Lives in Cricket No 24 - Edgar Willsher

14 Moving On The 1848 season came and went with only two recorded appearances, one for Staplehurst against Tenterden, the other for Bearsted against Matfield Green, a small village near Tonbridge. 1849 was much busier, or at least the press took more notice, for Edgar is mentioned as playing in at least seven matches. The season slowly came to life in June with a drawn game for Bearsted in Chatham, with all three Willshers in the eleven. Edgar bowled nine of the opposition, including seven in the first innings, a feat suitably celebrated at the White Hart Inn, where, according to the Maidstone Journal , ‘good harmony and “We won’t go home till morning” were literally the order of the day.’ Edgar recovered sufficiently from the night’s carousing to play two more matches for Bearsted in July, home and away against Stilebridge. There is still a Stile Bridge Inn near Marden, about ten miles south of Maidstone, which would explain why the Kentish Gazette changes the team name to Marden for its visit to Bearsted. However that may be, Edgar’s golden form continued with six wickets in the first innings of the away fixture. The Gazette proclaimed that his bowling was, ‘as usual, splendid, and the Stilebridge men, celebrated for hard hitting, found it difficult to cope with.’ When the teams repaired to Bearsted Green, ‘Marden’ ‘could not stand before the out-and-out bowling of the Willshers, Edgar alone having levelled six wickets … in the first innings.’ In August, there was to be a further six-wicket haul at Chilston Park, ten miles east of Maidstone, but the apex of Edgar’s season came in September when he agreed to take on two cricketers from Aylesford in a single-wicket match. 3 These were very popular with contemporary audiences, and in essence were similar to a back- garden knockabout, in that one batsman at a time defended one set of stumps, and only runs in front of the wicket counted. There could be one or several players on each side, but however many there were it was essential that they possessed at least a modicum of allround ability. Edgar certainly did, and his top score for the season was 26 at a time when, at this level of the game, team totals in three figures were the exception rather than the rule. Unfortunately, he failed to score, but he did bowl out both his opponents in the first innings. His colleague’s 14 was enough to set up an innings victory, and to dissuade the Aylesford men from playing a return match at Bearsted! 3 Maidstone Journal , 11 September 1849.