Edgar Willsher
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| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born |
22 November 1828 Little Halden Farm, Rolvenden, Kent, England |
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| Died | 7 October 1885 (aged 56) Lewisham, London, England |
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| Nickname | Ned | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting style | Left-hand batsman | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowling style | Round arm/Left-arm fast | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Role | Bowler | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Domestic team information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1850-1875 | Kent | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1863 | MCC | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| FC debut | 11 July 1850 Kent v Surrey | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last FC | 19 August 1875 South v North | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Source: Cricket Archive, 26 May 2012 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Edgar “Ned” Willsher (22 November 1828 in Rolvenden, Kent – 7 October 1885 in Lewisham, London) was an English cricketer known for being a catalyst in the shift from roundarm to overarm bowling. A left-handed bowler, and useful lower-order batsman, Willsher played first class cricket for Kent between 1850 and 1875. He took over 1300 first-class wickets, despite only having one lung. He led a tour of Canada and the United States in 1868, and after retiring from his playing career became an umpire.
Willsher was born at Little Halden Farm, in Rolvenden, Kent. His older brother, senior by over ten years, William Willsher, would go on to have an inauspicious career with Kent three years before Edgar's own debut when, in 1847, he appeared in one first class match, scoring a pair at number eleven and not bowling. Edgar Willsher made his own debut on 11 July 1850 at the Kennington Oval against Surrey. He took four wickets in Surrey's first innings, but was not required to bat again as Kent were dismissed successively for 52 and 84 when following on after Surrey's 248. Willsher waited over a year for his next game, against the All England Eleven on 24 July 1851. This time Kent secured a draw, with Willsher taking four wickets in a match truncated by rain. He played only one other game in 1851, finishing the season with only eleven wickets though they were taken at an economical 17.50 runs per wicket. He gradually became a more regular feature of the Kent side from 1853, with thirty-nine appearances over the next four years. He took thirty-two wickets in 1854, including a then career-best 7/22. He then passed fifty wickets in the season for the first time during the 1856 season, taking 66 in total at 10.76 runs per wicket from only eight games. This included four ten-wicket match hauls. He then bettered his efforts with 71 wickets from ten games in 1857, though could only take 29 scalps in 1858 playing only six games. Seventy-nine wickets in 1859, and one better in 1860 established Willsher as a key bowler for Kent, as he regularly featured in their starting XI with fourteen games in each season. The 1860 season also saw his career-best innings figures of 8/16, as well as his first noted successes with the bat, scoring his maiden half century, one of four for the season. Fifteen more games in 1861 yielded another career-best 87 wickets in the season, and his second eight-wicket haul.
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