Lives in Cricket No 24 - Edgar Willsher

77 early close at five o’clock, with the scoreboard reading 55 for 13. Willsher was happy to take a back seat and direct operations in the field. Little did he know how vital his allround abilities were to prove as the match wore on. Play started at the more usual time of 11.30 am after the Sunday rest day, with the sun shining weakly to reflect the fragile state of the local batting. Wickets continued to fall at regular intervals, but at 61 for 16 a little backbone was added by White and Clay, who added 22 in half an hour. Their contributions were crucial in lifting the total to equal that of the New York twenty-two’s second innings, 88. When the innings closed at 12.30, Freeman had laboured for 41.3 overs for his analysis of 14 for 15. Tarrant offered sterling support with four for 39, and Lillywhite proved his worth by ending the crucial partnership and finishing with figures of two for 6. There was no reason to suppose that any of the main protagonists would be required to do more than turn their arms over a second time around. With Humphrey resting and therefore on umpiring duties, John Smith was sent in to open with Jupp against a fielding side that, according to the New York Herald , ‘in white flannel shirts and knickerbocker breeches and crimson stockings was very picturesque as they were scattered over the dark green sward, which was as level as a billiard table.’ Jupp certainly couldn’t find a way through them, and was bowled for a duck by Charles Newhall, who proceeded to remove Griffith and Smith to leave the score 7 for three. Spencer Meade of the Philadelphia Cricket Club, ‘a fine left-arm bowler with an awful work’, then removed Pooley for no score, with England reeling at 11 for four. The crowd, sensing a serious upset, ‘went wild’, but was silenced by a more sober passage of play in which Shaw and the boy Charlwood inched towards respectability. However, once Shaw was castled by Newhall (35 for five), the procession continued with Lillywhite and Rowbotham failing to trouble the scorers. When lunch was called at two o’clock, the eleven were in a sorry state at 43 for seven. Only Charlwood, unbeaten with a calmly compiled 25, stood between England and a rare humiliation. After 45 minutes of replenishment, England briefly altered their tactics, and with the aggressive Tarrant at the helm, threw caution to the wind. In a breezy fifteen-minute stand, they put on 22, including a drive by Charlwood over the fence near the pavilion for a welcome six. Gus Waterman then lived up to his reputation as a useful change bowler with ‘a peculiar low delivery’ Cricket on the Brain