Fourteen of Surrey, a Twenty-Two at Banbury, and a Twenty-Two of Herefordshire, at Ross-on- Wye. Then Fuller headed for Kennington Oval for the North v South match on 3, 4 and 5 July, where he showed he had lost none of his old bowling skills by taking four wickets, including George Parr for nought, in the North second innings. Two days later he was at Lord’s with Kent against England with top score of 22 out of Kent’s first innings 52. It was a low-scoring match over in two days with no team innings reaching three figures and England won by seven wickets. Moving on to Hove to face Sussex on 10, 11 and 12 July, Fuller top-scored again with 54 in Kent’s first innings, but it was not enough to prevent a Sussex five-wicket victory. A Kent Club match followed shortly after at The Vine Ground against the Sevenoaks Vine Club with Hillyer as their given man. Fuller and William shared all ten Sevenoaks first-innings wickets and Fuller followed this with an unbeaten 33 out of a first innings of 90. Sevenoaks eventually set a target of 204 but there was not enough time for the Kent Club to bat again. Clarke brought his All-England Eleven to Cranbrook to play Kent on 24, 25 and 26 July. The whole of the first day was lost to rain and there was no time to finish the game. It was almost a disaster for Kent, however, when in reply to All-England’s first innings of 122 they lost their first three wickets cheaply. Fuller and Wenman stayed in the middle together, determined to stop the rot, at one time remaining scoreless for 32 consecutive four-ball overs. In the end Fuller made 37 and Wenman 30 to ensure that Kent were only fifteen runs behind. All-England were all out for 84 in their second Fuller’s final seasons 109