Фуллер Пилч: Англия крикетшісінің тарихы

English cricketer

Fuller Pilch (17 March 1804 – 1 May 1870) was an English first class cricketer, active from 1820 to 1854. He was a right handed batsman who bowled at a slow pace with a roundarm action. Pilch played in a total of 229 first class matches for an assortment of teams, but mostly for Norfolk and Kent. He is remembered as a pioneer of forward play in batting, and especially for a shot called "Pilch's poke".

Pilch was born at Horningtoft, Norfolk, the third son of Nathaniel Pilch and his wife Frances (née Fuller). They had been married at Brisley and returned to live there when Pilch was young. His father was a cobbler and Pilch himself became a tailor. He followed in the footsteps of his two elder brothers, Nathaniel and William, and became a professional cricketer.

Pilch's 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. By the late 1820s, he had become the finest batsman in England and acquired the nickname, "the non pareil [unrivalled] hitter". He appeared 23 times in Gentlemen v Players matches. In 1833, in highly publicised single wicket matches, Pilch twice defeated Tom Marsden, another 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.

Pilch was described as "the greatest batsman ever known until the appearance of W. G. Grace". An early pioneer of batting, Pilch's method of playing the ball forward is seen as an early manifestation of modern batting practices. Soon afterwards, the grave was located through the use of an old photograph and the memories of local people. In the novel Flashman's Lady by George MacDonald Fraser, Pilch is caught and bowled by Harry Flashman in a fictional game at Lord's between Rugby Old Boys and Kent in 1842. Pilch is mentioned in the song "Gentlemen and Players" on the 2009 cricket concept album The Duckworth Lewis Method, created by Irish duo Thomas Walsh and Neil Hannon.