Edgar Willsher No-Balled Six Times — The Walk-Off That Legalised Overarm, 1862

By 1862 the gap between the law and the practice of bowling was wide enough to be embarrassing. Edgar Willsher of Kent, then aged 33, was the leading left-arm bowler in England. Lillywhite, son of William 'Nonpareil' Lillywhite who had pushed roundarm into the rulebook a generation earlier, was a Sussex professional turned umpire and an open advocate of further reform.

The match itself was a high-quality affair: Willsher was bowling well in Surrey's first innings when, on the second morning, Lillywhite began his sequence of calls. Willsher had bowled in the same style all summer without being called; the timing was almost certainly chosen to draw maximum attention.

Cricket's law on bowling action had been a battleground for half a century. Roundarm — the arm at or below shoulder height — had been legalised in 1835 thanks largely to William Lillywhite, John's father. By 1862 most of the leading professional bowlers, Willsher chief among them, were habitually delivering the ball with the hand above the shoulder, daring umpires to call them. Willsher was at the time one of the most successful bowlers in England; his action was no different from what hundreds of club bowlers were already using. On 26 August, the second day of the England v Surrey match, John Lillywhite stood at square leg and called Willsher for a no-ball at every delivery of the over — six in succession. Willsher threw the ball down and walked off. The eight other professionals — Caffyn, Hayward, Carpenter, Tarrant, Jackson, Iddison, Stephenson and Anderson — followed him. Only the two amateurs, V.E. Walker and the Hon. C.G. Lyttelton, were left in the middle. Play was abandoned for the day. Most cricket historians since have agreed that the walk-off was rehearsed: Willsher and Lillywhite were friends and both were keen to force the issue. The MCC's response was to switch umpires the next day; the issue was kicked into committee, and on 10 June 1864 the law was rewritten to permit any bowling action provided it was not a throw.

“Willsher delivered the ball with his hand above the shoulder. Lillywhite no-balled him. The professional left the field followed by the others, and the day's play came to an end.”

“It was a put-up job, and the law was the better for it.”

Willsher was not punished and resumed his career as if nothing had happened, ending his career with more than 1,300 first-class wickets. Lillywhite continued to umpire and to publish his guide to cricketers. The MCC committee, under intense pressure from the professional cricketers and from the influential Sussex and Kent clubs, set up a sub-committee that drafted the new law in time for the 1864 season.