Fuller Pilch

Infobox cricketer biography
playername = Fuller Pilch


country = England
fullname = Fuller Pilch
dayofbirth = 17
monthofbirth = 3
yearofbirth = 1804
placeofbirth = Horningtoft, Norfolk
countryofbirth = England
dayofdeath = 1
monthofdeath = 5
yearofdeath = 1870
placeofdeath = Canterbury, Kent
countryofdeath = England
batting = Right-handed
bowling = Right arm slow (roundarm)
club1 = Kent
year1 = 1836 – 1854
club2 = Suffolk
year2 = 1830 – 1847
club3 = Hampshire
year3 = 1842 – 1845
club4 = Marylebone Cricket Club
year4 = 1831 – 1845
club5 = Surrey
year5 = 1830 – 1844
club6 = Sussex
year6 = 1837 – 1842
club7 = Norfolk
year7 = 1820 – 1836
deliveries = balls
columns = 1
column1 = First-class
matches1 = 229
runs1 = 7147
bat avg1 = 18.61
100s/50s1 = 3/24
top score1 = 153 not out
deliveries1 = 670
wickets1 = 142
bowl avg1 = 21.33
fivefor1 = 3
tenfor1 = 0
best bowling1 = 7/?
catches/stumpings1 = 122/–
date = 1 May
year = 1870
source = CricketArchive

Fuller Pilch (March 17, 1804, Horningtoft, Norfolk - May 1, 1870, Canterbury, Kent) was an English cricketer and is generally considered as the finest batsman of his time.

Early life

He was the son of Nathaniel Pilch and Frances Fuller, who were married at Brisley and later returned to live there. Fuller Pilch followed in the footsteps of his two elder brothers, Nathaniel and William, and became a professional cricketer. His first appearance at Lord's was a three-day match in July 1820, playing for Norfolk. He then went to Sheffield to play cricket and earn his living as a tailor. [http://horningtoft.org.uk/fullerpilch.html]

Cricketing career

Writing in 1862 in his "Scores and biographies", Arthur Haygarth called Pilch "the best batsman that has ever yet appeared". The main characteristic of Pilch's batting was his forward play, a shot that was called 'Pilch's poke'. Haygarth further wrote : "His style of batting was very commanding, extremely forward, and he seemed to rush to the best bowling by his long forward play before it had time to shoot or rise, or do mischief by catches".

By the late 1820s he had become the finest batsman in England. He appeared 23 times in Gentlemen v Players matches. In 1833, in highly publicised single wicket matches, he twice defeated Tom Marsden, the other prominent batsman of the time. In 1835, he moved to Town Malling in Kent and received a salary of 100 pounds a year. There he kept a tavern attached to the cricket ground.

Pilch moved to Canterbury in 1842 where he kept the "Saracen's Head". He served as the first groundsman of the St. Lawrence Ground from 1847 to 1868.

As to the question of how Pilch would compare with the greatest of his successors, Wisden editor Sydney Pardon wrote in W.G. Grace's obituary in the 1916 Wisden :

" A story is told of a cricketer who had regarded Fuller Pilch as the final word in batting, being taken in his old age to see Mr. Grace bat for the first time. He watched the great man for a quarter of an hour or so and then broke out into an expression of boundless delight. 'Why', he said, 'this man scores continuously from balls that old Fuller would have been thankful to stop'."

Pilch died at Canterbury in 1870. He never married.

Legacy

Pilch appears in the Flashman novel "Flashman's Lady" by George MacDonald Fraser. In the novel Pilch is caught and bowled by Flashman in a fictional game set at Lord's between Rugby Old Boys and Kent in 1842.

In June 2008 it was reported in The Times that Pilch's grave at St. Gregory's churchyard in Canterbury was among 200 other graves which were preventing the development of the churchyard into a Canterbury Christ Church University concert hall ( [http://www.canterbury.ac.uk/projects/st-gregorys-project/index.asp] ), as they could not be located for removal. [The Times, June 25, 2008] In July 2008 it was reported that the grave had been located through the use of an old photograph and the memories of local people. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/kent/7483253.stm|title=Old picture solves grave mystery|date=2008-07-01|publisher=British Broadcasting Corporation|accessdate=2008-07-02]

References

* Philip Bailey, Philip Thorn, and Peter Wynne-Thomas, "Who's Who of Cricketers"
* [http://horningtoft.org.uk/fullerpilch.html Horningtoft Heritage Society Site]
* Wisden obituary of WG Grace

External links

* [http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/32/32076/32076.html Cricketarchive profile]
* [http://content.cricinfo.com/england/content/player/18956.html Cricinfo profile]