Lives in Cricket No 17 - Fuller Pilch

batsmen out: ‘I can see Ned Wenman now with his eye on the batsman’s foot and the crease, without any pads or gloves; and sure as a man showed a sign of drawing his foot, he took the ball close to the bails and just broke the wicket, and looked at the umpire if he thought it was out; and it was very seldom that e’er an umpire said “No” to him, for he was a real good judge.’ In 61 first-class matches for Kent, Wenman took 54 catches and made 33 stumpings. Fielding Fuller expected fieldsmen to be alert to opportunities: ‘A good many gentlemen, and players too, are afraid of dropping a catch, and they drop back for the first bound, instead of going to her neck or nothing. Nothing pleases the public so much as a hard running catch, or does a man more credit, and every catch ought to be TRIED if possible.’ He rated several Kent players as top-class fieldsmen: ‘Dorrinton, what a useful man he was! Well balanced everywhere, a fine field. Tom Adams in the long-field, and Mr Felix point. There was a pair for you! How often did you ever see Tom Adams miss a catch, or miss throwing a wicket down, if Mr Felix called to him to throw in the chance of throwing a man out? And how often did you see Mr Felix allow an overthrow if he called on Adams to take a shot? Why, never, and that’s about it.’ Closer to the wicket, he thought ‘there never was a better short-slip than Hillyer, or than Alfred Mynn,’ and Fuller could not resist including himself: ‘I suppose Fuller Pilch weren’t much of a dunce at mid-off, and not a very bad judge of the game.’ Fuller himself took 45 catches in his 84 first-class games for Kent, but Tom Adams, with 78 in 99 matches, and William Hillyer, with 73 in 82, were numerically more successful. Bowling Fuller had a list of the best bowlers in the Kent eleven: ‘Alfred Mynn and Hillyer, with Tom Adams, Martingell, Hinkley, Mr Frederick Fagge for a change, and Edgar Willsher somewhat later. Very often we didn’t want the change, if the ground was strong enough to bear Alfred Mynn; for if the ground was rotten, he dug a grave with his left foot.’ He added: ‘Ground and weather didn’t matter to Hillyer; rough or smooth, wet or dry, sand or mud, he could put a ball on a sixpence, and he did just what Ned Wenman told him. You remember, when the ground was a little hard how Alfred would drop her short, and the ball would cut right across from the on to the off, and hum like a top.’ Fuller remembered that there were also occasions when he and Alfred Mynn were on opposite teams so he could speak from experience about his bowling: ‘I never liked playing against Alfred Mynn, for he and I were like brother in the first place; and in the second, he would drop ‘em short and put all the steam on if the ground was hard, for he knew my play.’ He went on: ‘And people mayn’t think it, but a short-pitched ball, cutting right A pipe in Fuller Pilch’s back parlour 123