General Remarks
- The batsman's first object should be to defend his wicket; his second, to do what damage he can to the enemy by scoring runs. The two things may, however, be reasonably combined, and a defensive stroke if played with determination and power, may, and often does, result in the acquisition of runs. Hence every ball within a certain limit should be played hard; the bat should meet the ball, and not be struck by it, though in the contest between the hand and head of the bowler a and the hand and head of the batsman, the former often has the advantage, and the latter has to be satisfied with merely arresting the ball's progress. "Shooters" [see GLOSSARY] are rare nowadays, thanks to the ground-keeper's care, but if they come, the batsman must be satisfied to stop them, and it is well, when playing forward, to keep the point of the bat so close to the ground as to smother possible shooter. "Yorkers" do not lend themselves to scoring; they must be watched carefully, and most men play them by chopping down quickly at the place where they are going to pitch; but by playing forward-perhaps the best method-they may generally be met on the "full pitch"; in any case the batsman should be content with merely stopping them. What is a yorker to one player may by difference in reach be a full pitch to another.
In both back and forward-play the bat and left leg should be so close together that the ball cannot pass between them.
One of the bowler's devices is to bowl about a foot outside the off-stump, keeping a good length, to induce the batsman to hit more or less wildly at the ball, and to hit it into the air. The best way to meet this artifice is to hit the ball fair and square in the middle of the bat, and when the batsman is well set this may be done with success, but experience will teach him that great care is necessary, and that there is a ball of a particular length which cannot be struck at without danger. This rule, however, is reduced to an absurdity by some men, who refuse to "let go" at anything between a long-hop and half-volley, and who, when the intermediate ball comes, merely step in front of the wicket so as to protect it with their legs in case the ball breaks back. This may be magnificent, but it is not cricket; it is a loss of opportunity to let any off-ball pass without an attempt at a stroke, save that one which, if straight, should be merely played, without an effort to force it away; at the same time, the best and safest way of meeting a slow, leg-break bowler is to get in front of the wicketthereby defending it with the legs and to sweep the ball round to the leg-side, always supposing that the ball pitches on that side.
The batsman should always be comfortably settled to receive the ball before the bowler begins to run. He should, directly the bowler is in position, rivet his glance on the ball and never lose sight of it till it has struck the bat. Too much importance cannot be attached to this habit of observation, and "Be ready in time" is an invaluable maxim. If the bowler is fidgety at the post and bowls before the batsman is [CRICKET quite ready, the latter should draw away and refuse to play the ball; if the wicket is hit, no harm is done. If spectators, or one of the fieldsmen, are behind the bowler's arm, they should be asked to withdraw, as they may catch the eye of the batsman and distract his attention, as well as interfere with his sight of the ball; but the umpire is bound to stand so as to get a clear sight from wicket to wicket, and the batsman has no right to demand, as many do, that he should stand out of the line of sight.
Lambeth Public Libraries The art of running between wickets, without coming to a misunderstanding with one's partner, is indispensable. The rule W. RHODES. [Photo. by G. W. Beldam. is simple-the striker calls for all strokes in front of the wicket, his partner for all strokes behind the wicket. Some players make an exception to this rule in the case of a stroke to "third man," for the striker has a better view then of the direction of the ball than his partner; but even here the non-striker should have the right of calling the run, as his is the greater risk; but it is well to arrange with one's partner on going in who is to call for the stroke.
Directly a ball is struck the batsmanwhether striker or non-striker-whose business it is to call, should shout-sharply, quickly, and distinctly-"Come!" "No!" "Not yet!" as the case may be. It is well to add to the word "Come!" the number of runs that seem likely to be got for the stroke-e.g., "Come one!" "Come two!” and the like; in fact, every information should be given to one's partner that may help him in running, but in all cases it CRICKET] should be regarded as a golden rule that the man who runs the risk of losing his wicket has the right of calling or refusing a If the non-striker has to call for a sharp run, he should be prepared to stop, as the striker may not be in a position, especially if his legs are far apart, to start at run. once.
The non-striker should always "back up," i.e., should always follow up the ball for a yard or two towards the striker's wicket, so as to get a good start in the event of a possible run, but he must be careful not to leave his ground till he has seen the ball leave the bowler's hand [see [Photo. ly G. W. Beldam.
MR. A. C. MACLAREN. THE FINISH OF A SQUARE CUT.
LAW 35], nor to go so far that he cannot regain his ground in case the ball be driven straight back, for then, if he has not made good his ground and the ball, having first touched the bowler, hits his-the nonstriker's-wicket he would be run out. With a hard-hitting partner it is well not to "back up" too far as there is a danger of being struck, if the ball is hit hard.
If a misunderstanding occurs between the batsmen when running, the one who has made the mistake should give way and allow himself to be run out, but there is a generous feeling among cricketers that the worse batsman should sacrifice his wicket in the interests of his side, even if the error is not his, and that the batsman who is "well set" should be the survivor.
The fieldsmen should be carefully watched by the batting side, both when actually batting and in the pavilion, to note and record which are good fieldsmen and good throwers, and which are left-handed men. If the ball goes to the "wrong" hand, a run may often be got; or to a man who is standing a long way from the wicket and has been noted down as a bad thrower.
Some batsmen are famous for " stealing" runs (alias "running short runs"), when the ball is only hit a very short distance.
This practice, it is true, often demoralises the fieldsmen, but usually does more harm to the batsmen, who run themselves out of breath and are very liable in the excitement of the moment to commit an error of judgment which results in the loss of a wicket. It is a bad speculation to risk a wicket for a run, and the worst way to get a run is to run out one's self or one's partner.
Every batsman should jealously inspect the condition of the turf at his wicket when an over is concluded. Fragments of grass and turf should be removed, as likely to make the ball "jump" " or "shoot"; on a soft wicket the marks made by the ball should be gently tapped flat with the end of the bat; if the turf is very soft, it is a mistake to hammer it with the back of the bat, as such a process makes a pulp of the ground in the immediate neighbourhood.
All superfluous "flourish" is fatal to good "timing"; such flourish may appear very graceful to ladies and such spectators as do not understand the game, but to the cricketer's eye it is not only a meretricious, but a dangerous ornament, especially when the wicket is "tricky"; and this seems a convenient opportunity for saying a word on the different conditions of the ground, and their effect on batting and bowling, for in the natural course of events what is good for the bowler is bad for the batsman, and vice versa.
The condition of turf which the batsman loves and the bowler dreads-is produced by a succession of hot days on a smooth, level, close-shaven ground, on which the grass is not too thick. On such a wicket the bowler is comparatively powerless, as he cannot make the ball break to any appreciable extent; and it comes true and fast, never more than about a stump's height from the ground, so that the batsman need not worry himself about eccentricities of curve, but can, and should, play boldly forward at every ball which is not a long-hop. A thunder-shower may change the whole course of procedure, if the sun shines hot and bright when the tempest has passed.
At first the ground, wet on the surface and hard underneath, gives the bowler no help - especially as the ball is wet, and his footing precarious-while the ball through" the wet surface, and comes up to ،، cuts the bat fast and easy; but when the sun begins to tell, and the wet surface begins to cake, then the batsman's troubles begin, and the ball "breaks," "shoots," or "jumps," like an animate fiend, and sound cricket is almost impossible. Under such conditions the batsmen should run a few risks to score runs quickly (in cricketers' parlance, "to force the game") while they have the chance, and the judicious captain will send in his hard-hitters, with orders to get all the runs they can in the shortest time. It is hardly incorrect to say that a side, which might be expected to score 400 runs on such a wicket as was first described, would be well satisfied with 120 on a caked and crusted wicket, affected by rain and sun.
A soft wicket, especially if the grass is still wet, is an easy one, from the batsman's [Photo. by G. W. Beldam.
MR. A. C. MACLAREN JUMPING OUT TO DRIVE. point of view. It is of course hard to make the ball travel on the slow turf, and the bowler may be able to make it break considerably, but it comes so slowly from the pitch that the batsman has no difficulty in watching its eccentricities, and runs come surely, if slowly. Probably there is no condition which delights the bowler's heart more than the "crumbly "-when a wicket, once hard and true, has begun to wear, and has a broken, dusty surface. At such times the ball gets a good grip of the crumbling surface, and not only dances about like an acrobat, but dances so fast that scientific cricket is difficult. Here, again, the batsman must realise the condition of affairs, abandon cricket "by the book," and hit out (not indiscriminately, but fearlessly and boldly) on the smallest opportunity. On [CRICKET this, as on the "caked" wicket, hay must be made while the sun shines, but whereas the "caked" wicket may recover, for the "crumbled " there is no hope.
It may be useful to remind the reader at this point that the remarks made about the batsman apply equally, but in a reversed sense, to the bowler. What is good for one is bad for the other, and as the contest is à outrance, each should make himself acquainted with the tactics of the other, so as to meet, and, if possible, defeat them.
W. J. FORD.
Batting. A good and easy position at the wickets is highly important; by "good" being meant such a position as experience has shown to give the batsman the best chance of combating the bowling; by "easy," a pose which is in no way stiff or constrained, but allows the player to move arms, legs, wrists, and the whole body with readiness and freedom. As to the placing of the feet, sufficient has been said before (p. 450), though it may not be amiss once more to emphasise the importance of keeping all the weight upon the right leg when preparing to receive the ball. Any weight upon the left must delay, if only for a moment, that rapid advance of it upon which, to a large extent, correct timing must depend. As to the hands, the left hand should grasp the bat so near the top that the ball of the thumb rests against it, and the right hand should be brought up as close as possible, provided that the left be allowed to twist round without catching the glove, when the batsman plays forward.
There is nothing that cramps the style more than a grasp too low down the handle, and the best that can then be expected is a dogged defence.
It is impossible to lay down general rules as to when back-play or forward-play should be employed. On this question it is hopeless to expect complete agreement, and all that can be done is to state one's own practice, without any dogmatic assurance that it is necessarily the best for all. It seems to me that the school of cricket that was supreme, roughly speaking, from 1875 to 1885, was too sweeping in its advocacy of forward-play, and looked upon back-play as a mere device for defence, instead of being, what it may often be, a most rapid and effective way of scoring. Of course, to a fast ball well pitched up, say, dropping six yards from the wickets, it is almost necessary to play forward, but to a batsman blessed with a good eye and supple wrists, the extra two or three yards, through which a short-pitched ball may be watched, give L CRICKET] a very great advantage. In playing for ward, one is compelled to trust to the judgment formed from the flight of the ball before it pitches, and the bat itself obscures the sight of sudden developments.
In playing back, one must be prepared to draw the right foot back freely and promptly. The absolute fixity of that leg is undoubtedly a golden rule for the beginner, but it is a mistake for the experienced batsman to regard it as a law which may in no case be broken. Let him, if resolved to play back, slide the right leg towards the wicket, not putting it in front of the stumps, and always remember to keep the bat and play the ball, in front of that leg. This will save him from all danger of hitting his wicket.
The cut is a stroke which is certainly not used to the extent that it deserves, and this for two reasons. The first is the modern habit of letting balls go by upon the off side that seem at all dangerous, without the least attempt to hit them. The custom has grown almost to an absurd extent, and bowlers, encouraged by the timidity of the batsman, send down unharmed ball after ball which ought to yield plenty of runs.
As a general rule one may say, "Never let an off-ball pass without striking at it, if it be within anything approaching to easy reach." If the batsman step well across, and get fairly over the ball, he has every chance to score, and if it should bump, he has complete control of the bat, and should be able to avoid a dangerous stroke. One may often see a batsman let off-ball after off-ball pass his wicket, and then, at last screwing up his courage, hit one, precisely similar, to the boundary, a feat which he might have performed earlier with much advantage to his side.
The second reason of its rarity is the small attention that the majority of batsmen pay to the placing of the ball in the stroke. Most men are content to cut it square, or almost square, direct to the hands of point or third-man, who find little difficulty in dealing with it; but if a little more care were taken, and the ball struck a fraction of a second later, it would be quite as easy to steer it safely through the slips.
In leg-hitting, one of the chief things to remember, when a ball is coming upon or outside the legs, is that a long innings is a very exhausting business, and that it is a waste of energy to smite furiously at the ball, when a slight change of its direction will secure the object equally well. There is no more effective stroke on the leg side than the "glide" or glance." To make it, put the bat well forward, not square with the course of the ball, but at an angle that will vary with the direction in which the ball has to travel after the stroke so as to avoid a fieldsman. Just as the ball touches the bat, a quick turn of the wrist sweeps it well away behind the batsman, and, in the stroke, the whole body should pivot upon the right toe, as in the conclusion of a golfing drive. Some men have the dangerous habit of jumping round to a leg ball, instead of [Photo. by G. W. Beldam.
MR. G. L. JESSOP JUMPING OUT. swinging upon the right leg; it is dangerous, because, when bowler and wicketkeeper understand one another, the former may deliberately send a ball up to the dancer upon the leg-side, and put him in great peril of being stumped while his right foot is in the air.
The "pull" also is a stroke which every batsman should learn, as there is none more demoralising to the bowler, and none more necessary to have at one's command when the wicket is very bad, for naturally, as this stroke sends the ball where it has no right to go, it finds a place where a fieldsman has no right to be, and therefore scores. At the same time, though an important stroke, it is most dangerous, and requires to be conducted, as all others, under rule. One may assume that any first-class batsman can pull a very short-pitched ball with ease and safety, and place it where he likes, and much the same applies to the full-pitch, unless it be very fast, but the difficulty arises when the ball is of a fairly good length. One should never attempt to pull a half-volley, for the risk of being bowled is enormous, but if the ball be a little short of it, and a pull be necessary, throw the left foot right across the wicket, and sweep the bat round the toe, taking especial care to keep the ball down.
There is perhaps a danger that batsmen may get too orthodox, and throw away possible chances of winning a game by a refusal to take any risks at all. As a general rule, especially if the wicket be bad, and not likely to improve, it is well to hit at almost everything. Three fours in five minutes, and then retirement, will do more to help a side than remaining at the wickets for an hour for ten, even though the difficulties faced and surmounted may have been enormous; for there is very little chance on a bad pitch of the bowlers getting tired out.
There is, however, one moment at which the average batsman is a little too much inclined to force the game, and that is when a lob-bowler is put on, but there is no more reason for contempt than there is for the panic that he occasionally inspires. To every ball well pitched up the batsman may fearlessly walk out, take it on the full-pitch, if possible, and place it along the ground for a single or a two. If the bowler pitch them short, one may step back and gently place them where seems best; the only dangerous method is that which tries to secure enormous hits off every over. If, however, the batsman should wish to make a big drive (and this applies to all bowling, not merely to lobs), by all means let him jump in to meet the ball, so as to get it on the half-volley. Some advocate the "fast-footed" style of hitting, but though this makes the risk of missing the ball slightly less, it is almost impossible, as the ball is met on the rise, to prevent it from soaring. It may go over the fieldsman's head, but the risk of giving a chance is great. By jumping in to meet it, the batsman hits the ball at the moment when it pitches, and, the body being well forward, he is less likely to get under it. A word may be useful as to fielding at those difficult places, point and short-slip.
Slip should never take his eyes off the ball, from the moment the bowler starts his run to the time when the ball is safely held.
He should not attempt to watch the batsman at all. Point, on the other hand, if the bowling be fast, does well to draw conclusions, from the way the batsman is framing, as to the direction of the hit.
Both should make every experiment possible in order to find exactly what distance from the wicket suits them best to stand. [CRICKET Many a man finds out that at a particular spot he can take the ball with fair certainty, but that if he stand a yard or two nearer, or further away, he is almost helpless. It is well to remember that the ball can only be caught by the fingers, as near the palm as possible, and that it should never be allowed to hit the palm, for from there, in all probability, it will bound off to the ground. In any case, let the hand be beneath the ball, and never try to grasp it from the top, or sideways.
K. S. RANJITSINH JI.
Left-Handed Batsmen. -The appearance of a left-handed batsman is always an ag-- MR. W. BARDSLEY. gravation to the fielding side, and his dismissal is generally greeted with corresponding signs of gratification. As will be seen hereafter, it is not so much the number of runs he makes, as the general effect he produces on the moral of bowler and fieldsmen, which influences the state of the game. The incessant and necessary change of position whenever an odd number of runs is made by a hit is as trying to the temper as it is to the physique, and as demoralisation, more or less temporary, is likely to follow, it is perhaps fortunate that these sinister cricketers are not numerous: they are certainly not beloved of the opposition.
Among individuals the trouble and responsibility are most severely felt by bowler and CRICKET] 66 wicket-keeper. The latter always seems to find an increased difficulty at his post, as a proof of which it is not uncommon to find him standing back for the left-hander, but close to the wicket for his companion, as the whole game has now become wronghanded" for him, and many a snick from the left-hander's bat is allowed to pass, when the right-hander might not have escaped. Even short-slip and point sometimes find it less easy to follow the ball as it leaves his bat. But it is the bowler on whom the chief difficulty falls. A special mental effort is required of him, created by the task of ridding his side of the obnoxious player. He is troubled in various MR. V. RANSFORD. ways. Accustomed to pitch the ball persistently on the off-side for a right-handed man, he has now to suit himself to the altered conditions, and to pitch the ball on the leg-side. Easy enough for a ball or two, no doubt, but when singles are being rapidly made, and the bowler has constantly to alter his tactics and the direction of his bowling, length and pitch are apt to suffer, to the benefit of both batsmen. Many righthanded bowlers cannot bowl over the wicket to left-handers, and they are seen bowling round the wicket to the one batsman, but over to the other. A left-handed bowler especially dislikes bowling to his left-handed opponent. The reason is simple enough. His favourite break-back is eminently liable to be "pulled," and to avoid this he will generally be found bowling over the wicket to the left-handed instead of round-a practice which is quite novel to him, and correspondingly difficult. To the best bowlers these difficulties may be comparatively slight, but it is not uncommon for a good captain to take a left-handed bowler off when a left-handed batsman comes in, often to the advantage of the latter's colleague. It is to such constant yet necessary changes as these that the lefthander owes his advantage-changes which help to demoralise the man and spoil his bowling.
A left-handed batsman enjoys a reputation for certain strokes as being peculiarly his own. In particular, he seems to have many more driving strokes-not cuts that range between third man and extra cover, than have right-handers, due perhaps to the fact that a ball breaking away to the off is better adapted to this class of stroke than a ball coming in from the off. As lefthanders for the most part meet right-handed bowlers who break back, they naturally get more practice for such strokes, and develop their talent in that direction accordingly.
For off-driving purposes a right-hander certainly prefers a left-handed bowler, who makes the ball go away from leg to off, and similarly the left-hander loves medium - paced, right-handed bowling, which he meets so frequently that constant practice thereat has made these offstrokes a prominent feature of left-handed play.
One service in particular the left-hander is specially adapted to lend his side, and that is the checking of the successful attack of the slow right-hand bowler who bowls with a strong break from leg. The right-hander who steps in to drive takes two risks-the risk of a "miss-h "miss-hit," and the risk of being stumped, the chance being generally quite simple; but the left-hander, if he misses the ball, has a second line of defence to fall back upon, viz., his legs, and if the ball does come to the wicket-keeper, the chance, being probably on the leg-side, is neither very visible nor very easy.
Hence it is not merely the left-hander's score, but his mere presence, that fieldsmen resent, and should his stay be a long one, he may materially alter the course of the game. No side is quite complete without such a batsman, if he be of good quality, though there are not many first-rate lefthanders to be found. It is politic to send one in to bat, cæteris paribus, if it is desired to spin out time; and, on the other hand, he should not be sent in, even if a fast scorer, when time is precious, as many valuable moments are lost during the necessary chopping and changing of the field.
F. G. J. FORD.
Bowling. An excellent and instructive paper on the subject will be found appended, from the pen of T. Richardson, the famous ex-Surrey and England fast bowler, who was also a member of A. E. Stoddart's Australian Eleven, whilst the subject of the up-to-date "googly" is specially dealt with by B. J. T. Bosanquet. The questions of "length," " break," and "accuracy are exhaustively dealt with by the former, but as he dwells mainly, and naturally, on fast bowling, a few lines on other points may not be out of place. ،، دو Bowlers are classified (1) according to their action, as Under-hand," "Roundhand," and "Over-hand" (the word "arm is often substituted for "hand"); and (2) according to their pace, as "Fast," 66 دو دو Medium-paced," or "Slow." In "underhand" bowling the arm is not raised above an angle of 45° from the body; in "roundarm it must not be lifted more than 90°; if the arm is raised higher, the bowler is an "over-hand" bowler. At different times legislation restricted and limited the height to which the arm might be raised; at present there is no limit save that imposed by Laws IO and 48. So little is seen nowadays of fast underhand bowling that the batsman who suddenly encounters it often is " surprised" out. The real difficulty lies, not in the bowling itself, but in the meeting of it; the eye, accustomed to look up towards an upraised arm, does not at once accommodate itself to the altered conditions which suddenly require it to look down; consequently the golden rule already given of "Watch the ball from the moment the bowler begins to run " will be found invaluable. It is rarely met with except in rustic matches, where some village champion often defeats cricketers of a high class; as a matter of fact, he "surprises" them out, or they get themselves out by their own carelessness, or by contempt for the bowling. Most fast under-hand bowlers bowl a large proportion of "sneaks "-balls which seem to cling persistently to the ground, sometimes with an awkward curl or break. The best way to play them is to watch them well, to "place" them if crooked, and to play out or hit out with the point of the bat close to the ground. If they only bound once, they seldom rise more than half-stump high, and may be played with the utmost ease; if they are "many-bounders" hard [CRICKET forward play will always meet the case, the only risk being that of being caught by the bowler, or mid-on, or mid-off; judicious "placing" on the leg-side will secure many a run.
No slow bowling should be played "fastfooted"; in other words, the batsman should always be ready to step or jump in towards the pitch of the ball, unless it be [Photo. by G. W. Beldam.
T. WASS. FAST RIGHT-HAND. on the off-side (see p. 455), but when "lobs" are introduced the batsman can do as much with his feet as with his hands. "Lobs"-slow under-handed bowling-are invariably terrible to the timid batsman, partly because a certain amount of humiliation is, without any reason, attached to a failure to cope with them; yet good lobs require as much care and pains as any bowling. In pace they should vary with every ball, and both leg-break and breakback-especially the former-are to be looked for, but, as bowled nowadays, they have seldom a great deal of spin, and should be met on one absolute principle- "hit them on the long-hop or the fullpitch." In the former case the batsman keeps himself back and places' or 66 or pulls" them; in the latter he runs out, and does the same thing. To play forward is dangerous; to hit them on the halfvolley is delightful, but entails a certain amount of risk. But in no point of cricket is so much individuality displayed as in the playing of lobs.
CRICKET] It may seem strange to have included the last two paragraphs under the head of Bowling," but instructions to the batsman are in an equal degree instructions to the bowler, if they be read aright; consequently it will be the lob-bowler's aim to keep so sound and true a length and such a pace, as to induce or compel the striker to play forward. Nothing, however, should be so disconcerting to a lob-bowler as to be consistently placed past the fieldsmen for a single. A half-volley hit to the boundary should inspire him with hope, but a series of well-placed singles should convince him that his efforts are vain. less the cause of the improved condition of modern bowling, but the acquisition of the art demands not only long and patient training, but a physical capacity and natural aptitude such as are not given to every man.
Further than this, nerve, good temper, and pluck are quite indispensable. It is a question whether he who bowls well as a boy also bowls well as a man, as the attendant strain is certainly severe, but the writer certainly developed in youth some of the break and spin which helped him to his later 1 successes.
The first thing to learn is to bowl straight and to bowl a good length, and this power is probably natural and not acquired, though nature requires the assistance of perpetual practice. But the bowler, whether born or made, should cultivate or acquire a high action and a good swing of arm and body, as such a delivery will make the ball rise quickly and perpendicularly from the pitch; but the action must at all costs be easy and free, qualities which neither imitation nor education must allow to disappear.
For early practice nothing is better than to bowl, the arm raised as high as possible without strain, at a disc of paper, the size of a crown-piece, placed at the proper distance from the wicket. It is impossible to T. RICHARDSON. FAST RIGHT-HAND.
It may be added that a lob-bowler who depends, as most of his kind do, on the leg-break requires but few fields on the offside; point, short-slip, and third man may be compendiously represented by a sort of third man, about six yards from the wickets.
We may now pass to the classification of bowlers according to their pace, premising that the words "fast," "medium," and 66 slow," refer to the general pace of the ball as delivered. A "fast" bowler may bowl one "slow" and one "medium" ball per over, and a slow bowler one "fast" and one "medium," but the pace of three balls in the over will be "fast" in the former case, and "slow" in the latter.
Fast Bowling.- The fine batting and good wickets of the present day are doubt- [Photo. by G. W. Beldam.
MR. W. BREARLEY. FAST RIGHT-HAND. state exactly what this distance is, as it depends on the pace of the bowler and the nature of the wicket, to say nothing of the ト height and play of the batsman; but on a fast true wicket the bowler, if he be a fast bowler, should try to pitch the ball about four or five yards from the popping crease, not less, for a batsman of about 5 ft. IO in. in height, the pitch being shorter or longer according as the batsman is tall or short, but to bowl, as some men do, about six or seven yards from the crease is to bowl with the idea of hurting, or at least frightening the batsman, which is contrary to the spirit of the game. If the wicket is slow or sticky, the ball may be pitched at least a yard further up, as the rise is more abrupt.
In the case of a slow or medium-pace bowler the ball should be pitched further up than it is by a fast bowler, to prevent the batsman from having time to step back and pull the ball.
Accuracy and length are the essentials of bowling, and till they are acquired break may be left alone, but for the first-class bowler a combination of the three things is absolutely necessary so it is now assumed that the first two have been fairly perfected, and that the question of break and spin remains.
Break and Spin. -A ball is said to break when, on touching the ground, it deviates [Photo. by G. W. Beldam.
A. FIELDER. FAST RIGHT-HAND. sharply from its original line of flight.
When it is delivered by a right-hand bowler and twists from the off to the leg, it is said to "break back"; when from leg to off, it "breaks from leg"; but a left-handed [CRICKET bowler's "break-back" twists, for a righthanded batsman, from leg to off. It will be observed also that the ball, delivered round the wicket, may, in its natural line of flight, which is not parallel to the line of the wickets, hit the stumps even if it does not pitch on a line drawn from wicket to wicket. This ball is said to " go with the arm," and a slight amount of leg-break is often combined with it. 66 دو A ball is said to have "spin on it when it gains an acceleration of pace, not necessarily a variation of direction, on touching the ground. Such "spin" is generally a natural gift, due to a practically unknown peculiarity of delivery, and there are probably few men who can make any given ball spin at will. "Break" is occasionally natural, but most frequently acquired, and it is caused by giving rotation to the ball as it leaves the fingers, the break-back being the most easy to acquire. In the following remarks the bowler is supposed to be right-handed.
To make the ball break back, it must be made to rotate from left to right, which is in most cases effected by holding the ball with the fore-finger round the seam; at the moment of delivery this finger and the wrist turn outwards, i.e., from left to right, so that the back of the hand is downwards after the ball has been released. Some men put this break on with the middle finger; indeed, every bowler finds out his own best method, but the foregoing description will be a useful preliminary hint.
To make the ball break from leg, it must be held more in the palm of the hand, and the rotation must be from right to left.
The third and little fingers produce the rotation, and the hand turns over with the ball, the back of the hand being now uppermost. It may be added that accuracy with the leg-break is very hard to acquire.
It is most important that a bowler should be able to vary his pace, unobserved by the batsman. To do this, the action and run must be the same as before, but the ball should be allowed to drop back from the fingers into the palm, and the shoulderblade restrained. The result will be a slower ball, but it must be tossed a little higher in the air and pitched rather farther up to complete the deception and induce the batsman to play forward to it and mistime it. This art of variation of pace is not easily acquired, but it is invaluable, especially when the batsman, having made a fine drive, can be induced to try to repeat the stroke on the deceptive slow.
The following are different balls which CRICKET] the fast bowler should have at his command. (i.) The good-length ball, already explained. (ii.) A very fast, short-length ball, just on the off-stump, or just outside it, often tempts the batsman to hit too hard at it, and, mistiming it, to hit a catch to the slips or wicket-keeper. Care should be taken not to bowl such a ball at the batsman's body. (iii.) The "yorker" is most useful. Its exact pitch varies according to the batsman's height, but it may be said, generally, to pitch between the creases. No man can score off it with any certainty, though to the good batsman it presents no special terrors.
Its chief merit is that it may catch him off his guard for the moment, with disastrous results. It is a capital ball to give a batsman when first he comes in, but as it entails special exertion it should only be bowled as a variation, in which its chief merit consists, and not continuously. Two variations of the "yorker" demand a word; cricketers know them as "the curling yorker" and the "running-away ball."
Both of these curl in the air before touching the ground, the first from the off, the second from leg. The former occurs more frequently with a cross wind, the second when the wind is directly against the bowler. No bowler, it may be asserted, can bowl either ball at will, though base-ball 66 pitchers," who "chuck" or throw the ball, have ample command over the curve, while to some bowlers the "curl in the air, however produced, is natural; yet it may be positively stated that no bowler can make any given ball take this peculiar flight. If, however, the bowler, bowling with a cross or head wind, finds that a ball, well pitched up, seems to curve in the air, he should pursue his advantage, as such a ball is most perplexing to the batsman. (iv.) The "full-toss," or "full-pitch," pitches right on the wicket, and is useful as a variation to keep the batsman on the alert and prevent him from settling down.
When once a batsman is "set," the bowler must try every device in his power, the head aiding the hand; least of all must he lose heart. No wicket is impregnable, and he must storm at the fortress till he brings about a capitulation, remembering for his comfort that many a bad ball gets a wicket. The bowler should at all times see that his fieldsmen are properly placed, and especially, if he be a fast bowler, short-slip and cover-slip; the former about three yards deeper than the wicket-keeper (who is supposed to be standing back), and a yard to his right; cover-slip is about a yard deeper than short-slip and a yard to his right. If a batsman is known to "cut" finely, third man may well field on the boundary, especially if the ground is hard. To get the full value out of the off-break, the fast bowler especially should bowl over the wicket, but he should train himself to [Photo. by G. W. Beliam.
J. T. HEARNE. RIGHT-HAND MEDIUM. bowl on either side, as a variety; indeed, many fast bowlers always bowl round the wicket to a left-handed batsman. Throughout this paper, it should be noted, the writer has had right-handed men in mind.
The bowling of the present day is largely affected by the perfect wickets now provided, this perfection accounting in the main for the large scoring. They render the bowler's, and especially the fast bowler's, task hard indeed. Mere straightness, in consequence, is almost useless unless the bowler has some variations at his command.
On the extraordinarily hard, true wickets which prevail in Australia, the fast bowler cannot be said to be a great success. has to adapt himself to the changed conditions and bowl a much shorter length, owing to the greater speed with which the ball travels on to the bat, making what would be a good-length ball in England almost a half-volley, or at any rate one that lends itself to be driven. In England it is a hard task to bowl out good batsmen, II2 He ( but in Australia that task becomes herculean.
The paucity of really good bowlers compared with the number of first-class batsmen is a matter for surprise and regret. The reason is not far to seek, and may be found in the fact that much more pleasure [CRICKET ing it up with something of an entirely different nature, either much faster or much slower, but the alteration in pace must be concealed, as far as possible, at the moment of delivery. A slower ball may be delivered and its pace concealed by checking the arm at the instant before delivery; a fast ball by swinging the arm further back, the pace of the run and the usual action being kept as far as possible. Needless to say, the variations of pace must not follow a stereotyped sequence of order.
It is a good variation to deliver the ball with the arm raised sometimes as high as possible, sometimes almost at a right angle with the body. If the bowler can make the ball break both ways, he would of course use the two breaks at different intervals, and it is well to vary the amount as well as the character of the break. To a new batsman the first few balls may well be bowled without any break at all; he may [Photo. by G. W. Beldam.
A. E. RELF. RIGHT-HAND MEDIUM. is derived from learning to bat than to bowl, and in the case of amateurs the ball is almost neglected. With regard to professionals, the fault lies not so much in the aspirants themselves as in the habit which prevails in many counties of having a "Colts' match" early in the year, when the weather is cold and the young players out of practice. Then, the match being over, and no one, as is natural, having distinguished himself, the "colts" are relegated to obscurity. The county which looks to the future, which keeps an eye on its recruits, which subsidises them by retaining them as "ground bowlers," and which supports a well-organised "second eleven," will surely reap its reward.
T. RICHARDSON.
Medium and Slow Bowling. The medium-paced bowler is a bowler of varied paces, a bowler who, in cricket language, "mixes them"-that is, seldom bowls two consecutive balls of identical pace and length. If, however, he detects a weak spot in the batsman's defence, if he sees that a ball of a particular length and pace puzzles and perplexes him, he should give him that ball at least once an over, follow- [Photo. by G. W. Beldam.
G. H. HIRST. LEFT-HAND MEDIUM. imagine that in the existing condition of the wicket the bowler cannot make the ball break, and an unexpected "break-back" may secure his wicket. A very useful ball, from the slow bowler's point of view, follows two or three break-backs which have pitched, at a good length, a few inches outside the off-stump. It should pitch at about the same length, have no break, and be somewhat faster, so as to conceal the absence of break; if the batsman fails to realise the situation, a catch at the wickets or in the slips is very likely to follow. In CRICKET] fact, to lay down a general maxim, it is good to make the batsman think that the bowler is mechanical and to induce him te be mechanical too. This effected, an unexpected motion on the part of the bowlingmachine may have a very surprising result on the batting-machine. But the contest is one of brain versus brain, as well as of hand versus hand, and the better man, for the time being, will win. An important factor in the duel is the temperament of the contestants; there is the steady bowler as well as the steady batsman; the brilliant batsman finds his counterpart in the brilliant bowler. When two of the former type are in opposition, things rule dull for the spectators; when brilliancy meets brilliancy the whole game glows. Indeed, bowlers may be put, generally, into two classes: firstly, those who "pound away" fatal, and then to see the ball drop out of the fieldsman's hands; but it is at this moment that the philosopher must prevail over the man. No one is more mortified or more sad when a catch is missed than the erring catcher, but when the bowler adds to his mortification by a hasty exclama- [Photo. by G. W. Beldam.
C. BLYTHE. LEFT-HAND SLOW. on the principle that, "if you knock at the door long enough, someone is sure to open it"; secondly, those who are not capable of such machine-like regularity, but who make up for the want of it by an occasional flash of inspiration, by a ball that even the best batsman cannot meet. One essential every bowler who has any pretensions to the name must possess a perfectly equable temper. It is desperately trying to have laid a trap for the batsman, to have lured him on to ruin, and to have led him to make the stroke that should have been [Photo. by G. W. Beldam.
E. DENNETT. LEFT-HAND SLOW. tion of disgust, that fieldsman is spoilt for the day.
It is often very useful to change ends and to change from one side of the wicket to the other. The former variation is subject to the approval of the captain, but the latter should always be tried when batsmen are well set; consequently, every bowler should accustom himself to bowl on either side of the wicket. Again, when the bowler has a good command of the ball and the break, no device is more successful than to bowl several balls with a fair amount of break, and another with just a little more twist; the ball that gets the wicket is the ball that just gets past the bat and does not just get past the wicket; hence a very little additional break may have the desired effect. If, however, the wicket is "caked " "crumbled " (see p. 460), a changefor a "break-back" bowler-from "over" to "round" the wicket is often useful, as the ball is not so likely to miss both bat and wicket. or One maxim the slow bowler, and indeed the medium bowler, should lay to heart, viz., that a short-length ball seldom bowls a man, but that an over-pitched ball is often fatal, and that a series of half-volleys is more likely to succeed than a series of longhops.
Above all things, a scrupulously fair delivery should be cultivated, free from all taint of suspicion of "throwing." To define the difference between throwing and bowling is most difficult.
In a "fair" delivery the arm is almost straight and swings with the body; in an unfair delivery it is bent at the elbow, and the elbow, instead of following the swing of the arm, is stopped at the body with a jerk, which stoppage and jerk are, in the writer's opinion, the essential points of a throw. It is right to add that what seems a throw to one man seems perfectly fair to another, and that bowling which seems unfair from one point of view (e.g., from the side or back of the bowler) may seem perfectly fair from another, the batsman, strange to say, having often the worst chance of judging, owing to the "foreshortening" of the arm. It is most important that the bowler, directly he has delivered the ball, should hurry back to his wicket-always supposing that he is not called upon to field the ball or make a catch-so as to receive the ball when thrown up by the fieldsman, being careful to keep the wicket between the fieldsman and himself. With this in view all bowlers should practise how to "take" the ball and " put the wicket down" quickly and smartly. As the bowler's hands are unprotected, this may imply some hard knocks, and if the bowler knows that the fieldsmen are "backing up," he may, to save his fingers, let a hard throw go by, unless there is a chance of getting a wicket, for which purpose he must take any and every risk of being hurt.
An opportunity of running a man out under Law 35 occurs but seldom, but it may be watched for, and there is nothing unsportsmanlike-as some people holdin exacting one's strict rights, to say nothing of the fact that the batsman who backs up too soon is taking an advantage of the bowler to which he is not entitled.
Finally, the bowler should not forget that he has ten men to support him, and that there are more ways of getting a batsman out than clean bowling him. A hard hitter may be tempted to hit a half-volley into long-field's hands, or, in trying his favourite drive, to mistime or miss-hit the ball. A man may have a special stroke for a particular ball; it is often useful to tempt him [CRICKET before he is well set. But as the devices to try this stroke early in his innings, and of the bowler are best learned by experithem for himself, but he should early accusence, the beginner will gradually acquire tom himself to note the style of the opposing batsman and to observe which balls seem to puzzle him, and which balls he plays or hits with ease.