Lives in Cricket No 24 - Edgar Willsher

29 In front of a crowd of at least 10,000, Edgar opened the bowling for the AEE after Wisden had won the toss and batted on a fine June morning at Lord’s. In a close contest, the AEE triumphed by five wickets early on the third day, at which point the teams trooped off to the house of James Dark, the Lord’s proprietor, for a lunch of roast beef and plum pudding. Edgar would already have been sufficiently fortified by his own performance, as he took seven wickets and scored 20, a feat he bettered in the second match in July with nine wickets, including a second innings five for 16, off 21 four-ball overs, thirteen of them maidens, as he helped skittle the UEE for 54. At least Dean could console himself with the fact that he carried his bat for 8 not out, and also received the tidy sum of ‘upwards of £400’ (about £20,000 today) from the gate. With a net £160 left over from the first match to swell the coffers of the CFFS, it was clear that both events had been a financial and sporting success. Edgar made limited appearances for the AEE over the next two years, as he had been engaged by George Harry Grey, the seventh Earl of Stamford. As a young man at Cambridge, Grey had succeeded to the Enville Hall estate in South Staffordshire, and no doubt stunned his family by marrying the daughter of a shoemaker who had turned his head during his student days at Trinity College. Another diversion from his studies was cricket, and in 1846 he hired a private ground behind the town jail, two years before Fenner created the playing field that has now become synonymous with Cambridge. He had clearly gained a taste for staging his own matches on an estate which he was developing as an all-round public attraction, and in 1848 allowed Stourbridge to take on Worcestershire at the newly built Enville ground. Before long he had started his own team, and from 1854 to 1857 it regularly played host to both of the great travelling elevens. Naturally, he engaged top professionals to do the bowling, and for the first three years Lord Stamford had the services of the Nottinghamshire duo of fast bowler John Bickley and slow under- armer Cris Tinley. Clearly, Willsher’s 13 for 50 in the 1856 AEE fixture was enough to convince the Earl to add him to his retinue. Willsher certainly had some business acumen, for the terms were very reasonable for comparatively light duties. Instead of the constant travelling and uncertainty associated with the All- England Eleven, here was security and a regular abode for the season. We have no record of payment for 1857, but in 1858 he received £112 for six months work, even though he only played in one match. The basic rate was £100 between 1 May and 1October, At Enville Hall