Lives in Cricket No 24 - Edgar Willsher

43 then, and the importance of the occasion and the venue would have merited action. He also saw Willsher bowl 57 overs under his jurisdiction in the Gentlemen v Players match at The Oval in 1861, so the 1862 match was Lillywhite’s third chance to call him. 11 It is perhaps understandable that he waited for the law change of 1858 to take action, but it is still a mystery as to why he did not do so in 1861. Perhaps this was the first time Willsher had bowled from his end. Lillywhite is said to have told Walker ‘that he had often told Willsher that if he ever umpired in a match in which Willsher was bowling from his end he would “no-ball” him, unless he lowered his arm.’ Ned seems to have thought that Lillywhite was joking, and this, combined with Lillywhite’s correspondence in Bell’s Life , suggests that there was no element of collaboration between the two old colleagues. Although both had a vested interest in reform of Law 10, their aims were very different. Unless Willsher was an extremely good actor, the indignation he felt at The Oval in 1862 was very real indeed. The last day of thematch started an hour late for no obvious reason, and, despite Willsher’s best efforts, the time wasted prevented an England victory. There was no perceptible change in his delivery from the second day, but he of course remained unchallenged by either umpire, and swept aside the Surrey batting with six for 50. Following on 401 behind, the Londoners were hanging on grimly at 154 for six when stumps were drawn. Nobody had expected any major incidents after the drama of the day before, but, in the second innings, according to The Era , Willsher was ‘groaned at by some beery, contemptible fellows, who knew as much about what they were grunting at as a pig, and we were delighted to see their “half and half” opinions drowned by the applause of the sensible portion of the visitors.’ Sporting Life was equally indignant, defending Willsher as ‘that worthy and inoffensive, but at the same time finished cricketer, Edgar Willsher, than whom no better fellow ever breathed.’ Such demonstrations from the crowd were confined to this match, most punters realising that Willsher was not out to make trouble and was as keen as anyone for these momentous events to lead to long-lasting solutions. The Era was not alone in thinking that, instead of leaving the decision-making to the MCC, the answer was ‘a Cricket Parliament, formed by the president and secretary of each County Club in existence and a 11 Lillywhite was, however, only 35 at the time of the incident, and in only his fifth first-class match as an umpire, according to modern compilations. He thus had no great seniority among the umpiring fraternity. He did not stand again in first-class cricket for another five years. Incident at The Oval