Lives in Cricket No 17 - Fuller Pilch

Chapter Fourteen A new Champion of England The most famous cricket event of 1838 did not actually feature Fuller, although he was very much involved. Three years earlier a letter had appeared in Bell’s Life signed by Alfred Mynn: Sir, Having been much annoyed by numerous letters and inquiries in consequence of a reported match of single wicket, for 100 guineas, between Mr Fuller Pilch and myself, you will perhaps oblige me by inserting this letter, as the only means of checking any further annoyance to me. I am open to Mr Fuller Pilch, or any other player in England, from £20 to £50 a side, for a single wicket match at cricket, between this and the 31st of August, provided it is played at Lord’s or the Camberwell Ground. If, however, Mr Pilch feels inclined to accept the challenge, time, place, and amount of stake, may be easily arranged, by applying to Mr Hall at his Cricket-ground, Camberwell. I am, Sir, obediently yours, A.Mynn The letter seems to confirm a straightforward challenge, but all was not as it seemed. A few weeks later an announcement appeared in the columns of Bell’s Life : We have authority for saying that the challenge in our paper of the 21st ult from Alfred Mynn to Fuller Pilch, was without the consent of the former. The fact is, that within the last three months there was a private offer, on the part of a friend of Mynn’s, to back him against Fuller Pilch granting the latter the privilege of naming his own sum, time, and place, but the friends of Pilch declined the invitation.’ It seems that someone had seen the financial potential of a meeting between Fuller Pilch and Mynn and had tried to create a situation where neither player would be able to withdraw without suffering damage to their reputations. But, despite his easy single-wicket victory over Thomas Marsden two years earlier, Fuller had no interest in defending his title, and certainly not if it meant facing his friend and soon-to-be Kent team-mate Alfred Mynn. Three years later he seems to have changed his mind after an announcement appeared in Bell’s Life on 13 May 1838 saying that James Dearman of Yorkshire would be backed against any man in England at single wicket for £100, which received an anonymous reply on May 27, 60