Lives in Cricket No 24 - Edgar Willsher

25 catch the gaffer’s good eye. The 1851 season started quietly for Ned, and he had to wait until the end of July for another call-up. Kent had lost both its previous matches, against England and Sussex, and decided to bolster its attack when England once again visited Cranbrook. The concept of ‘England’ was very much an unofficial one, but this time, extra complication was added by the fact that the side assembled here was Clarke’s ‘All-England’ crew. It had become a tradition for ‘England’ to play the strongest county side, but Kent hardly merited the honour any longer. The match petered out into a draw, but Edgar acquitted himself well, taking three for 48 in the second innings. Even better was to come, as after missing the return match against Sussex, he had a further chance to impress against the ‘national’ side (not classified as ‘All-England’ this time, although still captained by Clarke and containing substantially the same players!) at Canterbury in mid-August. After a vital 24 batting at eight, he proceeded to rip the heart out of the England batting by bowling the impressive quintet of Guy, Box, Parr, Caffyn and Grundy, some of the leading lights of the day, later described in Wisden by W.H.Knight as ‘a rare lot of wickets for a young hand to bowl down.’ Unfortunately Parr had scored 54 by the time Willsher got rid of him, and England went on to win fairly comfortably, but a six-wicket haul finally ‘established him as a bowler above the average.’ Unfortunately, 1852 saw him well below average, as he managed only five wickets in five games for Kent, although his batting kept him afloat, top-scoring with 30 opening the batting in an innings defeat against England at Canterbury in August. He was more successful in club cricket, taking 15 wickets in two matches for Stilebridge against Town Malling, and then finishing the season in style by taking five for 53 for an eighteen of Gravesend against the United England Eleven (UEE). This team, the brainchild of John Wisden and his Sussex colleague Jemmy Dean, was set up as a direct rival to Clarke’s eleven, partly as a result of a falling out with the older man, but also as a business venture designed to capitalise on the fact that one travelling eleven was not enough to satisfy the hunger of the paying public for top-quality cricket. The Gravesend game was only the UEE’s third out of four that season, but in 1853 it had a full fixture list. Willsher showed his willingness to travel by playing games for Stowmarket, Gentlemen of England (with three additional professionals), Maidstone and Ipswich against the UEE, taking 35 wickets in all. This was enough for the UEE to try him out themselves, and they must have been With the All-England Eleven