Lives in Cricket No 17 - Fuller Pilch

Contents Preface 5 Chapter One The Brothers Pilch 9 Chapter Two Bowling revolution 11 Chapter Three Batting evolution 14 Chapter Four Found by a ‘Suffolk spirit’ 18 Chapter Five Round-Arm bowling proves its case 21 Chapter Six Bury St Edmunds defeat MCC 26 Chapter Seven Committed to East Anglia, for now 29 Chapter Eight A year of indecision 34 Chapter Nine Champion of England, Part One 36 Chapter Ten Champion of England, Part Two 39 Chapter Eleven Norfolk: the final years 43 Chapter Twelve Town Malling and Mr Pickwick 49 Chapter Thirteen Kent become the greatest team in England 55 Chapter Fourteen A new Champion of England 60 Chapter Fifteen Attracted by the seaside charms of Sussex 62 Chapter Sixteen The growing influence of the Beverley Club 67 Chapter Seventeen The birth of Canterbury Cricket Week 74 Chapter Eighteen William Martingell joins Fuller at Canterbury 81 Chapter Nineteen William Pilch joins Uncle Fuller at Canterbury 85 Chapter Twenty William Clarke creates the All-England Eleven 91 Chapter Twenty-One The new St Lawrence Ground 96 Chapter Twenty-Two Three cheers for the ‘stale’ men 102 Chapter Twenty-Three Fuller’s final seasons 106 Chapter Twenty-Four Umpire, coach, groundsman, bat-maker and mine host 117 Chapter Twenty-Five A pipe in Fuller Pilch’s back parlour 121 Chapter Twenty-Six A pension and a monument 127 Acknowledgements 134 Bibliography 135 Appendix: Career Statistics 139 Index 142 3