the elite Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC). Although he had a greater affinity for Corio, the MCC maintained that Wills belonged to them, and took offence at his lack of loyalty to any one club. In order to secure Wills in matches between the two teams, the MCC allowed Corio to field an extra five men to make up for his loss. Parliament and business came to a standstill in Melbourne for the January 1858 intercolonial match between Victoria and New South Wales, held at the MCG. Captaining Victoria, Wills took 8 wickets, the most of his side, and on the second day, batting in the middle order, a ball hit an imperfection in the pitch and knocked him unconscious. He recovered, played on for two hours, and won the match at day's end with a top score of 49*. The crowd rushed the field and chaired Wills off in triumph, and victory celebrations lasted for several days throughout the colony. Now a household name and the darling of Melbourne's elite, Wills was proclaimed "the greatest cricketer in the land". Although Wills enjoyed his lofty amateur status, he liked to socialise with and support working class professional cricketers—an egalitarian attitude that sometimes led to conflict with sporting officialdom but endeared him to the common man. Wills' allegiance to professionals was highlighted by an incident in Tasmania in February 1858 when the Launceston Cricket Club shunned professional members of his touring Victorian side. Infuriated, he spoke out against being "forsaken" in a "strange land". One week later, during a game in Hobart, Wills earned the locals' ire as he "[jumped] about exultantly" after maiming a Tasmanian batsman with a spell of hostile fast bowling. Wills served as the MCC's secretary during the 1857–58 season. It was a role in which he proved to be chaotic and disorganised. MCC delegates took issue with Wills' "continued non-attendance" at meetings, and when the club fell into debt, his poor administrative skills were blamed. In mid-1858, he acted on year-long threats and deserted the club, leaving its records and amenities in dissaray; to this day, the only MCC minutes that cannot be found date from his secretaryship. A lasting tension existed between Wills and the MCC's inner circle. According to Martin Flanagan, "It was a relationship which couldn't last as Wills only knew one way—his own." Football pioneer Wills was a compulsive writer to the press