Lives in Cricket No 24 - Edgar Willsher

28 12-13 Melton Mowbray AEE v 22 of Melton Mowbray 16-17 Lord’s Kent and Surrey v England 18 West Wickham West Wickham v Surrey 19-21 Gravesend Kent v Sussex 23-25 Did not play for Players v Gents 26-28 Newark AEE v 22 of Newark 30-31 Stamford AEE v 22 of Stamford Lillywhite’s Guide , the foremost cricket annual of the 1850s, described his bowling against Sussex at Hove in 1855, when he took four for 58 and seven for 22 in a resounding Kent victory, as something that ‘could not have been surpassed’. After a brilliant season in 1856, in which, for the first time, he was the leading first-class wicket-taker with 66 at 10.76, 8 the Guide went one better, calling him ‘perhaps the most destructive bowler in England’. Bell’s Life agreed, saying that he was ‘more difficult to play this year than ever’. The ultimate accolade came in July of that year when, for the first time, he was selected to play for the Players against the Gentlemen at Lord’s. In a pulsating finish, his clear head was crucial as he guided the Players to their target of 70 with two wickets to spare. His 8 not out was augmented by a handy match return of nine for 63 from 46 overs with the ball. On 1 March, 1857, the world of cricket awoke to the following announcement in Bell’s Life : It will be a source of great gratification to all our cricketing readers to learn that the two celebrated Elevens of England will at length appear on the same field in friendly contest. The significance was that, with the death of cantankerous old Clarke at the end of the 1856 season, and the accession of the rather more amenable George Parr to the leadership of the AEE, there was no longer any reason why the two rival teams should not meet on equal terms at the game’s headquarters. Willsher was among the names selected for the first match, and he would have been disappointed if this was not case, as he had now been co-opted onto the management committee. He was also on the committee of the newly revived Cricketers’ Fund Friendly Society (CFFS), set up to help out professionals fallen on hard times, and it was for the benefit of this body that the inaugural encounter was played. A second match was then to be staged as a testimonial for the UEE’s Jemmy Dean. 8 In a modern compilation based on the ACS list of first-class matches. At Enville Hall