Lives in Cricket No 17 - Fuller Pilch

Another bold tailor, as fine a young man As e’er hit a ball and then afterwards ran, Is from Bury St. Edmunds, and Pilch they him call, In a few years ’tis thought he’ll be better than all. At present his batting’s a little too wild, Tho’ the ‘Nonpareil Hitter’ he’s sometimes been styled; So free and so fine, with the hand of a master, Spectators all grieve when he meets with disaster. A report in the Cambridge Independent Press in 1823 of Fuller’s first match for Bury at Cambridge, on 22 and 23 September, suggests that the move to Suffolk did not have a smooth start: Some delay took place in consequence of the Biggleswade club objecting to the bowling of a young man in the Bury club named Pilch, on the ground of not knowing who he was, and that he was not a regular member of the Bury club; although it appears they had accepted his name as one of the 11. His bowling is certainly very superior, and although the Biggleswade club really stood but little chance of success, it would doubtless have rendered the game of shorter duration. However, to arrange the matter, it was agreed that a case should be drawn up for the decision of the chairman of the Mary-le-bone club (W.Ward, Esq) as to whether they could object to Pilch’s bowling; and another match was made, Pilch being debarred bowling. Some good batting as well as fielding was displayed on both sides, particularly the dexterous manner in which Pilch stumped out Mr D.Onslow, excited general admiration. Being ‘stumped out’ does not mean that Fuller had added the skills of wicket-keeping to his repertoire, but that was how a batsman being run out by a fielder was recorded in the scorebooks of the time. By the summer of 1824 Fuller was officially a member of the Bury club as its paid professional, and he appeared in both of the games against Biggleswade and two other matches with the Essex village of Pattiswick. In these early days of his career he was a very successful under-arm bowler and in the four matches he took 36 wickets. He also made his first known half-century, scoring 51 against Biggleswade. Bury played two matches against Newmarket in 1825, winning both by an innings. In the second match Fuller made another half-century, a top score of 69 out of 188. The Bury club was earning a reputation as a team to be reckoned with and at the beginning of September an announcement appeared in the Cambridge Independent Press : The grand Match at Cricket between the Nottingham and Bury clubs, for 100 sovereigns a-side, will take place at Roughham Park, four miles from Bury, (on the Ipswich road) on Monday next. The Bury Club are allowed three given men, and have selected Brand, Esq., his servant Found by a ‘Suffolk spirit’ 19