Lives in Cricket No 24 - Edgar Willsher

this match were as nothing, however, compared with his virtuoso demonstration of the bowler’s art at Canterbury on 13 August 1860. Playing for sixteen of Kent against England, he took eight for 16 off 41 overs, 31 of which were maidens; the feat earned him a collection of £8. They remained the best figures of his career. For once, the press was effusive in its praise. Bell’s Life claimed that ‘there are few who differ in opinion that he is the most difficult to play of any bowler in England’, while Baily’s Magazine opined that ‘he never bowled better in his life’. The Times , on the other hand, was content to dwell on the amateur dramatics of the ‘Old Stagers’, whose amusing evening skits included the classic ‘You Can’t Marry Your Grandmother’. Whether Edgar attended or not, his high spirits would have been enhanced ten days later by the birth of a second son, Ernest. Both domestically and professionally, everything was going right for the Willshers, but such contentment was soon to be shattered by on-field events of seismic proportions. 33 At Enville Hall