Lives in Cricket No 24 - Edgar Willsher

38 ‘Blink Bonny’ like to face Jackson at Lord’s when the ground is hard … allow me to give a hint to the proprietors of grounds generally – to have a larger roller, and use it early and often, then you would not see the ball bound about in all directions as it does now. As will be seen later in the story, Edgar was a great supporter of his fellow cricketers and their right to a decent living, and this betrayal by a ‘brother’ professional was beyond the pale in his eyes. The fact that it was anonymous was even worse, although Willsher implies that he knows who it is. There is certainly no doubt that the main target of his ‘advice’ is the MCC committee, whose intransigence delayed any kind of improvement in the Lord’s wicket until the 1880s, when it introduced mechanical mowers and horse-drawn heavy rollers. In the light of subsequent events, the response of John Lillywhite is even more intriguing. Writing in the same issue, he admits to bowling ‘high’ and continues: … nothing will give me greater pleasure than for the umpire to ‘no ball’ me. I should then think he was taking a step in the right direction. Although a high bowler myself, no batsman was punished more than I was from it last season; balls flew over your head, and then, perhaps, one ‘under the ear’. The public I am sure do not like to see it. Other bowlers must speak for themselves. I am in favour of the Hon R.Grimston’s new rule, as I think it will do much good to cricket. While almost acting as an ‘undercover’ agent for Grimston, Lillywhite is still implying that wickets were at fault as much as anything else, for such inconsistency of bounce was not apparent on the well-prepared surfaces found, for instance, at Enville Hall. Although on opposite sides of the argument, both he and Willsher were clear that any future action by a strong-willed umpire would ultimately lead to improvements in the standard of pitches, a development that would meet the approval of all those who played the game for a living; for the gentleman cricketer, used to having things his own way, it was to seem like the beginning of the end. ‘Willsher’s Hand is Very High’