D E D I C A T E D

J A B . M . . ARSHAL L, ESQ

HE LA SDOWN C I KE C MEMBERS OF T N R C T LUB,

B Y ONE OF THEIR OLD EST MEMB ERS

A ND SINCERE FRIEND ,

THE U HO A T R .

PRE FACE

T H E S E C O N D E D I T I O N.

THIS Edition is greatly improved by various additions and corrections, for which we gratefully

o ur . acknowledge obligations to the Rev. R . T

. A King and Mr . Haygarth, as also once more

. A . l . to Mr Bass and Mr. Wha t e ey Of Burton

For our practical instructions on Bowling, Batting,

i of and Field ng, the first players the day have

o n t he been consulted, each point in which he respectively excelled . More discoveries have also been made illustrative o f the origin and early history o f Cricket and we trust nothing is want ing t o maintain the high character now accorded ” A u tho to the Cricket Field, as the Standard

on f rity every part o ou r National Ga me .

M a 1 8 . 1 85 4 y, .

PRE FACE

T H F E I R S T E D I T I O N.

THE following pages are devoted to the history f and the science o o ur National Game . Isaac Walton has added a charm to the Rod and Line ;

‘ a nd Col. Hawker to the Dog and the Gun ; Nimrod and Harry Hieover to the Hunting

: Field but, the Cricket Field is to this day

untrodden ground . We have been long expecting to hear of some chronicler aided and abetted by the noblemen and gentlemen o f the Marylebone

o ne who l Club, shou d combine, with all the

o f t resources a ready writer, raditionary lore and

practical experience . But, time is fast thinning

o f the ranks the veterans . Lord Frederick Beau

o nce Hon . clerk and the celebrated player, the

o f Henry Tufton, afterwards Earl Thanet, have

s o f i pa sed away ; and probably Sparkes, the Ed n

. C burgh Ground, and Mr John oldham, herein

A 4 viii P REFACE To

v after mentioned, are the only sur iving players who have witnessed both the formation and the

Of — jubilee the Marylebone Club following, as it

o f o f has, the fortunes the Pavilion and the enter

a prising Thomas Lord, liter lly through three ” removes and one fire, from White Conduit

’ Fields to the present Lord s .

Ho w we , then, it will be asked, do presume to save from Oblivion the records o f Cricket ?

o f o u r As regards the Antiquities the game, history is the result o f patient researches in Old

English literature . As regards its changes and

fo rt u chances and the play ers of olden time, it n a t el n we y happens that, some fiftee years ago, ’ furnished ourselves with Old Nyr en s account o f the Cricketers o f his time and the Hambledon

’ n o f Club, and, usi g Bentley s Book Matches from 1 7 8 6 to 1 8 2 5 to suggest questions and test the

o f i truth answers, we passed many an interest ng hour in Hampshire and Surrey, by the peat fires o f the those villages which reared Walkers, David

B eldha m o f Harris, , Wells, and some others the

All England players of fifty years since . Bennett,

Beldha m Harry Hampton, , and Sparkes, who first

o f taught us to play, all men the last century, have at various times contribu ted to o u r earlier THE FIRST EDITION . ix

s annals ; while Thoma Beagley, for some days

o ur . landlord, the late Mr Ward, and especially

H. Mr. E . Budd, often our antagonist in Lans down matches, have respectively assisted in the

first twenty years o f the present century .

we of o ne But, distinct mention must make

ina ort ant w most p Chronicler, hose recollections were coextensive with the whole history of the game in its matured and perfect form—WILLIAM

F o ur ENNEK . And here we must thank kind f l . o friend the Rev John Mitford, Benhal , for his

’ memoranda o f many a winter s evening with that

old be fine player, papers especially valuable

’ Fennex s cause impressions were so distinct, and his Observation so correct , that, added to his t prac ical illustrations with bat and ball, no other ma n could enable us so truthfully to compare

n Fennex a cient with modern times . Old , in his declining years , was hospitably appointed by i ffi Mr. M tford to a sinecure O ce, created ex

o f pressly in his honour, in the beautiful gardens ll Benha and Pilch, and Box, and Bayley, and all

Old his acquaintance, will not be surprised to hear that the o ld man would carefully water and roll his - o n little cricket ground summer mornings, and o n wet and wintry days would sit in the ! PREFACE TO

- e chimney corn r, dealing over and over again by t he i n hour, to an imag nary part er, a very dark

o f and dingy pack cards, and would then sally forth t o teach a long remembered lesson to some

- o f - hob nailed frequenter the village ale house . So much for the History : but why should we venture o n the Science o f the game?

u Many may be excellently q alified, and have

o f a fund anecdote and illustration, still not one of o n the many will venture a book . Hundreds play without knowing principles ; many know what they cannot explain ; and some could ex

f u and plain, but ear the certain labo r cost, with

o f . the most uncertain return , authorship For

o ur o wn o ur wa . part, we have felt y The wide ” circulation of our Recollections of College Days “ ” a nd Course o f English Reading promises a patient hearing o n s ubj ects within o ur proper t t i sphere ; and tha in his sphere l es Cricket , we may without vanity presume to assert . Fo r in

’ ’

at . August last, Mr Dark s Repository at Lord s, “ o ur little treatise o n the Principles o f Scientific

: O f 1 835 o ut Batting (Slatter x ord, ) was singled

‘ as the book which contained as much o n Cricket

be as all that had ever been written, and more

a g sides . That same day did we proceed to rran e THE FIRST E DITION . xi

W . n t o ith Messrs Longma , naturally desirous lead a we second advance movement, as led the first, n and to break the spell which, we had thus bee

in assured, had for fifteen years chained down the vent io n o f literary cricketers at the identical point

o ff or e where we left for, not a single rule principl has yet been published in advance o f o u r o wn ; though more than one author has been kind enough t o t adopt (thinking, no doub , the parents were d our ! ead) ideas, and language too

w e r Shall eve make new books, asks T “ ristram Shandy, as apothecaries make new m o u t o f one ixtures, by pouring only vessel into ? ” No. another But so common is the failing, " that actually even this illustration of plagiarism Sterne stole from Burton !

Like solitary travellers from u nknown lands, we are naturally desirous to offer some co nfirma

o f tion statements, depending otherwise too much

o n r. our literary honou We, happily, have received — the following from we believe the oldest player o f“ the day who can be pronounced a good player

—Mr still . E . H . Budd I return the proof-sheets o f the History o f my Contemporaries, and can truly say that they

m f ld I one do indeed remind e o o times . find xii PREFACE TO

t o I thing only correct, which hope you will be

t o in time alter, for your accuracy will then, to

o f exce the best my belief, be wholly without p ‘ twent twent ive tion write y guineas, and not yj , as ff old the sum o ered, by Thomas Lord, if any o ne should hit o ut o f his ground where no w is

Dorset Square . Yo u invite me to note further particulars for your second edition : the only omission I can at

- G present detect is this, the name of Lord eorge

o f o f n Kerr, son the Marquis Lothia , should be added to your list o f the Patrons of the Old

Surrey Players ; for, his lordship lived in the

o f midst them at Farnham and, I have often

B eldha m heard say, used to provide bread and cheese a nd beer for as many as would come ou t

’ and practise on a summer s evening : this is too s ubs ta ntia l a supporter o f the Noble Game to be

forgotten . We must not conclude without grateful acknow ledgment s to some distinguished amateurs repre senting the science both o f the northern and the

southern counties, who have kindly allowed us to

“

compare Iiot es o n various points o f play . In all

o f we our instructions in Batting, have greatly

benefited by the assistance, in the first instance, THE FIRST EDITION . xiii

of . of Mr. A. Bass Burton , and his friend Mr

ha t ele who u W y, a gentleman truly nderstands ” Ho n . Philosophy in Sport . Then, the Robert Grimston judiciously s uggested some modification d of o ur plan . We agree with him that, for a “ o ne popular work, and for play hours, the

lighter pa rts should prevail o ver the heavier ; for,

with most persons , a little science goes a long “ ” a ou r t o o w y, and winged words, if made

m Thu c weighty, ight not fly far ; seeing, as said y dides men do find it such a bore to learn any ” thing that gives them trouble . Fo r these reasons we drew more largely o n o u r funds o f anecdote

and illustration, which had been greatly enriched by the contributions o f a highly valued corre

“

ondent . . . E . Ha r sp Mr E S t opp. When thus the science o f batting had been reduced to its fair

wa s l proportions, it happi y undertaken by the

Hon . Frederick Ponsonby , not only through kind

t o e ness ourselves personally, but also, w feel

assured, because he takes a pleasure in protecting

of the interests the rising generation . By his we m advice, became ore distinct in ou r expla

n t t r a ions, and par icularly ca eful of venturing on

B . i. c . 20 . P E TO THE ON REFAC FIRST EDITI .

o f e a s such refinements scienc , though sound in

in theory, may possibly produce errors practice .

' Ta ntw m lzs era t CRICE T’ANUM coudere AMP o G UM .

For o ur artist we have one word t o say : not

o ur indeed for the engravings in frontispiece, these having received unqualifie d approbation ; f bu t o . , we allude to the illustrations attitudes In vain did our artist assure us that a fore -Short ened position would defy every attempt at ease,

or o n energy, elegance ; we felt bound to insist sacrificing the effect of the picture to its utility a s an illustration . Our principal design is to Show the position o f the feet and bat with regard t o the

how hit o ne wicket, and every , with exception,

he of t Cut, is made by no other change attitude t han results from the movement of the left foot alone .

B a rns ta le p ,

A r il 1 5 tfi 1 8 5 1 . p , CONTE N TS.

I CHAP. .

Origin o f the Game of Cricket

II CHAP. .

The general Character o f Cricket

CHAP. III.

The Hambledo n Club and the Old Players

. I CHAP V .

' Cricket generally established as a National Game by the E nd o f the la st Century

CHAP . V.

The First Twenty Years of the present Century 82

I. CHAP. V

A dark Chapter in the Hist ory o f Cricket

I . V CHAP I.

The Science and A rt o f Batting xvi CONTENTS .

CHAP . VIII .

Hints against Slo w B owling

CHAP . I! . — ” Bowling An Hour with Old Clarke

CHAP . ! .

Hints o n Fielding

! I CHAP. . — Chapter o f Accidents Miscellaneo us

2 KE THE CRIC T FIELD .

but Cricket may be older than its name, erro neo usly suppose that the name of Cricket occurs in no author in the English language o f an earlier

’ D U rfe hi i date than Thomas y, who, in s P lls to ” purge Melancholy, writes thus

Her r wa s t he pr etties t fellow A t fo o t -ball a nd a t Cr icket ; A t hu nting cha se o r nimble r a ce ” w a l Her ld ri i Ho fe t y r co u p ck t . The words How featly Strutt properly writes in place of a revolting old-fashioned oath in the original .

Strutt, therefore, in these lines quotes the 1 1 0 word Cricket as first occurring in 7 .

About the same date Pope wrote,

The Ju d e t o d ance his r other Ser eant s ll g b g ca , ” h ena t or s a t Cr icket u r e t he all T e S g b .

D unco me And , curious to observe, laying the f s cene o a match near Canterbury, wrote,

An ill -timed Cr icket M a tch there did ” - A t Bishops bour ne befal.

S oame en n s J y , also, early in the same century, wrote in lines that showed that cricket wa s very much of a sporting amusement :

5 ‘ E n la nd hen once o f ea ce and wealth ossess ed g , w p p , Bega n t o think fr uga lity a j est ; R IGI OF ME O N THE GA . 3

So grew polit e : hence all her well -br ed heirs

Gam sters a nd ocke s t urned and cr icket - la er s e j y , p y I E p. . b .

However, we are happy to say that even among comparatively modern authors we have beaten Strutt in his researches by twenty-five ’ i ne years ; for Edward Phillips, John M lton s

hi s o f phew, in Mysteries Love and Eloquence

(8 vo . writes thus

Will o u not whe n o u have me thr o w st o cks a t m y , y , y hea d a nd cr Wo uld m e es ha d een ea t en o u t o f m y, y y b b y ’ hea d with a cr icket-ba ll the d ay b efo re I s aw t hee ?

w i We shall presently sho the word Cricket, n i h l 0 R c e et 1 6 8 . , as early as the year A lat e author has very sensibly remarked that Cricket could no t have been popula r in the days o f h o r Elizabet , we should expect to find allusions to that game, as to tennis, football, and other

Sha ks ea re sports, in the early poets ; but p and

he t dramatists who followed, he observes, are s ilent o n the subject . As to the silence o f the early poets and drama — tis t s o n the game o f cricket and no o ne conver sant with English literatu re would expec t to find i or i in it except in—some casual allus on llustration an old play this silence we can confirm on t he

a bes t authority . Wh t if we presumed to advance t r o ne hat the early d amatists, and all, ignore B 2 4 I K E THE CR C ET FI LD .

f H ld ne the name o cricket. ow ho a gative ! ” very So rare are certain old plays that a hundred pounds have been paid by the Duke of Devon shire for a single copy of a few loose and soiled leaves ; and shall we pretend to have dived among such hidden stores ? We are so fortunate as to of be favoured with the assistance the Rev. John Mitford and o u r loving cousin John Payne Col n lier, two E glish scholars, most deeply versed in

early literature, and no bad judges of cricket ; and since these two scholars have never met with any i mention of cricket in the early dramatists, nor n 1 6 8 5 any author earlier than , there is, indeed, much reason to believe that Cricket ” is a word that does not occur in any English author before

the year 1 6 8 5 . r But though it occurs not in any English autho , is it found in no rare manuscript yet unpublished ?

We Shall see .

Now as regards the silence of the early poets , a game like cricket might certainly exist without falling in wit h the allusions o r topics o f poetica l we . writers Still, if actually find distinct , cata lognes and enumerations o f Englis h games before

o f 1 6 8 5 the date , and Cricket is omitted, the sus

i n ic r pic o . that Cr ket was not then the popula name o f o n e o f the many games of ball (not that the game itself wa s positively u nknown} is st rongly confirmed . M ORIGIN OF THE GA E . 5

Six such catalogues are preserved ; o ne in the ” n A atomy of Melancholy, a second in a well

i o f I. known treat se James , and a third in the

s . Cotswold Games, with three other

. u t o f I For the first catalog e, S rutt reminds us f f fo r the s et o rules from the hand o James I. the nurture and conduct of an heir-apparent to the ” throne, addressed to his eldest son , Henry Prince of BA IAIKON AQPON Wales, called the E , or ’ ” a Kin e s g Christian D a tie towards God . Herein the king forbids gaming and rou gh play

dicein As to g, I think it becometh best de bo shed souldiers to play on the heads o f their

- drums . As to the foote ball, it - is meeter for k ” laming , than ma ing able, the users thereof. But a special commendation is given to certain games “ o f o r ball ; playing at the catch tennis, palle

s uck like o ther eld malle, and fair and pleasant fi ” a mes in g . Certainly cricket may have been cluded under the last general expression, though ’ i by no means a fashionable game in James s re gn .

. n II For the second catalogue of games, Burto “ ” “ o f in his Anatomy Melancholy, the only ” k o ut boo , said Dr . Johnson, that ever took me ” o f bed two hours sooner than I wished to rise, gives a view o f the sports most prevalent in the seventeenth century . Here we have a very full “ enumeration : it specifies the pastimes o f great ” ’ en o f I m . and those base inferior persons ; f t B 3 6 THE CRICKET FIELD .

“ mentions the rocks on which men lose them selves by gambling ; how wealth runs away

with their hounds, and their fortunes fly away ” with their hawks . Then follow the sights and ” “ o f n - shows the Londo ers, and the May games f — and recreations o the country folk . More mi “ nut el S o f - y still, Burton peaks rope dancers, cock ” fi ht s n g , and other sports common both to tow t and country ; still, though Burton is so exact as o ” S all pecify winter recreations separately, and ” - a nd ballo wns mentions even foot balls , saying Let the common people play at ball and barley ” is t brakes, there in all this catalogue no men ion

whatever of Cricket .

III. we As a third catalogue, have the Cots

wold Games, but cricket is not among them . This was an annual celebration which one Cap~

tam Dover, by express permission and command f C i o I. James , held on the otswold Hills, n

Gloucestershire .

I : n o t V. Fourthly cricket is mentioned in s The compleat Gamester, published by Charle

r 1 70 9 . B owne, in ’ of Cha mberla ne s V. I have many editions y ‘ ’ o f . . . State England, kindly writes Mr T B “ 1 6 70 1 700 Macaulay, published between and , and I observe he never mentions cricket among

he w i . t national games, of h ch he gives a long list

. n 1 679 VI The great Joh Locke wrote in , M 7 O RIGIN OF THE GA E .

The Sports o f England for a curious stranger - a nd to see , are horse racing, hawking , hunting, Bowling : at Ma rebone and Putney he may see several persons o f quality bowling two o r three ’ : Inn times a week also, wrestling in Lincoln s Fields every evening ; bear and bull- baiting a t n bo w the bear garden ; shooting with the lo g , and

- l . in stob bal , Tothill Fields ; and cudgel playing in the country, and hurling in Cornwall . Here

- is ff t again we have no Cricket . Stob ball a di eren game . Nevertheless we have a catalogue o f games of ’ ” 1 700 n about , in Stow s Survey of Lo don , and a there Cricket is mentioned ; but, remark bly

o n e o f enough, it is particularised as the amuse “ ” o f ments the lower classes . The whole passage is curious

o f bes ides The modern sports the citizens, dr inkin -fi htin i g are cock g g, bowl ng upon n greens, backgammo , cards, dice, billiards, also musical entertainments, dancing, masks, balls,

- - n n stage plays, and club meeti gs in the eveni g ;

i o ut o n t they somet mes ride horseback, and hun ’ Cf d with the lord mayor s pack ogs, when the

o n lo wer c la s s es common hunt goes . The divert - d themselves at foot ball, wrestling, cu gels, nine

i - d cr icket - n of p ns, shovel boar , , stow ball, ringi g i i bells, quoits, p tch ng the bar, bull and bear bait ” n - I i gs, throwing at cocks, and lying at ale houses . ( ) B 4 8 THE I CRICKET F ELD.

The lawyers have a rule that to specify one thing is to ignore the other ; and this rule o f e vidence can never be more applicable tha n where a sport is omitted from six distinct catalogues ;

therefore, the conclusion that Cricket was unknown when those lists were made would indeed appear

—a udi s em er a lter a m b , utterly —irresisti le only p p a r tem in this case the argument would prove t o o much ; for it would equally prove that Club - r ball and Trap ball were undiscovered too, whe eas both these games are confessedly as old as the thirteenth century

o f o ft -re The conclusion all this is, that the peat ed assertions that Cricket is a game no older

: than the eighteenth century is erroneous for, “ i r first, the thing tself may be much olde than its

name ; and, secondly, the silence of antiquity is no conclusive evidence that even the name o f

Cricket was really unknown . Thus do we refute those who assert a negative as to the antiquity of cricket : and now for our a ffirmative ; and we are prepared to Show

- First, that a single wicket game was played as

early as the thirteenth century, under the name f - o Club ball . t h Secondly, tha it might ave been identical th a sport o f the same date called Ha ndyn ” and Handou t e. - t e Thirdly, that a genuine double Wicke gam

0 THE CRICKET FIELD . is punishable with three years ’ imprisonment ? those who play at any o f the said games are to be ” 1 0l. i fined , or lie in ja l two years . ” “ This, says Barrington, is the most severe law ever made in any country against gaming

o f o fo rbidden s eem and , some th se to have b een n m anly exercises, particularly the ” ha ndo ut e S , which I hould suppose to be cr icket ha nds w 1 74 , as the term is still ( riting in 0) ” retained in that game .

- Thirdly, as to the double wicket g

a mies on i h J , in his Dictionary, publ s ed gives the following account of a game Angus and Lothian This is a game for three players who are furnished with clubs . They cu holes, each about a foot in diameter

- a o ne inches in depth, and twenty six feet ap rt ; man guards each hole with his club ; these clubs are called Dogs . A piece of wood, about four o ne inches long and inch in diameter, called a Cat,

o ne is pitched, by a third person, from hole to

( wards the player at the other, who is to prevent he the cat from getting into t hole . If it pitches who his n in the hole , the party threw it takes tur

~ -a he “ If w t . ith club the cat be struck, the club n n bearers cha ge places, and each cha ge of place ” n like c lub- ba ll o . counts e to the score, The last observation shows that in the game of ORIGIN OF THE GAME . 1 1

- - d wa s Club ball above mentione , the score made

‘ ” Eby runs, as in cricket . ff r In what respect, then , do these games di e

from cricket as played now ? The only excep-fi tion that can be taken is to the absence of any E wicket. But every one familiar with a paper

. W given by Mr ard, and published in Old

ren b . . Ny , y the talented Mr C Cowden Clarke, will remember that the traditionary blockhole

wa s a veritable hole in former times, and that the n n batsman was made Out in run i g, not, as now,

bu t n by putting down a wicket, by poppi g the ball into the hole before the bat was grounded in

it. The same paper represents that the wicket wa s e —a two feet wid , width which is only ren dered credible by the fac t that the said hole wa s

o t o u r d t n like mark for guar , four feet distan

f m m out i ro the stu ps, but l ke a basin in the turf between t he stumps ; an arrangement which would require space fo r the frequent struggle o f the

a n d - b t batsman wicket keeper, as to whether the a

o f o ne o r o f h the , the hand the other, should reac

the blockhole first . t The conclusion of all is , hat Cricket is identical

- —a with Club ball , game played in the thirteenth n - century as si gle wicket, and—played, if not then, somewhat later as a double wicket game ; that

a a “ Ca t o r hit o f a s where b lls were scarce, , wood,

in a at seen many a vill ge, supplied its place ; also th 1 2 K T THE CRIC E FIELD .

“ ha ndyn and ha ndo ut e wa s probably only another

. Fo sbrok e of name , in his Dictionary Antiquities, “ ” - o f : said, club ball was the ancestor cricket he

- o ld m fo r might have said, club ball was the na e ” cricket, the games being the same . The points of difference a re not greater than every cricketer can show between the game as n f o w played and that o the last century .

B u t l o f . , astly, as to the name Cricket The old bat, which is now straight, is represented in ” t o c ricce is pic ures as cro ked, and the simple

Saxon word for a crooked stick . The derivation o f billa r t one or Billiards from the Norman , a ,

m ba ll- a r d fro y , according to Johnson, also Nine

o f s pins and Trapball, are obvious instances game which derived their names from the implements

i o w th which they are played . N w it appears highly probable that the crooked stick used in t he game o f Bandy might have been gradua lly ” n w adopted, especially whe a wicket to be bo led down by a rolling ball superseded the blockhole h to be pitched into . In that case the club aving given wa y to the bandy or crooked bat o f the last the m century, game, which first was named fro ” -b w n the club club all, might after ards have bee m ” na ed from the bandy or crooked stick cricket . m Add to which . the ga e might have been: — the; played in two ways, sometimes more in f m of - t or Club ball, sometimes more like Cricke ORIGIN OF THE GAME: 1 3

and the following remarkable passage proves that a term very similar to Cricket wa s applied t o t s ome game as far back as the thirteen h century, the identical date to which we have traced that form o f cricket called club-ball and the game of

h n ha nd a dyn and ou t e . ’

a l i. o . . From the Gentleman s M gazine, v lvii p

. . 1 7 8 A D 8 , we extract the following In the wardrobe account o f the 2 8th year

f . 3 o . 1 00 King Edward the First, A D , published 1 7 8 7 o f i n in by the Society Ant quaries, amo g f o o ne . the entries money paid Mr John Leek, o f his chaplain , for the use his son Prince Edward

a t ff in playing di erent games, is the following

o ha nni ca ella no Domino J de Leek, p Domini ’ ’ E dwa rdi fil Cr ea et ad g alios ludos per vices ,

ri 0 m rO a s 1 0 . 1 0 per anus p p , s . Apud Westm die r i Ap il s,

The writer Observes, that the glossaries have been searched in vain for any other name o f a ’ pastime but cricket to which the term Crea g can

h no t ? fo r a . pply And why s ould it be Cricket ,

S n we have a i gular evidence that, at the same date, Merlin the Magician wa s a c ricketer ! “ ” o f In the romance Merlin, a book in very

o ld F of I. rench , written about the time Edward , “ is the following ’ Two o f his (Vo rtiger s ) emissaries fell in with r n cr et cert a in children who were playi g at ick . ’ f ” Quoted in Dunlop s History o Fiction . T E 14 THE CRICKE FI LD .

The word here rendered cr icket is la cr os s e; and ’ i 1 6 80 : Ri helet s D et . . in c of Ant , are these words é ar Cros s e . , a Crosier Baton de bois courb p ’ le o u bout d en haut, dont on se sert pour jouer ” pousser quelque balle . ‘ Cr o s s eur Cr icketer . , qui pousse ’ Creag and Cricket , therefore, being presumed

of Glo u» identical, the cricketers Warwick and of oester may be reminded that they are playing the s ame game as was played by the dauntless enemy

o f Robert Bruce, afterwards the prisoner at Ken ’ n t i m o f s ilworth, and even ually the v cti Mortimer

ff a o f ru ians in the d rk tragedy Berkeley Castle . To advert to a former observation tha t cricket

a s n w originally co fined to the lower orders, Robert

Southey notes, C . P . Book . iv . that cricket wa s not deemed a game for gentlemen in the

middle of the last century . Tracing this allusion ”

. 1 32 . 1 7 5 6 to The Connoisseur, No dated , we

re o ne . a introduced to Mr Toby Bumper, whose i vulgarities are, dr nking purl in the morning,

i i F r eat ngblack pudd ngs at Bartholomew ai , boxing “ i B u ckho rs e h r w th , and also t at he is f equently enga ged at the Artillery Ground with Fa u kner

Din a t e a t cr icket and g , and is esteemed as good a ” “ in bat as eit her o f t he Bennets . D ga t e will be mentioned as an All-England player in o ur third chapter. And here we must observe that at the very ORIGIN OF THE GAME . 15

date that a cricket-ground wa s thought as lo w a s - e a modern skittle alley, w read that even

“ ’ Some Dukes at Mary bone bowled time away ; and also that a Duchess Of Devonshire could be actually watching the play o f her guests in the ’ k - s ittle alley till nine o clock in the evening .

Our game in later times, we know , has cons ti t u t ed t he pastime and discipline of many an E u

Our no w glish soldier. barracks are provided with cricket grounds ; every regiment and every man o f- wa r has its club ; and o u r s oldiers and sailors

astonish the natives of every clime, both inland w o f and maritime , ith a specimen a British game

. and it deserves to be better known that it wa s at “ a cricket match that some of o ur officers were

amu s in o n 1 2 t g themselves the th June, t n says Cap ain Gordo , in company with that rde ot ed u i v cricketer the D ke of R chmond, when

I he t Duke of Wellington arrived, and Shortly

o f o f after came the Prince Orange, which cou rse

ur the Iput a stop to o game . Though hero o f the flPenins ula was no t apt to let his movements be

ikno wn c omm no a , on this on he made secret th t, iif h H he were attacked from the sout , alle would

the a nd o n his position, , if the Namur side, OO ” WATERL . 1 6 THE CRICKET FIE LDa

II CHAP. .

THE GENERAL CHARACTER OF CRICKET .

THE game of cricket, philosophically considered, is a standing panegyric on the English character none but a n orderly and sensible race o f people

would so amuse themselves . It calls into requi sition all the cardinal virtues, some moralist would f ld sa . o o y As with the Grecian games , the player must be sober and temperate . Patience,

- fo rtitude, and self denial, the various bumps o f

- order, obedience, and good humour, with an nu

ffl . in r u ed temper, are indispensable For t ellec we tual virtues want judgm—ent, decision , and the organ o f concentrativeness every faculty in the free u s e o f all its limbs and every idea in con stant air and exercise . Poor, rickety, and stunted wits will never serve : the widest Shoulders are of little use without a head upon them : the cricketer ’ wants wits down to his fingers ends . As t o i physical q ual fications, we require not only the

S R a m a nt h volatile pirits of the Irishman p , nor t e

i c o f o cha phlegmat c aution the Scotchman C u nt, but we want the English combination of the t wo ;

E I E 1 8 THE CRICK T F LD . supposed to have migrated all the erratic spirit s of Z the gipsy tribe . The ingari are a race of ubi

uit ou s u - s q cricketers , excl sively gentlemen player ; for cricket affords to a race of professionals a merry and abundant, though rather a laborious

- fl livelihood, from the time the first May y is up to i the time the first pheasant is down . Ne ther must

e w forget the All England and United Elevens, who o f o r , under the generalship Clarke Wisden , play numbers varying from fourteen to twenty

c o n two in almost every n ty in England . So proud

o f h are provincial clubs this onour that, besides a m o f 70 l. t o r subscription so e , and par all of the money at the field-gate being willingly accorded f r h o t eir services, much hospitality is exercised h wherever they go . T is tends to a healthy cir i ’ culation of the l fe s blood of cricket, vaccinating and inoculating every wondering rustic with the

o f principles the national game . Our soldiers,

o f u we said, by order the Horse G ards, are pro vided with cricket-grounds adjoining t heir bar ’ racks ; and all o f her hIaj es t y S Ships have bats

a h and balls to stonis the cockroaches at sea, and the crabs and turtles ashore . Hence it has come ’ a to pass that, wherever her M jesty s servants “ i i a nd have carr ed the r victorious arms legs, w a rid “ w ea ther m i ind per itting, cr cket has been

a pl yed . Still the game is essentially i Saxon . Fore gners have rarely, very rarely, The n l imitated us . E glish sett ers and residents L C E GENERA HARACT R OF CRICKET . IQ

everywhere play ; but o f no single cricket c lub have we ever heard dieted either with frogs, sour

o r . crout, macaroni But how remarkable that cricket is not naturalised in Irelapd ! the fact is very striking that it follows the course rather o f

k . o f ale than whis ey Witness Kent, the land o All hops, and the annual antagonists f Eng ”

. l land Secondly, Farnham, which, as we shal

Sh presently ow, with its adjoining parishes, nur t ur ed o f o ld a s the finest the players, well as the

hO s cuna bu la Tr o a finest p , j , the infant school

of cricketers . Witness also the Burton Clubs, assisted by our excellent friend next akin to

. o n bitter ale Witness again Alton ale, which

old Beagley throve so well, and the Scotch ale o f i on Ed nburgh, which John Sparkes, though com

mencin n g with the last generation, has carried o

his instructions, in which we ourselves once re

oic d j e , into the middle of the present century. “ ” The mountain mis ts and mountain dew suit better with deer -stalking than with cricket : o u r u game disdains the Dutch co rage of ardent spirits . ’ he u fire T brain must glow with Nat re s , and not

fifens s a na i depend upon a spirit lamp . n corp o r e

s a no feed the body, but do not cloud the mind .

Yo u s ir o f , , with the hectic flush, the fire your k eyes burnt low in their soc ets, with beak as

’ o i o sharp as a w odcock s from liv ng up n suction,

a i s n - o ur with p ll d face and haky ha d, game 2 0 THE CRICKET FIELD.

disdains such ghostlike votaries . Rise with the lark and scent the morning air, and drink from t he bubbling rill , and then, when your veins are ff no longer fevered with alcohol, nor pu ed with

— o u t tobacco smoke, when y have rec ified your illicit ' spirits and clarified your unsettled judg u ment, come again and devour p my dis

of f course . And you, sir, with the figure Falsta f

o f — and the nose Bardolph, not Christianly eating

o u that you may live , but living that y may eat,

- o ne o f na ti cons umer e r u es n the f g , th—e devouri g caterpillar and grub of human kind o u r noble l game has no sympathywith gluttony, stil less ” o ut with the habitual diner , on whom outraged n a ature has taken vengeance, by embl zoning what w a s his f nimium ne cr ede c olo r i ace ( ) , encasing

him his each limb in fat, and condemning to be f o wn porter to the end o his days . Then I am ” — I — o f your man and and I, cry a crowd self “ s a tisfied youths sound are we in wind and li o r . mb, and none have quicker hand eye i Gently, my fr ends , so far well ; good hands and in eyes are instruments indispensable, but only

r m n iff s t u e t s . There is a wide d erence between

and o f a good workman a bag tools, however

h . a s s arp We must have heads well as hands .

ma bi enou h You ybe g , g and strong enough, but t the question is whe her, as Virgil says,

S ir itus intus a lit to ta m a e in usa p , q f p er a r tus M ens a ita t molem et ma no s e g , g corp o r e mis cet . 2 GENERAL CHARA CTER o r CRICKET . 1

s And, in the e lines, Virgil truly describes the right

sort of man for a cricketer : plenty o f life in him, not d barely soul enough , as Robert South sai , to f' ; b , keep his a“ body from putre action ut however w large his stature, though he weigh t enty stone, n M nn n o t . like (we will say Mr y ), but an olde

- o r in a nt wicket keeper, named Burt, a certain f of genius in the same line, good Cambridge town, —he ms t u t, like hese worthies aforesaid, have

uo vs in perfection , and be instinct with sense all

. z neus es t o llis vi or over Then, says Virgil, g g w ” they must al ays have the steam up, other the wise bard would have agreed with us, they

are no good in an Eleven, because

Nomia cor ora ta r da nt p , Terr eni ue hebeta nt a r ms mor ibunda ue membm q , q

o u o f that is, y must suspend the laws gravitation

ca n o f before they stir, dull clods the valley, a nd so many stone o f carrion ; and then Virgil proceeds to describe what discipline will render

ff o f o r in those, who su er the penalties idleness

ew in temperance, fit to join the chosen f the Cricket-field

E xinde p er a mplum

M ittimur E l ium t a u i Zwta a r va tenemus ys e p c .

E l s ium ! data a r va Of course y means Lords, and , ” m fo r the shooting fields . We ake no apology c a th l ssical quotations . At e Universities, cricket 0 3 2 K 2 THE CRIC ET FIELD. a nd n scholarship very generally go together. Whe ,

1 8 36 we V o f in , played ictoriously on the side

d o ut o f o ur Oxford against Cambri ge , seven e leven were classmen ; and, it is doubtless only to avoid an invidious distinction that Heads ” u ha s Heels, as was once s ggested, failed to be a n annua—l University match ; thou—gh the s ari s tudior um those put to school late would not have a chance . W e extract the following

In a lat e Convocatio n hold en at Oxfo r d Ma 30 1 85 1 , y , , it wa s a greed t o a ffix the U niver sity s eal t o a power o f a tt orney

a u tho risin t he s ale o f QOOOZ. thr ee er cent . co nsols for the g p , pu rpo se o f pa ying for a nd enclo sing cer t ain allotment s o f land in Cowle Co mo n u s ed a s cr icket r ound s m em y m , g by

ers o f the Univer sit in o r d er t o t heir ein r es erved for b y, b g p tha t u r o se a nd let t o the s everal U niversit crick et clu s p p , y b ” in n i n su ch m a ner a s m ay hereaft er appear exped e t .

o n a u From all this we argue that, the thority of ancient and the experience o f modern t imes, cricket wants mind as well as matter,

o f u n and, in every sense the word, a good ’ d ers t a ndi w ng. How is it that Clarke s slo bowl Ing is so successful ? ask Bayley or Ca ldeco ur t ; o r ’ n o r o f say Bayley s own bowli g, that Lillywhite, Yo u o r others not much indebted to pace . see, ” w r a . sir, they bowl ith thei he ds Then only is f - m en the game worthy the notice o full grown . ” A o f i of the rubber wh st, says the author “ f his St u Diary o a late Physician, in Law ” “ r i ll CE dies, calls into equisit on a those powers L H R o r 3 GENERA C ARA CTE CRICKET . 2 mind that a barrister most needs ; and nearly as o f much may be said of a scientific game cricket . firs t - b Mark that rate bowler —the —atsman is han kering for his favourite cut no leg stump is — — attacked again extra man o n leg side right — ’ — that s the spot leg stump , and not too near him . He is screwed up, and cannot cut away ; — — — Point has it persevere try again his pa i i t ence soon will fa l . Ah ! look at that ball ; — the bat was more o u t o f t he perpendicular no w — A the bowler alters his pace go o d . dropping — ball over-reached and all but a mistake ; — now a slower pace still, with extra twist hits

- furiously to leg, too soon . Leg stump is grazed, ” b ff Y u o . o and ail see, sir, says the veteran ,

old turning round, an player, who knows what

no t o n is, and what is , the ball, alone can resist all

‘ - n the temptations that leg balls involve . You g

o f players are going their round experiments, and are too fond o f admiration and brilliant hits ; whereas it is your upright straight players that

- - o f t wo , b worry a bowler t—wenty inches wood y four and a quarter every inch of them before the

o r l stumps, hitting b ocking, is rather dishearten ing ; b ut the moment a man makes ready fo r a

o f leg hit, only about five inches by four wood can cover the wicket ; s o leg-hitting is the bow ’ ler s chance : cutting also fo r a similar reason . - we If there were no such thing as leg hitting, 0 4 24 THE CRICKET FIELD .

ma n a should see a full bat every time, the ste dy

.o n o ne i o f his legs, and only th ng to think and

a s what a task a bowler would have . That w ’ — for . Mr. Ward s play good something to the last First-rate straight play and free leg-hitting sel dom last long together : when once exulting in

the o f luxurious excitement a leg volley, the on muscles are always the quiver to swipe round, and the bowler sees the bat raised more and more

across wicket . So, also, it is with men who

: are yearning for a cut forming for the cut, like — n le o hit formi g for g aye, those hit s coming across the mind

o f t he straight play, and give bowler a There is a deal o f head -work in bowlin make your batsman set his mind on o ne and give him a ball requiring the contrary, is ff o his guard in a moment .

Certainly, there is something highly intellectual

o ur l in nob e and national pastime . But the cricketer must possess other qualifications ; not

l u a lifi only physical and intellectua , but moral q

cations also . Of what avail is the head to plan and h t o and execute, if a sulky temper paralyses ert ion r , and throws a damp upon the field ; o . if

a o imp tience dethr nes judgment , and the man hits a o cross at good balls, because loose balls are l ng in n o r a nd i comi g ; , again, if a contentious m

“ perio u s disposition leaves the cricketer all 5 alone ’ ” i - e o f ? n his glory, voted the p st every eleven

2 6 THE CRICKET FIELD .

” ca lca i nda s emel via let . A man is sure never ’ o ff to take his eyes the ground, and if there s a bit ! o f stick in the way he kicks it instinctively with A dd . os t mor tem the side of his shoe , that cruel p ” examination into your case , and having to

? o r answer the old question, How was it perhaps forced t o argue with some vexatious fellow who imputes it to the very fault o n which you are so

All n It sore and sensitive . this is tryi g ; but since “ ” o f is always happening, an inseparable accident

u nru ffied the game, it is time that an temper ” should be held the differentia o f the true

cricketer and bad temper voted bad play . Eleven

- good tempered men, other points equal, would beat eleven sulky o r eleven irritable gentlemen f f o ut o the field . The hurling o bats and angry ebullitio ns s ho w inexperience in the game and its chances as if any man in England could always

o r . e catch, stop , or score This very uncertainty giv s

o r the game its interest . If Pilch Parr were sure

o f ? runs, who would care to play But as they i make sometimes five and somet mes fifty, we still i l contend with flesh and blood . Even Ach l es wa s o r vulnerable at the heel ; , mythologically, he

could not stop a s hooter to the leg stump . So never let the Satan ica gency o f the gaming-table “ ” o n t h s lr enua nos brood hose appy fields where,

exer cet iner tia r in o u r , there is an ene gy idle

n e it . L hours, not killi g tim but enjoying ook at GENERAL CHARACTER OF CRICKET 27

“ good honest James Dean ; his patient—merit never goes Out sighing nor In, either never in a mumbling, though a melting mood . Per s l o ff a piration may ro l him, like bubbles from ’ ’ ’ duck s back, but it s all down to the day s work.

o He looks, as every cricketer should lo k, like a

o ut i man for a hol day, shut up in measureless

i ful content. It is del ght to see such a man make a score .

- - i Add to all this, perseverance and self den al, and a soul above vain -glory and the applause o f

- the vulgar. Aye, perseverance in well doing

i and perseverance in a straightforward, upr ght,

e ra c consistent course of action . S e t hat player p t is in h g apart from the rest . W at an unpretend in — g style of play a h—undred pounds appear to depend o n every ball not a hit for these five

— a shillin minutes see, he has g on his stumps, ff and Hillyer is doing his best to knock it o . A r question asked after every ball , the bowle being constantly invited to remind him o f the least inaccuracy in hitting o r danger in defence ;

The other players are hitting all over the field, l making every o n e (but a good judge) marve . ’ Our friend s reward is that in the first good match, when some supposed brilliant Mr . Dashwood has been stumped from leg ball he cannot make his fine hits in his gr ound) bowled by a shooter o r " ’’ u t ha o f t Ava iii/S ray ca gh by t t sharpest all Poin s g p , 2 8 THE CRICKET FIELD .

' — then o u r persevering friend ball after ball drop ping harmless from his bat, till ever and anon a single o r a double are safely played away has t wo figures appended to his name ; and he is greeted in the Pavilion as having turned the chances of the game in favour of his side . t Concei in a cricketer, as in other things, is

— - a bar to all improvement the vain glorious is

c -o n o f always thinking of the lo kers , instead the

' m o n ga e, and generally is condemned to live the o f o ne - o r reputation skying leg hit, some twenty runs off three o r four overs (his merriest life is a o ne n short ) for half a seaso .

In one word, there is no game in which amia bility and an unruffled temper is so essential to o r success, in which virtue is rewarded , half as m f o r uch as in the game o cricket . Dishonest shuffling ways cannot prosper ; the umpir es will foil every such attempt those truly constitu—tional: u j dges, bound by a code of written laws and

o f u l es the public opinion a cricket cl b, mi itat

s ciai against his preferment . For cricket is a o

or game . Could a cricketer play a solo, with a i dummy (other than the catapult), he m ght play in humour o r o u t of humour ; but an Eleven is of the nature of t hos e commonwealths of which i o Cicero sa d that, without some regard t the car t o : dinal virtues, they could not possibly hold

. gether s r " ' F GENERAL CHARACTER O CRICKET .

Such a national game as cricket will both hu

a a manise and h rmonise the people . It teaches

o f fo r love order, discipline, and fair play the pure

o f honour and glory victory. The cricketer is a member o f a wide fraternity : if he is the best man in his club, and that club is the best club in the

o f county, he has the satisfaction knowing his

a t o s high position, and may spire represent ome

“ ’ large and powerful constituency at Lord s . Ho w spirit- stirring are the gatherings o f rival counties ! And I envy no t the heart that glows not with delight at eliciting t he sympathies o f exulting n thousands, when all the country is thro ging to

e - field u its battl st dded with flags and tents . Its very look makes the heart beat for the fortune of the play and fo r miles around t he o ld coachman waves his whip above his hea d with an air o f In finite importance if he can only be the herald o f ’ ”

wo n . the joyous tidings, We ve the day f Games o some kind men must have, and it is no small praise o f cricket that it occupies t he

G of . place less innocent sports Drinking” : ambling,

a nd - cudgel playing, insensibly disappear as you encourage a manly recreation which draws the labo urer from the dark haunt s of vice and misery

to the open common, where

’ Th s u ir e o r ar son o the arish e q p p , ” Or the a tt orne y, him h may raise , wit out lowering themselves, by 0 THE I KE I 3 CR C T F ELD .

i t a t In S rt . k ng an in erest, if not a part, his po s “ ” Nature abhors a vacuum , especially of mirth a nd i o f merriment, resent ng the folly those who would disdain her bounties by that indifference and apathy which mark a very dull boy indeed . Nature designed us to sport and play at cricket a s truly as to eat and drink . Without sport you have no healthful exercise : to refresh the body you must relax the mind . Observe the pale dys peptic student ruminating on his logic, algebra, o r political economy while describing his period ical revolutions around his college garden o r on Constitution Hill : then turn aside and gladden your eyes and ears with t he buoya nt spirits and ’ o f exult ing energies Bullingdon or Lord s . See ” ho i t i w nature rebels aga ns an airing, or a m le stone-measured walk ! While following up a

or n o f - covey, the windi gs a trout stream , we cross n field after field unco scious of fatigue, and retain t i s o pleasing a recollection of the o l, that years t i i h n af er, am dst the din and hum of men, we br g te

h the at the t ought, and yearn as did poet near in two thousand years ago, the words,

0 r us ua ndo te a s zcza m ua ndo ue licebit , q p , q g , ” o u unda o blivia vi D ucer e s ollicita j c ta .

‘ That a n int ellige nt and responsible being should live only for amusement, is an error indeed, and one which brings its o wn punishment in that sink L H 3 1 GENERA C ARACTER OF CRICKET . ing of the heart when the cup is drained t o the dregs, and pleasures cease to please .

n in ide ludum Nec Zus is s e p a det s ed no c r e .

field- Still sports, in their proper season, are Na ture ’ s kind provision to smooth the frown from “ ’ fit ful the brow, to allay life s fever, to

R a z e o u t the writt en t r o u les of the r ain b b , A nd by s ome sw eet o blivio u s a ntidot e Clea ns e the st u ffed bo s o m fr o m tha t perilou s st uff; ” i h n h h ar Which we g s u po t e e t .

no t And words are these , a whit too strong for

- r those who live laborious days, in this high pressu e

n o t generation . And, who does feel his daily

n r a to r um viva burthen lightened, while e joying, p volu ta s r o f p , the j oyous spi its and good fellowship “ - field u the cricket , those s nny hours when the val ” u i n leys la gh and s ng, and, betwee the greensward b beneath and the blue sky a ove , you hear a hu m o f ha ppy myriads e njoying their brief span too !

o f a Who can describe that tumult the bre st,

JE s ch lus described by y ,

vea pog pvehog o r épvwv

’ é vr og a vd o' o wv those yearning energies which find in this sport their genial exercise How generous and social is o ur enjoyment

o —t he a i Every happy m ment, b ll spring ng from

t he r a n the bat, sha p c tch soundi g in the palm , o r n n long reach sudden spri g and quick retur , the 3 2 THE CRICKET FIELD . e n o r - h e xulti g throw, bails and wicket flying, t es r e all are joys enhanced by sympathy, purely ’ flect ed from each ot her s eyes . In the cricket ’ field t , as by the cover s side, the spor is in the t o f incon free and open air and ligh heaven . No f gruity o tastes nor rude collision interferes . “ ” mi u n None nds that another, how mannerly “ soever, should pass betwixt the wind and his ” n obility . One common interest makes common feeling, fusing heart with heart, thawing the

o f frostwork etiquette, and strengthening those i silken ties wh ch bind man to man .

Society has its ranks and classes . These dis tinctio ns l l we believe to be not artificia , but natura , even as the very courses and st ra t a o f the earth itself. Lines there are, nicely graduated, ordained f to separate, what Burns calls, the tropics o no bilit f f y and a fluence, from the temperate zones o a i comfortable independence , and the Arct c circles o f poverty : but these lines are nowhere less

s t he marked, because nowhere les wanted , than in

—fi ld i cricket e . There we can wa ve for awhile the o f precedence birth,

Co nt ent ed with the ra nk that merit i g ves .

i And many an humble sp rit, from this temporary

in o f u preferment, learn g the pleasure s periority and - a well earned pplause, carries the same honest

i i - emulat on into his da ly duties . The cricket field s uggests a new version of the words

34 THE CRICKET FIELD .

ff soon superannuated , It a ords scope for a great i d versity of talent . Bowling, fielding, wicket keeping, free hitting, safe and judicious play, and good generalship in o ne o f these points many a m a u the n has earned a name, tho gh inferior in

o f rest . There are good batsmen and the best

n - i fields amo g near s ghted men, and hard hitters

e among weak and crippled men ; in weight, nin

firs t - stone has proved not too little for a rate, nor

s a s . eighteen tone too much ; and, to age, Mr

-fi . . ve Ward at sixty, Mr . E H Budd at sixty , and old o f John Small at seventy years age, were useful men in good elevens . Cricket is a game available to poor as well a s rich ; it has no privileged class . Unlike shoot ing, hunting, or yachting, there is no leave to ask,

su licence to buy, nor costly establishment to p port : the game is free and common as the light ’ in wh — and air ich it is played , the poor man s w i d portion ith the poorer classes it or ginate , ” e i played aft r hours on v llage greens, and thence transplanted to patrician lawns . We extract the following :

The j u dge o f t he Br entfo r d Co u nt y Co u rt ha s d ecided

cr ick et is a le al a e s o a s t o r ender th t hat g g m , e s t ak ehold er lia ble in ana ct io n fo r t he r ec overy o f t he st a kes , in a c a s e ” ne f the a rties ha d r efu s ed t o l wher e o o p p ay .

Cricket i s not solely a game o f skill ~ cha nop F GENERA L CHARA CTER C CRICKET . 35

ha s sway enou gh to leave the vanquished an if b and a u t . A long innings bespeaks good play ;

t . A but out the firs ball is no disgrace game,

l u to be real y a game, really playf l, should admit of o f chance as well as skill . It is t—he bane chess that it s character is too severe to lose its game s is to lose your character ; and most painful

o f a ll t , to be outwit ed in a fair and undeniable

of - n m oe contest long he—aded ess, tact, an uvring, and common sense qualities In which no ma n

likes to come o f second best . Hence the restless nights and unfo rgiving sta te o f mind that often

a o f follows a Checkmate . Hence that gony w h rage and disappointment from hic , said Syd

t he i o f ney Smith , B shop broke my head

- a o with a chess board fifty years g at college . d But did we say that la ies, famed as some have

d i o f been in the hunting fiel , know anyth ng cricket too ? No t often ; though I could have

— u o f mentioned two, the wife and da ghter the late

William Ward, all three now no more, who could — — t ell you the daughter especially the forte and ’ the failing o f every player at Lord s . I a cco m

a nied h h o ne p t em ome evening, to see some records o f the h game , to their humble abode in Connaug t

e Terrace, where many an ornament reminded m o f the former magnificence o f the Member for the

a i a ia City, the B nk D rector, and the gre t Russ merchant ; and I thought o f his mansion in the D 2 36 THE CRICKET FIELD .

n r o ce not unfashionable Bloomsbury Squa e, the banqueting room o f which many a Wykehamist fo r has cause to remember ; when famed, as the o f Wykehamists were, for the quickest and best

fielding, they had won their annual match at ’ L s ord s (and twenty years since they rarely lo t),

Mr . Ward would bear away triumphantly the

winners to end the day with him . But, talking

o f the ladies, to say nothing of Miss Willes, who

- r revived over hand bowling, their natural powe s f w e o criticism , if honestly consulted, would, o f think, tell some home truths to a certain class

players who seem to forget that, to be a Cricketer

o ne must still be a man ; and that a manly, graceful style o f play is worth something independently f o f its effect on the score . Take the case o the “r Skating Club . ill they elect a man because,

in spite of arms and legs centrifugally flying, he o - can do some tricks of a p sture master, however wonderful ? No ! elegance in simple movements is t he first thing without elegance nothing

i . counts . And so should it be with cr cket I have

seen men, accounted players, quite as bad as some ’ Pi s s i o f the cricketers in Mr. p d ary . Pray, ” ” u ? Lovell, I once heard, have I the right g ard Guard indeed ! Yes ! keep o n looking a s ugly \ k a rd a s a nd as a w w you are now, and no man in ” ! A r o os o ne England can bowl for fright p p , of ~ “ ’ t s the first hints in archery is, don make face CF 3 GENERAL CHARACTER CRICKET . 7

o e When you pull your bow . N w w do seriously hi entreat those young ladies, into whose hands t s

o ur book may fall, to profess, on authority, that they are judges o f the game as far as appearance h goes ; and also t at they will quiz, banter, tease,

- - lecture, never leave alone, and otherwise plague and worry all such brothers o r husbands as they n shall see enacti g those anatomical contortions,

o f which too often disgrace the game cricket .

s o f bu Cricket, we aid, is a game chiefly skill, t i o f . partly chance Skill ava ls enough for interest,

t oo n . and not much for frien—dly feeli g N0 game is played in better humour never lost till won ’ Fo r the game s alive till the last ball . the most

s o f o r part, there is little to ru fle the temper, to cause unpleasant collision, that there is no place — so free from temptation no such happy plains o r

f — o u r -fi l lands o innocence as cricket e ds . We give bail for our good behaviour from the moment

-field that we enter them . Still, a cricket is a sphere o f wholesome discipline in obedience and good order ; not to mention that manly spirit which

dis a faces danger without shrinking, and bears p i i po ntment w th good nature . Disappointment ! and say where is there more poignant disappoint

a ll ment, while it lasts , than, after your practice for a match , and anxious thought and resolution

off to avoid every chance , and score every possible

un o u t ball, to be balked and r , caught at the slip, D 3 38 THE T FI LD CRICKE E .

“ Cr ff h Th stumped even o a s ooter. e course of ” fo r true love (even cricket) never did run smooth .

o f fi o f Old Robinson, one the nest batsmen his

: day, had six unlucky innings in succession once w caught by Hammond, from a dra ; then bowled

w h o r : it shooters, picked up at short slip the poor t t he fellow said he had los all his play, thinking

o u r a s fault is in ourselves, and not stars ; and w

d f to o ne with i ficulty persuaded play match more, in which —whose heart does not rejoice to hear ? he made o n e hundred and thirty r uns !

B ut a ~friend , as to stirring excitement , writes , - h what can surpass a hardly contested matc , when

u i u -h you have been manf lly play ng an p ill game, and gradually the figures o n the telegraph keep

n b i t he . telli g a better and a etter tale, t ll at last

m o u win scorers stand up and proclai a tie, and y i h the game by a s ngle and rat er a nervous wicket, o r by five or ten runs ! If in the field with a o f v match this sort, and trying hard to pre ent these few runs being knocked o ff by the last

wi w o f fo r ckets, I kno no excitement so intense

t he t w . time, or which lasts so long af er ards The recollection o f these critical moments will make t he heart jump for years and years to come ; and it is ext raordinary to see the delight with which

‘ men call up thes e g ra nd moments to memory ; and t o ho be sure w they will talk and chatter, their s a s if eyes glistening and pulse getting quicker, L C F GENERA CHARACTER CRICKET .

t hey were a ga In finishing that rattling good ’ f o f match . People talk o the excitement a good

o r no run with the Quorn Belvoir hunt . I have w

a nd then tumbled in for these good things ; and, o wn i as far as my feel ngs go, I can safely say that

‘ a fine run is not to be compared to a good match ; and the excit ement o f the keenest sportsman is nothing either in intensity o r duration to that “ ’ ‘ n r n caused by a ea thing at cricket . The ext

o f h a . good run takes the place the ot er ; where s t he - h hard matches, like snow ball, gather as t ey

go . This is my decided Opinion ; and that afte r r watching and weighing the subject for some yea s . I have seen men tremble and turn pale at a near m atch,

Quum ap es a r r ectaz j uvenum exulta ntia gue ha ur it Cor da p a vo r p uls a ns

the fi the t while, through eld, deepest and mos

awful silence reigns, unbroken but by some nervous fields ma n humming a tune or snapping

his fingers to hide his agitation .

What a glorious sensation it is, writes Miss ’ “ Ou r a Mitford, in Vill ge, to be Winning, win

ning, wmm ng ! Who would think that a little bit o f leather and two pieces o f wood had such ” a delightful and delighting power ? 4 0 THE CRICKET FIELD.

H III. C AP .

P THE HAMB LEDON CLUB AND THE OLD LAYERS.

WHAT have become o f the old scores and the ’ earliest records of the game of cricket Bentley s Book o f Matches gives the principal games fro m the year 1 78 6 ; but where are the earlier records o f matches made by Dehaney, Paulet, and Sir Horace Mann ? All burnt What the destruction of Rome and it s records

wa s iebu hr — by the Gauls to N , what the fire of London was to the antiquary in his walk from

Pudding Lane to Pie Corner, such was the burn ’ ing of—the Pavilion at Lord s, and all the old score books it is a merc—y that the old painting o f the . a s M C . C . w saved to the annalist of cricket .

we When were built out by Dorset Square, “ . . . we e says Mr E H Budd, played for thre ’ years where the Regent s Canal has since been cut, and still called our ground and ou r dining- room ‘ the Pavilion Here many a time have I lo oked over the old papers of wa s Dehaney and Sir H . Mann ; but the room

old . burnt, and the scores perished in the flames

THE E CRICKET FI LD .

KE NT A GAINST A L L E NGL AN D.

P la ed in the r tiller Gr u nd L nd n 1 A o o o 46 . y y , , 7

ENGL AN D .

1 s t Innin s . 2 nd Innin g g s .

RUNS. RUNS . O Ha d s ll ill b by we 4 b by M s . 3 D it 1 b t o 1 b Ha d swell. 0 hIIllS 3 i b l) D tt o . a d ll 2 n 0 b H swe b D a es . O Mills 5 Mills b . . b .

7 b Ditt o 9 b Ha d s well . 1 2 s 7 c Kips 1 8 5 a n k ill . o t o u t . . 1 c Ld J . S c v e

0 H d s ll 1 a b a we b H d s well. O a r r u m 8 Iill c B t b h s . O Mills 5 n o o b t ut . 0 Eyes 0

KENT .

l s t Innin s 2 ud Innzn g . g s .

RUNS . RUNS . il a mar a rri Lor d Sa ck v le 5 c by W y k 3 b by H s . la n i New d . . a n L o ng Rob n 7 b 9 b Ne d . Ha rr is i Mills 0 b 6 0 D t t o . a d ll O 5 no t o u t H sw e b . u b u sh 3 c G r een 7 n o t o u t C t . 2 Newland O Newla nd b b . i t o O 0 mi D a nes 6 b D t S th . a er Wa a rk 5 Newla n S wy O c ym b d . Har ris 1 O Ha r r i Kips 1 2 b b s . u 2 l n o o t . N n ills t . ew a d M 7 b .

‘ R n e 1 1 Ha r ris 8 c Harr o m y b is . Byes O 3 3 THE HAMBLEDON CLUB . 4

Cricket wa s introduced into Eton e a rly in the last century . Horace Walpole was sent to Eton

a 1 2 6 n as in the ye r 7 . Playi g cricket, as well

t a . hr shing bargemen, was common at that time ’ l F r vo . . o WVa l o le s . in p Letters, i p he says, “ ’ I c a n t say I am sorry I was never quite a

- a n i a o r school boy ; expedit on ag inst bargemen, a ma t ch a t cr icket , may be very pretty things to t h I e recollect ; but, ank my stars , can rememb r ” things that are very near as pretty . The fourth Earl of Carlisle learnt cricket a t

Eton at the same time . The Earl writes to George

w a i u Sel yn , even from M nhe m, that he was p, play f hi o ut o s . ing at cricket, before Selwyn was bed

‘ o And now, the oldest chronicler is Old Nyr n, Who wrote an account o f the cricketers o f his time . The said Old Nyren borrowed the pen o f our kind friend Charles Cowden Clarke , to i whom John Keats ded cated an epistle, and who rejoiced in the friendship of Charles Lamb ; and none but a spirit akin to Elia could have written ” r n N r en like Old Ny e . y was a fine old Eng

c lish yeomen, whose hivalry was cricket ; and i Mr. Clarke has faithfully recorded h s vivid de i i s cr t o ns . h p and animated recollections And, wit i i th s charm ng little volume in hand, and inkhorn

1 8 3 7 I t he at my button, in made a tour among c a o f li B eldha m t he fe ott ges Wil am , and w sur r v i ing worthies of the same generation ; and, hav 4 4 THE CRICKET FIELD.

f . n ing also the advantage o a MS by the Rev . Joh m ’ Mitford, taken fro many a winter s evening Fennex with Old , I am happy to attempt the

o f best account that the lapse time admits, of cricket in the olden time .

From a MS . my friend received from the late

Mr. William Ward, it appears that the wickets were placed twenty -two yards apart as long since as the year 1 700 ; that stumps were then only

o ne t . foo high, but two feet wide The width some persons have doubted ; bu t it is rendered

a s credible by the auxiliary evidence that there w , in those days, width enough between the two stumps fo r cutting the wide blockhole already — we mentioned, and also becau—se whereas now hear of stumps and bails we read formerly of ” two stumps with o ne stump laid across . the We are informed, also, that putting down wickets to make a man out in running, instead of the old custom of popping the ball into the hole, adopted o n account o f severe injuri e s t o the

wa s hands, and that the wicket changed at the — — same time —1 7 7 9 1 78 0 to the dimensions o f

- twenty t wo inches by six, with a third stump added . Before this alteration the a rt of defence wa s almost unkno wn : balls often passed over the

t u . wicket, and of en passed thro gh At the time

‘ o f the a lteration Old Nyren truly predicted that 4 5 THE HAMBLEDON CLUB . the innings would not be shortened but better o f played . The long pod and curved form the wa s m bat, as seen in the old paintings, ade only for hitting, and for ground balls too . Length balls were then by no means common ; neither would lo w stumps encourage them : and even u pright play was then practised by very few. N ren o ne Old y relates that Harry Hall, a ginger r o f bread bake Farnham, gave peripatetic lectures t o n o n n you g players, and always insisted keepi g

u o n a the left elbow Well p ; in other words, str ight “ ” “ N - - h . o w a B eld a m play days, said , all the world knows that ; but when I began there was n l very little length bowli g, very litt e straight ” F ennex play, and little defence either. , said he, was the first who played o ut at balls before his

t o o day, batting was much about the crease . B eldha m said that his o wn supposed tempting of i Prov dence consisted in running in to hit . Yo u

i o u t of do frighten me there jump ng your ground, said o u r Squire Paulet and Fennex used also

ho w w to relate , when he played for ard to the “ o f his pitch the ball, father had never seen the like in all his days ; the said days extending a long way back towards the beginning o f the

. k o f o m m century While spea ing g g to hit, B eldha m said, My opinion has always been that t o o little is attempted in that direction . Judge in your ball, and, when the least overpitched, go E 4 6 T HE CRICKET FI LD .

” “ M r . a nd . hit her away . In this opinion C ’ Taylor s practice would have borne B eldha m out

and a fine dashing game this makes ; only, it is a

n bu t r h o u g ame for no e p actised players . W en y

a n are perfect in pl yi g in your ground, then, and

ho w o u o f then only, try y can play out it, as the best means to scatter the enemy and open the field

n Beldha m As to bowli g; continued , when I was a boy (about nearly all bowling was

fast, and all along the ground . In those days the Hambledon Cl u b could beat all England ; bu t o ur three parishes around Farnham at last ” beat Hambledon . It IS quite evident that Farnham was the cradle

o f . o ld n cricketers Surrey, in the scores, mea s h nothing more than the Farnham parishes . T is

o f i corner Surrey, in every match aga nst All

h a nd England, was reckoned as part of Hamps ire ; , B eldha m truly said you find us regularly on the ’ ” Hampshire side in Bentley s Book . “ 5 ‘ l s ir B eldha m I to d you , , said , that in my

e a ll i f o r arly days bowl ng was what we called ast, The a t least a moderate pace . first lobbing slow

s a w w a s . bowler I ever Tom Walker When, in 1 7 9 2 did , England played Kent, I feel so ashamed o f i m such baby bowl ng but, after all, he did o re ‘ i t han e ven David Harris h mself. Two years a 1 7 94 To m fter, in , at Dartford Brent, Walker, " THE HAMBLEDON CLUB . 47

i n t w th his slow bowli g, headed a side agains ” and . David Harris, beat him easily “ o u r Kent, in early times, was not equal to

i Cra wt e counties . The r great man was , and he was taken away from o u r parish of Alresford by m Mr. Amherst, the gentleman who ade the Kent

o u r matches . In those days, except around parts,

m u i o f i Farnha and the S rrey s de Hampsh re, a

l w n . ittle play ent a lo g way Why, no man u sed

Ya lden he to be more talked of than ; and, when

a d w t came mong us, we soon ma e up our minds ha

o f m . the rest the must be If you want to know,

sir, the time the Hambledon Club was formed, I ca n tell yo u by this ; when we beat them in

1 8 0 Mr. 7 , I heard Paulet say, Here have I been

i o u r thirty years ra sing club, and are we to be m ? ’ m beaten by a ere parish so, there ust have

i h ! been a cr cket club, t at p layed every week regu

la rl 1 7 5 0 . y, as long ago as We used to go as eagerly to a mat ch as if it were two armies fight ing ; we stood at nothing if we were allowed the

bu r time . From parish to Hambledon is twenty

s even miles, and we used to ride both ways the

same day, early and late . At last, I and John Wells were about building a cart : you have heard

o f sir t he t h n tax carts, ; well, tax was put on e ,

h The f a nd t at stopped us . members o the Ha m hledon Club had a caravan to t ake their eleve n gamut ; they used once to play always in velvet 4 8 THE R E C ICK T FIELD .

’ in h ls a s caps . Lord W c e e eleven used t o play in silver laced hats ; and always the dress was k nee n breeches and stocki gs . We never thought o f

a knocks ; and, remember, I played gainst Browne

o f . Brighton too Certainly, you would see a bump

, t he heave under the stocking, and even blood m co e through ; but I never knew a man killed,

s a no w you ask the question, and I never w any

o f accident much consequence, though many an

a ll but . a o ld , in my long experience F ncy the s a w fashion before cricket shoes, when I John Wells tear a finger nail off against his shoe-buckle in picking up a ball I l u o d ren. Yo r book, sir, says much about Ny This Nyren was fifty years old when I began to play ; he was o u r general in the Hambledon

we n matches but not half a player, as reckon o w.

He had a small farm and inn near Hambledon, ” and took care of the ground . I remember when many things first came into n la the game which are common o w. The w for

- - wa s Leg before wicket not passed, nor much o ne o f o ur wa s wanted, till Ring, best hitters, shabby enough to get his leg in the way, and take advantage of the bowlers ; and, when Tom Taylor,

~ another o f our best hitters, did the same, the

e la bowlers found th mselves beaten , and the w wa s

- - u passed t o make leg before wicket O t . The la w against jerking was owing to the frightful pace

5 0 THE CRICKET FIELD .

when will the feudal system be quite extinct ? a nd there was no lit tle pride and honour in the

h a a o f parishes that sent t em up, and m ny a fi gon a le depending in the farms o r the hop grounds d they severally represente , as to whether they “ t he - should, as spirit stirring saying was, prove t h “ emselves the better men . I remember In

o n e h i B eldha m n matc , sa d , in Kent, Ri g was

n a playi g gainst David Harris . The game was

ir m u ch a gainst him . S Horace Mann was cut t n m i i g about with his stick a ong the dais es, and

c i — u heer ng every run, you would have tho ght his whole fort une (and he would often bet some hun d reds) was staked upon the game and, as a new in man was going in, he went across to R g, and

i n a nd sa d, Ri g, carry your bat through make up ’ 1 0l a - all the runs, and I ll give you . year for ’ i W o u t l fe . ell, Ring was for sixty runs, and t h t ie t he t only ree to , and four to beat, and las

h It ir who m a n ma de t em . was S Horace took

A w h him ou t h ylward away it of Hamps ire, but

t he iff . best bat made but a poor bail , we heard “ wa s a in Cricket pl yed Sussex very early,

o no bef re my day at least ; but, that there was w i h i good play I kno by th s , t at R chard Newland, o f linden s ir o ld S in Sussex, as you say, , taught

i h N r en R c ard y , and that no Sussex man could be

- f . o w r o found to play him N , a second rate playe our parish beat Newland easily ; so you may judge L R 1 THE HAMBLEDON C U . 5

w hat the rest of Sussex then were . But before 1 7 80 the re were some good players about Ha m h d h r i f r le on and t e Sur ey s de o Hampshi e .

Cra wt e t he men n , best of the Kent , was stole

m u s i n in away fro ; so you w ll not be wro g, sir,

d w h r writing o n t at Farnham , and thi ty miles

da round, reared all the best players up to my y, abou t ’ There were some who were then called the ’ ’ old Fennex s players, and here account quite ’ B eldha m s lu m agreed with , inc ding Fra e and

ld a s o ld f o . o Small And to Small, it is worthy

v w a s o f obser ation , that Bennett declared it part

ma t h the creed of the last century, that S ll was e ’ n o ut o r la man who fou d cricket, brought p y to

o f any degree perfection . Of the same school was

uet er - r in h d ha d S , the wicket keepe , who t ose ays t h l very li tle stumping to do, and Mins u l and

Cols ho rn N r en . h me , all mentioned in y T ese n played puddling about their crease and had no

u i a nd freedom . I like to see a player pr ght well

w m a n . u for ard, to face the ball like a The D ke o f Dorset made a match at Dartford Brent between ‘ ’ New . u h the Old Players and the You la g , ” i - i d o ld sir, sa d this tottering silver ha re man ,

we a ll Ne w — l but were once ; wel , I played

o f with the Walkers, John Wells , and the rest ” o u r o r a . men, and beat the Old nes ve y e sily

d a Old John Small die , the l st, if not the first of E 2 5 2 THE CRICKET FIELD .

T “ the Ha mbledo nians 1 8 26 . the , in Isaac alton,

- o f . father Anglers, lived to the age of ninety three This father o f Cricketers wa s in his ninetieth in year. John Small played all the great matches ' f till he was turned o seventy . A fine skater and

. o f s a good musician But, how the Duke Dor et

took great interest in John Small, and how his

Gr him ho w n ace gave a fiddle, and Joh , like a

o f modern Orpheus, beguiled a wild bull its fury in o f t the middle a paddock, is it not wri ten in the book of the chronicles o f the playmates o f Old Nyren - In a match of Hambledon a gainst All h England, Small kept up his wicket for t ree days,

and was not out after all . A pity his score is u nknown . We should like to compare it with ’ V d s a r . Mr. V Tom Walker was the most tedious fellow to

o bowl to, and the sl west runner between wickets — ’ s a w. t I ever Harry was the hi ter, Harry s ’ h - alf hour was as good as Tom s afternoon . I have

seen Noah Mann , who was as fast as Tom wa s l w him him s o , in running a four, overtake , pat o n f t he ”a lt er back, and say, Good name for you is , ’ for you never was a r unner. It used to be said that David Harris had once bowled him 1 70 balls

o ne ‘ r n l i t for u Dav d was a po ter by trade, and in i t a k nd of skit le alley made between hurdles, he used to practise bowling four different balls

r t f om one end, and hen picking them up he would THE HAMBLEDON CLUB . 5 3

bowl them back again . His bowling cost him a great deal o f practice ; but it proved well worth i i his wh le, for no man ever bowled l ke him, and he was al ways first chosen of all the men 1 11 ” Vi s i e a . Z l n l bo r e England , remember, young t ’ cricketers all . Lamber (not the great player of r en ‘ t that name), said Ny , had a mos deceitful and teasing way of delivering the ball ; he tum

o u t o ne bled the Kent and Surrey men, after

o ff . another, as if picked by a rifle corps His perfection is accounted for by the circumstance ’ n that when he was tendi g his father s sheep, he

o r would set up a hurdle two, and bowl away for ’ hours together.

wa s s There ome good hitting in those days,

To though too little defence . m Taylor would

t o f cut away in fine s yle, almost after the manner

Mr. Budd . Old Small was among the first mem bers o f the Hambledon Club . He began to play 1 5 0 about 7 , and Lumpy Stevens at the same n time . I can give you some otion, sir, of what

fo r bad cricket was in those days, Lumpy, a very

a bat, as he was well aw re, once said to me,

B eldha m o u , what do y think cricket must have been in those days when I was thought a good batsman ? ’ But fielding was very good as far ” No w Beldha m back as I can remember. , what

called good fielding must have been good enou gh .

He wa s himself one o f the safest hands at a catch . E 3 54 THE CRICKET FIELD .

one t he Mr. Budd, when past forty, was still of

a a s quickest men I ever played with, taking lw y

o n middle wicket, and often , by swift running, d i g ’

. Fennex part of long field s work Sparks, , d n a n . r e Bennett, and you g Small, Mr Parry, we

r no t s o f? fi st rate , to mention Beagley, who e style long stopping in the North and South Match o f:

1 8 3 6 . s , made Lord Frederick and Mr Ward ju tly proud o f so good a representative o f the ga me / in l f . t a n o d o their younger days Albei , player

r b o f a ll men seventy , desc i ing the merits these , B idding said, put Mr. King at point, Mr. C .

- a nd long stop, and Mr. W. Pickering cover, I never saw the man that could beat either o f them . i John Wells was a most dangerous m a n in a m a t a single wicket atch, being so dead a shot

o ne e k wicket . In celebrated match, Lord Fr deric T warned the Honourable H . ufton to beware of John ; but John Wells found an Opportunity o f i m ma ntaining his character by shying down, fro To m i . the s de, little more than the single stump i i o u r wa s Sher dan jo ned some of matches, but he

h u r s no good but to make people laug . In o day there were no padded gloves . I have seen Tom T “ alker r u b his b leeding fingers in the d ust l

r ind David used to say h e liked to him . The matches against t wenty-two were no t h l 1 78 8 t e uncommon in t e ast century . In h O THE HAMBLED N CLUB . 5 5

Hambledon Club played two-and-twenty a t Cold ’ Ash Hill Drawing between leg and wicket is

no . 1 3 d t . 7 7 . a new invention Old Small, (b ,

r a nd was famous for the d aw, , to increase his facility he changed the crooked bat of his day i for a straight bat . There was some fine cutt ng ’ before Saunders day . Harry Walker was the first,

v . I belie e, who brought cutting to perfection The next genuine cutter for they were very scarce (I

e i -é n ver called m—ine cutting, not l ke that of Saun ders at least) was Robinson . Walker and Ro binson would wait for the ball till all but past the i wicket, and then cut w th great force . Others m Off- hit ade good hits, but did not late enough for d in c o o n . a Cut . I w uld ever cut with slow bowl g

s e F ennex t I li ve that Walker, , and myself, firs ’ opened the o ld players eyes to what could be

e don with the bat ; Walker by cutting, and Fennex and I by forward play : but all improve ’ ment was owing to David Harris s bowling . His bo wlng rose almost perpendicular : it was onc e pronoun—ced a j erk ; it was altogether most extra or dina ry For thirteen years I averaged forty-three

t h r o ne a ma , though f equently I had only innings ; but i never could half play unless runs were ” really wanted . 5 6 THE CRICKET FIELD .

H IV . C AP .

CRICKET GENERALLY E STAB LISHED A S A NATIONA GAME B Y HE E ND HE LA CEN R T OF T ST TU Y .

LITTLE is recorded o f the Hambledon Clu after 1 8 6 the year 7 . It broke up when Old n left 1 7 9 1 it , in ; though , in this last yea o ld Hambledon Eleven all but beat twenty ’ - Middlesex at Lord s . Their cricket grou

Bro a dha lf enn p y Down, in Hampshire, was removed from the many noblemen a nd who had seen and admired the severe b i i o f David Harris, the br lliant hitt ng and the interminable defence o f the Walk these worthies soon found a more genia

o n o f for their energies the grounds Kent, i and M ddlesex . Still, though the land s ert ed d o w , the men survived ; and imparte ledge o f their craft to gentles and simples fa and near . Most gladly would we chronicle that hese good men and true were actuated by a gre and ff a—patriotic spirit, to di use an aid to tion for such o ur game claims to heir

5 8 THE CRICKET FIELD .

L et us trace these Ha mbledonia ns in all their 1 7 8 6 contests, from the date mentioned ( to the eventfu l period of the French Revolution and ’ Nelson s victories ; and let us see how the Bank i stopp ng payment, the mutiny of the fleet, and the

no t t threatened invasion, put together, did preven

balls from flying over the tented field, in a far

o n on more innocent and rational way this, than f o . the other side, the water

No w the , what were the matches in last cen tury eleven gentlemen against the twelve

a ? 0 ! m C sars N these, though ancient na es, are o f modern times . Kent and England was as

t he a a s good an annual match in l st, in the

present century . The White Conduit Fields and the Artillery Ground supplied the place of ’ ’ in 1 7 8 7 o f Lord s, though the name Lord s is ’ t o f found in Bentley s ma ches, implying, course,

o ld no w t the Marylebone Ground, Dorse Square,

t he under Thomas Lord, and not present by St . ’ John s Wood, more properly deserving the name f ’ ’ o Dark s than Lord—s . The Kentish battle C t o ne of fields were Sevenoaks the lan—d of lou , the original makers of cricket balls , Coxheath,

i F o f Dandel on ields, in the Isle Thanet, and Cobham Park ; also Da rtford Brent and Pennen den Heath : there is also early mention o f Graves

end . , Rochester, and Woolwich Next in importance to the Kent matches were Y H M S RE . 5 9 SURRE . A P HI

(if o f o f those Hampshire and Surrey, with each which counties indifferently the Hambledon men it used to play . For must not be supposed that the whole county o f Surrey put fort h a crop of stumps and wickets all at once : we have already said that malt and hops and cricket have ever

u d gone together. Two parishes in S rrey, a joining

i a Hants, won the or gin l laurels for their county parishes In the immediate vicinity o f the Farn

h . h a n a m d. hop country The Holt, near Farn am,

M ouls e . The y Hurst, were the Surrey grounds ’ match might truly have been called Farnham s ” - h f ho p gat erers those o Kent . The former, aided occa sionally by men who drank the ale o f

u - o n- - t o Alton , just as B rton Trent, life sustainer o ur n d I dian empire, sends forth its giants, refreshe ,

t i t d t he o f h wi h b t er ale, to efend honour the neig

in f e bo ur g towns and counties . The men o Hamp

t Bro a dhalf enn t o shire, af er p y was abandoned , d ocks and thistles, pitched their tents generally either upon Windmill Downs o r upon Stoke Downs ; and once they played a ma t ch against

. A s shet on d T Smith, whose mantle has descende o n o n a worthy representative, whether the level

o r . w turf by the cover side Albeit, hen that gen ” t lem a n has a meet (as occasionally advertised) t he don , he must unconsciously avoid titch and turn -the Hampshire cry

exhilarate the famous James Aylward, 60 H T E CRICKET FIELD .

a Fa rnha m among others, as he astonished the wag

a s goner , by continuing one and the same innings the man drove up o n the Tuesday afternoo n and down o n the Wednesday morning ! This match wa s o f played at Andover , and the surnames most o f the Eleven may be read o n the tombstones (with the best o f characters) in Andover Church ’

. Da rnle s yard Bourne Paddock , Earl y estate, and Burley Park, in Rutlandshire, constituted often the debateable ground in their res pective

. ce counties Earl Darnley , as well as Sir Hora l Mann and Earl Winchelsea, Mr . Pau et and Mr.

i a East, lent the r names and patron ge to Elevens , s i ometimes in the places ment oned , sometimes at ’ Perria m Lord s, and sometimes at Downs, near

L rs ha l u e . gg , in Wiltshire

k l o f Middlesex also, exc usively the Marylebone

o r l Club, had its Eleven in these days ; , we shou d s a t went - two y, its y , for that was the number then required to stand the disciplined forces o f Hamp

o r n . shire, Kent , E gland And this reminds us of ” a n Uxbridge ground, where Middlesex played “ ” t o f e and los ; also, Hornchurch, Essex, wh re 1 9 1 f t o Essex, in 7 , was su ficiently advanced w a be gainst Marylebone, an occasion memorable, cause Lord Frederick Beauclerk there played n e m ce n early his first r corded atch, making scar a y k . r runs, but bowling four wickets Lord F ederic m ’ - 2 nd 1 7 9 1 . first match was at Lord s, June, HARROW. THE OLD ETONIANS. 1

” . was also, writes the Hon . R . Grimston, the ma ts - n w-o n- - Bowling gree at Harro the Hill, where

: the school played Richardson, who subsequently m i atch i . a s became Mr Justice Richardson, w the captain o f the School E leven in bstones 1 7 9 0 wa s 5 Already, in , the game spreading

r w d o r north ar s, , rather, proofs exist that it had long 1before struck far and wide its roots and branches tinted bin northern latitudes ; and also that it was a ga me a f m e M1176 g s popular with the men o labour as the n o f o f g leisure, and therefore incontestably home

: o r o f 3 growth no mere exotic, importation the t few i favoured , can cricket be, if, like its namesake , i ” as at t t is found a hous ehold word with those whom “ near i Burns aptly calls the many-aproned sons o f ” i m h ni l f ec a oa li e . ‘ In 1 7 9 1 o ld gebone s Eton, that is, the Etonians, played

Ma r lebo ne o n i i mid t y , four players given e ther s de ; Inand all true Etonians will thank us for informing t h em, not only that the seven Etonians were more

m a Ug of than a atch for their advers ries, but also that

t ha d lmed this match proves tha Eton , at that early

o f n liere date, the honour sendi g forth the most distin m guished a mateurs of the day for Lord Winchel~

' s ea . . F r . . t be , Hon H itz oy, Earl Darnley, Hon E A h n m — i . u s s et o C“Bl gh , C Ang ish , S ith good men W — i . wa s may? and true were Eton ans all This match '

a a . my; pl yed in Burley Park, Rutlandshire On the fol ” da u 2 5 th 1 7 9 1 Time lowing y, J ne , , the Marylebone 6 2 R THE C ICKET FIELD .

played eleven yeo men . a nd artisans o f Leic ester ;

L eices t ria ns and though the cut a sorry figure, still the fact that t he Midland Counties practised

a o cricket sixty years g is worth recording . Peter

o f - r Heward, Leicester, a famous wicket keepe , of

w o f t t enty years since, told me a trial ma ch in

h h o ld whic he saw his fat er, quite an man , with a o f o wn i u t nother veteran his stand ng, quickly p o u t with the o ld- fashioned slow bowling a rea lly — t good Eleven for some twenty runs good, hat

i o f i is, aga nst the modern style bowl ng ; and cricket ’ wa s no t a n ew game in this old man s early da ys 1 7 8 0 i h (say ) about Leicester and Nott ng am , as 4 1 the score in pa ge . alone would prove ; for such

o f r a game as cricket, evidently g adual develop

s in i i ment, mu t have been played some pr mit ve f 1 775 in orm many a long year before the date of , w f a nd hich it had excited su ficient interest, was f i in itself su fic ently matured form, to show the two

ffi o f in h Elevens o f She eld and Nott g am . Add i we to th s, what have already mentioned , a rude form o f cricket as far north as Angus and Lothian in 1 00 a n d ha i 7 , we can hardly doubt t t cr cket was known as early in t he Midla nd as in the Southern

The o f o t t in ha m — a o f Counties . men N g l nd — la rke B a rk er t in C h , and Redgate nex month, 1 7 9 1 h the same year ( ) t rew down the gauntlet, a nd shared the same fate and next day the “ ” i n e in Marylebone, add ng, in a cricketi g sens , VILLAGE PLAY. 6 3

u - of sult nto injury, played twenty two them ,

and won by thirt een runs . In 1 7 90 o f , the shopocracy Brighton had also n 1 7 9 2 a Eleven ; and Sussex and Surrey , in , sent i ’ an eleven aga nst England to Lord s, who scored

o ne 4 5 3 o n in innings runs, the largest score

h in 1 8 1 5 —4 6 in o n record, save t at of Epsom 7 e

“ - . . v . o f innings ! M C . C twenty two Notting ” no w a ham, we find an annu l match ; and also ” “ i n i . . . w M C C Br ghto , h ch becomes at once

o f worthy the fame that Sussex long has borne . 1 7 9 3 t he In , old Westminster men all but beat

o ld : the Etonians and Essex and Herts, too near

not to emulate the fame of Kent and Surrey, were “ a i - content, l ke second rate performers, to have ,

t a n -t wo o ne hough pl yi g twenty , Benefit between

h m in o f o ne n t e , the shape defeat in inni gs from A nd England . here we are reminded by two old

a n m a n players, a Kent and Essex , that, being 1 78 5 h ca n i schoolboys in , t ey respect vely testify t h in E hat, bot in Kent and ssex, cricket appeared to them mo r e of a villa ge game than they have

f wa s ever se en it o la te years . There a cricket

hi t he o r u bat be nd door, else p in the bacon rack,

in a i l o f every cott ge . We heard l tt e clubs, except around London ; still t he game wa s played by

n o r in r h l ma y by few, eve y sc oo and village green

s a nd e in E sex and in Kent, the fi ld placed much as when with the Sidmou th I played the Teign 64 THE CRICKET FIELD .

bridge Club in 1 826 . Mr. Whitehead was the great hitter of Kent ; and Frame and Small were names a s often mentioned as Pilch and Parr by ” n o ur boys now . And o w ( 1 7 9 3) the game had penetrated further West ; fo r eleven yeomen at I Oldfield Bray, n Berkshire, had learned long enough to be able to defeat a good eleven o f the

Marylebone Club .

1 7 9 5 . In , the Hon Colonel Lennox, memorable

o f — for a duel with the Duke York, fought where the gallant Colonel had fought so many a less — hostile b a ttle o n the cricket ground at Dartford

Brent, headed Elevens against the Earl of Win

C no w helsea ; and , first the Marylebone eleven i beat sixteen Oxon ans on Bullingdon Green . 1 7 9 7 In , the Montpelier Club and ground

attract our notice . The name o f this clu b is one o f the most ancient, and their ground a short distance only from the ground o f Hall o f Cam

ber well. f Swa fham, in Norfolk, is now mentioned for

B u t i o u t t he s the first time . Norfolk l es of u ual i road, and is a county which , as Mr. D ckens said

o f w a s o f Golden Square, before it the residence “ ’ Cardinal Wiseman , is nobody s way to or from

- a n . y place So, in those slow coach and pack horse “ o f days, the patrons Kent, Surrey, Hants, and

Marylebone, who alone gave to what else were “ m ” airy nothing, a local habitation and a na e,

THE R 66 C ICKET FIELD .

t -t r the odds of nine een, and afterwards twenty h ee, men to twelve .

The chief patronage, and consequently the

chief practice, in cricket, was beyond all com

. wa s nearl parison in London There, the play j y all professional : even the gentlemen made a pro f si n o f es o it ; and therefore, though cricket was far more extensively spread throughout the villages o f o f of Kent than Middlesex, the clubs the me t ropolis figure in the score books as defying all a competition . Profession l players, we may oh t serve, have always a decided advantage in respec

o f judicious choice and mustering their best men . The best eleven on the Side o f the Players is almost always known, and can be mustered on a i given day . Favour, friendsh p, and etiquette in t erfere but little with their election ; but the eleven gentlemen of England are less easy to muster,

Linguenda Parish et domus et p la cens ” Uxor , and they are never anything more than the best a the eleven known to the party who m ke match .

Besides , by the time an amateur is at his best, he ha s duties which bid him retire . Having now trac ed the rise and progress of t he game from the time of its general establishment t o the time that Beldha m had shown us the full M CRICKET IN FOR ER DAYS. 6 7

o o f p wers the bat, and Lord Frederick had (as Fennex always declared) formed his style u pon ’ B eldha m s ; and since no w we approach the era of

a nd Fennex a new school, the forward play of , -which his father termed an innovation and pre ” — sumption contrary to all experience, till the same forward play was proved effectual by Lam f bert, and Hammond had shown that, in spite o w mi icket keepers, bowling, if uniform—ly slow, ght no w l be met and hit away at the pitch , we wil

- wait to characterise, in the words of eye witnesses, f the heroes o the contests already mentioned . ” On the Old Players I may be brief because, the few old gentlemen (with o ne of whom I am in daily communication) who have heard even the n o f l ames the Wa kers, Frame, Small, and David o f Harris, are passing away, full years, and almost all the written history of -the Old Players consists in undiscriminating scores . In point of style the Old Players did not play the steady game, with maiden overs, as at present . The defensive was comparatively unknown : both h t e bat and the wicket, and the style of bowling

e too, were all adapted to a short life and a m rry

The one . wooden substitute for a ball, as in Cat and Dog, before described, evidently implied a

i a . hitting, and not a stopp ng g me

r . The Wicket, as we collect f om a MS furnished

n old W E s by a friend to the late illiam Ward, q , F 2 8 6 THE CRICKET F IELD .

. o f d was, in the early days the Hamble on Club, o ne c foot high and two feet wide, onsisting of

two stumps only, with one stump laid across . T hus, straight balls passed between, and, what we

now call, well pitched balls would of course rise

- over. Where, then, was the encouragement to

block, when fortune would so often usurp the

a o f ? pl ce science And, as to the bat, look at the pict ure o f cricket as played in the o ld Artillery Ground ; the bat is curved at the end like a — hockey stick, or the handle of a spoon, and as common implements usually are adapted to the — ' work to be performed you will rea dily believe that in olden time the f reest hitter was the b est

. o n ou batsman The b wli g was all along the gr nd,

hand and eye being everything, and judgment

wa s nothing ; because , the art originally to bowl

u i nder the bat . The wicket was too low for ris ng balls ; and the reason we hear sometimes o f the - wa s no t - Block hole , that the block hole originally n denoted guard, but because betwee these two feet-asunder stumps there wa s cu t a hole big

enough to contain the ball, and (as now with the school boy ’s game of rounders) the hitter was made ou t in running a notch by the ball being popped into this hole (whence popping cre a se)

‘ before the point of the bat could reach it. Did we say Running a Notch ? u ncle Notch ?

r o f o What wonde ere the days useful kn wledge, 6 9 CRICKET IN FORMER DAYS.

’ ’ nd or a a Sir William Curtis s three R s, ,re ding, — writing, and arithmetic, that natural science should be evolved in a truly natural way ; what on i c wonder that notches a stick, l ke the not hes ’ ’ - H arth s in the milk woman s tally in og picture, should supply the place of those complicated

o f the papers vertical columns, which subject ro bowling, the batting, and the fielding to a p

s o f c ce s severely and scrupulously just, analyti al

o r ff ! no w observation, di erential calculus Where on there sit kitchen chairs , with ink bottle tied to Caldecou rt a stump the worse for wear, Messrs. ’ and Ba yley ( tis pity two such men sho uld ever of not be umpires), with an uncomfortable length o n k paper their nees, and large tin telegraphic letters above their heads ; and where now is Lilly ’ a s white s printing press, to hand down every hit soon as made on twopenny cards to future gene

a or o ld r tions there, in a similar position, Frame, or u S 1 834 yo ng mall (young once : he died in , aged eighty) ml ght have placed a trusty yeoman to out notches wi th his bread-and-bacon knife o n n ’ an ashe stick . Oh ! tis enough to make the Hambledon heroes sit upright in their graves with n astonishment to think, that in the Gentleme and ’ 1 850 o f o ld Players Match, in , the cricketers ’ s S a rkes p Ground, at Edinburgh, could actually n know the score of the first innings in Lo don, b efore the second had commenced ! F 3 70 THE CRICKET FIELD .

B ut when we say that the old players had

o r of o f little nothing the defensive, we speak the 1 780 play before , when David Harris flourished for William B eldha m distinctly assured us that “ the art o f bowling over the bat by length balls h originated with t e famous David ; an assertion, we e will venture to say, which r quires a little, and only a little, qualification . Length bowling, o r threeo u a rter q balls, to use a popular, though i ’ exploded , express on , was introduced in David s

him . time, and by first brought to perfection

And what rather confirms this statement is, that

- the early bowlers were very swift bowlers, such wa s no t f o f only David, but the amous Brett,

d : earlier ate, and Frame of great renown a more moderate pace resulted from the new discovery f o a well pitched bail ball . The o ld players well u nderstood the art of

o r twisting, bias bowling . Lambert, the little ” f N ren o n armer, says y , improved the art, and h puzzled the Kent men in a great matc , by twist

I t he o f —h is ng reverse the usual way, t at , from ” ff To m r the o to leg stump . Walker t ied what

ren n - Ny calls the throwi g bowling, and defied all the players o f the day to withstand this novelty ;

o f but, by a council the Hambledon Club, this

Wa s i and Willes had forb dden , , a Kent man, all the i f pra se o inventing it some twenty years later. f l 1 775 In a match o the Hamb edon Club in , of it Was observed, at a critical point the game, M S M T WI KE T EA URE EN OF C s . 7 1

’ ( t hat t he ball passed t hree times between Small s two stumps without knocking off the bail ; and m then, first, a third stu p was added ; and, seeing that the new style o f balls which rise over the o ne bat rose also over the wickets, then but im n foot high, the wicket was altered to the d e

S of 2 2 6 ions inches by , at which measure it

1 8 1 4 a s remained till about , when it w increased 2 6 8 n to inches by , and agai to its present

2 7 INCHES BY 8

l7 8 0 IF? BY G INC HES 2 7 THE CRICKET FIELD.

f 2 8 1 8 1 dimensions o 7 inches by in 7 when,

° one as a ded inch w d to the stumps, two inches were

added t o the width between the creases . The changes in the wicket are represented in t he

n . 1 700 r u n foregoi g woodcut In the year , the n er

wa s out off m—ade , not by striking the —transverse stump we can hardly call it a bail but by

popping the ball in the hole therein represented. ’ Fennex David Harris bowling, used to say, o r introduced, at least established and fixed, a

steady and defensive style of batting . I have ” “ o r i seen, said Sparkes, seventy e ghty runs in o t n an innings, though n more than eight or ine ’ made at Harris s end . Harris, said an excellent who l judge, we l remembers him, had nearly all o f of the quickness rise and the height delivery,

- which characterises over hand bowling, with far l a greater straightness and precision . The bal p peared t o be forced out from under his arm with wa s some unaccountable jerk, so that it delivered

breast high . His precision exceeded anything I

have ever seen, in so much that Tom Walker o ne declared that, on occasion, where turf was d thin, and the colour of the soil readily appeare , one spot wa s positively uncovered by the repeated ’ pitching of David s balls in the same place . ” “ This bowling, said Sparkes, compelled you to make the best o f your reach forward ; for if a man let the ball pitch too near and crowd upon

4 7 THE CRICKET FIELD .

o f t Lumpy, modera e pace might be played with ff some e ect, even behind the crease ; but David

w a Harris, ith pace, pitch, and r pid rise combined, im a nd peratively demanded a new invention, such

wa s 1 800 . Fennex forward play about Old , who d workho us e a ed ied, alas in a Middlesex , \ g eighty, in 1 8 3 9 (had his conduct been as straightforward and upright as his bat, he would have known a w he the better end), al ays declared that was first, and remained long without followers ; and no s mall praise is due to the boldness and originality that set a t nought the received maxims o f his forefat hers before he wa s born o r thought of; d ha ha d aring to try things t t, they been ordinarily

o f b i reasonable, would not, course, have een gnored

u by Frame, by P rchase, nor by Small . The Fennex ho world wants such men as ; men, w

o ff h will shake the prejudices of birt , parentage,

“ e ha s and ducation, and boldly declare that age

o f r taught them wisdom, and that the policy thei predecessors , however expensively stereotyped, must be revised and corrected and adapted to the demands of a more inquiring generation My f Fennex ather, said , asked me how I came by o ut o ne s a w that new play , reaching as no ever ” before . The same style he lived to see practised, le a d not e g ntly, but with won erful power and e effect by Lambert, a most severe and resolut hitter ; and Fennex also boasted that he had a D AVID HARRIS. 75

os t proficient disciple in Fuller Pilch : though

’ I oem na s cztur no n t - suspect that, as p fi , that

Is , that all great performers appear to have brought the secret o f their e xcellence into the n m world alo g with the , and are not the mere — puppets o f which others pull the strings Fuller i h n P lch may think he rat er coincided with, tha

fr m F nn x e e . learnt p , William ” o w D i N the avid Harr s aforesaid, who wrought c quite a revolution in the game, changing cri ket from a backward and a slashing to a for ward and

i s do defensive game, and claiming h gher stump to

— e justice to his skill this David , whos bowling

o was many years in advance of his generati n, hav ’ o f ing all the excellence Lillywhite s high delivery, though free from all imputation o f u nfairness

a t e this David rose early, and late took rest, and of t the bread carefulness, before he at ained such

d o f s s distinction as in these ays railroad , Thame

u — t nnels, and tubular gloves and bridges to de ” o f o ur . a serve the notice pen For, s id John B ennett, you might have seen David practising i at dinner t me and after hours, all the winter “ ” through and many a Hampshire barn , said n s Beagley, has been heard to resou d with bat a nd balls as well as threshing

M l s ine mag no Vita la bo dedi m s r e t o r ta libu . d . n m men ho at A now we must ention the , w , 76 THE CRICKET FIELD .

P the end of the last century, represented the ilch, the Parr, the Wenman, and the Wisden of the present day . Lord Beauclerk was formed o n the style o f

Beldha m l , whom, in bril iancy of hitting, he nearly

H n . . . . o resembled The Hon H . Bligh and H e Tufton were of the same school . Sir P ter

Burrell was also a good hitter. And these were the most distinguished gentlemen players of the day . h Earl Winc elsea was in every principal match, but rather for his patronage than his play : and the Hon . Col . Lennox for the same reason .

. t f Mr R . Whitehead was a Ken player o great celebrity . B ut Lord F . Beauclerk was the only gentleman who had any claim in the last century t o play in an All England eleven . He was also o ne of the fastest runners . Hammond was the great wicket-keeper but then the bowling wa s slow : Sparkes said he saw him catch out Robinson by a draw between leg and wicket . Freemantle Wa s the first long stop ; but Ray the finest field in

England ; and in those days, when the scores were long, fielding was of even more consideration than

. B eldha m at present Of the professional players , ,

e Hammond, Tom and Harry Walker, Fr emantle,

Fennex . . e Robinson, , J Wells, and J Small wer the first chosen a fter Harris had passed away ;

r en B for, Ny says that even Lord eauclerk could hardly have seen David Harris in his prime. At STYLE OF THE OLD PLAYERS. 7 7

this time there was a sufficient number of players

to maintain t he credit o f the left hands . On the l 0th 1 7 90 ~ of May, , the Left handed beat the

- Right by thirty nine runs . This match reveals i that Harr s and Aylward, and the three best G w ff Kent players, Brazier, ra e, and Cli ord,

Su et er - . , the first distinguished wicket keeper,

- . k H Wal er, and Freemantle were all left handed

s o al so was Noah Mann . The above-mentioned players are quite sufficient f to give some idea of the play o the last century . Sparkes is well known to the author of these

pages as his quondam instructor. In batting he differed not widely from the usual style of good t players, save tha he never played forward to any in very great extent . Playing under leg, accord g to the o ld fashion (we call it old -fashioned though o f Pilch adopts it), served instead the far more “ ” elegant and efficient draw . Sparkes was also i o f a fa r bias bowler, but no great pace, and not f very di ficult . I remember his saying that the old school o f slow bowling was beaten by Ham ’ m on f n d s is etting the example o runni g in . Ham ” o ne s mond, he said, on occa ion hit back a slow

ball to Lord F . Beauclerk with such frightful ’ fo rce that it just skimmed his Lordship s u n

guarded head, and he had scarcely nerve to bowl

Fenn after . Of ex we can also speak from o u r

. Fenn x friend the Rev John Mitford . e wa s a fair 7 8 H D T E CRICKET FIEL .

' f d l -1 straight orward hitter, and once as goo a sing e

’ u wicket player as any in England . His attit de

was easy, and he played elegantly, and hit well f o r m the wrist . If his bowling was any specimen o f o f that his contemporaries, means to be despised . His b o f d swift and high elivery, the up with great quickness and precision . u sed to say that the men o f the present little idea of what the o ld underhand

ff t m s ecim really could e ec ; and, fro the p

- f a Fennex himself gave at sixty five years o ge,

his there appeared to be much reason in assertion . Of all the players Fennex had ever seen (for some partiality for bygone days we must o f course‘ a llow) none elicited his notes o f admiration like

B eldha m ma n who . We cannot compare a played i underhand, w th those who are formed on over

i h : hand, bowling . St ll, t ere is reason to believe what Mr. Ward and others have told us, that

B eldha m h h had t at genius for cricket, t at wonder ful i him eye (although it fa led very early), and h hi u t at quickness of hand, w ch wo ld have made him a great player in any age .

B eldha m 1 838 related to us in , and that with

e ni n of e e no littl mble ess of hand and vivacity y , while he suited the action to the word with a bat o f his o wn h. manufacture, how he had drawn fort ’ the plaudits of Lords as he hit round a nd helped BE LDHA M v BR E . . OWN 7 9

of of t on the bowling Browne Brigh on, even

o f faster than before, though the good men Brighton thought that no o ne could stand a gainst him B eldha m , and Browne had thought to bowl

i o f t off his legs . Th s match Hants agains

E 1 8 1 9 Fennex o f ngland in was fond describing, and certainly it gives some idea o f what B eldha m ” could do . Osbaldeston, said Mr. Ward, with his tremendously fast bowling, was defying every o ne at single wicket, and he and Lambert challenged Mr. E . H . Budd with three others . ’ a nd Just then I had seen Browne s swift bowling, a hint from me settled t he match . Browne wa s

his engaged, and Osbaldeston was beaten with o wn weapons . A match was now made to give

a w i Browne a fair tri l, and we ere having a soc al ” a Fennex n gl ss, said , and talki g over with B eldham the match of the morrow at the Green ’ B eldha m Man, when Browne came in, and told , - h with as much sincerity as good humour, that e ” -fl in should soon send his stumps a y g. Hold

Beldha m ha t ou there, said , fingering his , y will w d be good enough to allo me this bit of woo , ’ ” a . won t you Cert inly, said Browne Quite ” i Beldha m t o - w o u sat sfied , answered , so morro y ” - s . ennex hall see Seventy two runs, said F ,

- and the score book attests his accuracy, was ’ ” B eldham s a first and only innings ; and, Be gley

Fennex also joined with , , and assured us, that he 8 0 THE CRICKET FIELD .

never saw a more complete triumph of a batsman l over a bowler. Nearly every bal was cut or slipped away till Browne hardly dared to bowl l h m’ within Be d a s reach . We desire no t to qualify the praises o f Beld ham a wa s , but when we he r that he unrivalled in t elegant and brilliant hitting, and in tha wonder i ff ful versat lity which cut indi erently, quick as lightning, all round him, we cannot help remark

o f or ing, that such bowling as that Redgate of Wisden renders imperatively necessary a severe

o f style defence, and an attitude of cautious watch h n t fulness, w ich must render the batsman o quite such a picture for the artist as might be seen in

o f B eldha m . the days and Lord F Beauclerk.

far we ffu So have traced the di sion of the game,

e of o and the degr es pr ficiency attained, to the beginning o f the present century . To sum up 1 800 the evidence, by the year , cricket had he come the common pastime of the common people I n Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex, and Kent, and had been introduced into the adjoining counties and though we cannot trace its continuity beyond

Rutlandshire and Burley Park, certainly it had been long familiar to the men of Leicester and m W f — Nottingha as ell as She field that, in point o f a hi Fielding gener lly, t s was already as good, and h h quite as muc valued in a matc , as it has been s ince ; while Wicket-keeping In pa rticular had been

THE CRICKET FIELD .

C HAP. V.

THE FIRST TWENT EARS OF THE PRESENT CENTUR Y Y Y .

wa s one old BEFORE this century year , David d Harris, Harry Walker, Purchase, Aylwar , and in Lumpy had left the stage, and John Small, stead o f hitting bad balls whose stitches would s not last a match, had learnt to make commoditie ’ ’ so good that Clout s and Duke s were mere t o y h shop in comparison . Noa Mann was the Cal d ecourt, or umpire, of the day, and Harry Bent

ley also, when he did not play . Five years more

s a w E nearly the last of arl Winchelsea, Sir

a L Hor ce Mann, Earl Darnley , and ord Yar mouth ; still Surrey had a generou s friend in

! . . Mr. Laurel , Hants in Mr T Smith, and Kent

in t he Honourables H . and J . Tufton . The Pavi ’ a t 1 78 7 t lion Lord s, then and since on the si e o f Fre Dorset Square, was attended by Lord

o f - derick Beauclerk, then a young man four and s twenty, the Honourable Colonel Bligh, Colonel

n . . Le nox, H . and J. Tufton, and A Upton Also,

r . . . there we e usually Messrs R Whitehead, G Ley

o . . . ester, S Vigne , and F Ladbroke These were

and the great promoters of the matches, the first o f t o ne / o f B the amateurs . Cricke was Lord y BYRON . WILBERFORCE . 8 3

’ o f ron s favourite sports, and that in spite his

: lame foot witness the lines,

’ ’ To ether o in d in cricket s manl il g j y t o , ’ Or shar ed the ro du c h il p e o f t e river s spo .

Byron mentions in his letters that he played in o f w E 1 80 the eleven Harro against ton in 5 . The ’ score is given in Lillywhite s Public- School

Matches . The excellent William Wilberforce was fond b‘ f u w cricket, and was laid p by a severe blo on the leg at Rothley while playing with his sons he says the doctor told him a little more would th have broken e bone .

wa s o rI Inall Cricket, we have shown, g y classed among the games of the lower orders ; so we find the yeomen infinitely superior to the gentlemen even before cricket had become by any means so f i o s . To m much a profession as it now Walker,

B eldha m Fennex d Ro , John Wells, , Hammon ,

binson, Lambert, Sparkes, H . Bentley, Bennett, o f t he Freemantle , were the best professionals

day. Fo r it was seven or eight years later that E . . u . r Mr H . Budd, and his uneq al rival, Mr B and,

and his sporting friend, Osbaldeston, as also that

fine player, E . Parry, Esq . , severally appeared ; r “ a rd and later still, that Mr . , Howard, Beagley,

Thu mwo o d Caldecou rt Flavel , , Slater, , Ashby,

a l s Searle, and S unders, successive y howed every G 2 84 THE CRICKET FIELD .

resource of bias bowling to shorten the scores, and n h o f fine hitting to le gt en them . By the end of these twenty years, all these distinguished players had taught a game in which the batting beat the “ ” “ bowling . Cricket, said Mr. Ward, unlike

S ch n hunting, hooting, fishing, or even ya ti g, was a sport that lasted three days ; the wicke t 1 8 1 4 had been twice enlarged, once about , and

1 8 1 old again in 7 Lord had tried his third, the

the present, ground ; the Legs had taught wis do m of playing rather for love than money ; slovd

ha d t o coaches given way fast, long whist to a nd t t short ; ul imately Lamber , John Wells, t o Howard, and Powell, handed over the ball

Broadbridge and Lillywhite .

t he Such is the scene, characters, and the per forma nce. Matches in those days were more

no w numerously attended than , said Mr. Ward old v the game was more attracti e to spectators, ’ To m because more busy, than the new . Lord s flag was the well known telegraph that brought him in from three to four thousand sixpences

ldha m . Go at a match John , the octogenarian

ha s n inspector of Billingsgate, see the Duke o f o York and his adversary, the H nourable

“ n had Colo el Lennox, in the same game, and

.the honour of playing with both, and the Prince in Regent, too , the White Conduit Fields, n S oldha o which pot Mr. G m built his present

8 6 THE CRICKET FIELD .

8 1 4 3 t pion of Sep . . 7 , a writer complains tha h “ n thoug noblemen, gentlemen, and clergyme t ” may divert hemselves as they think fit, and though he cannot dispute their privilege to make ” butchers, cobblers, or tinkers their companions, he very much doubts “ whether they have any ’ right to invite tho us a nds of peop le to he spect a tors ” “ of their agility . For, it draws numbers of people from their employment to the ruin of their I o f families . t is a most notorious breach the laws the advertisements most impudently recit ” A nd ing that great sums are laid . , in the year following as we read in the London Ma ” a z ine in g , Kent beat all England the Artillery “ i Ground, in the presence of their Royal H gh

o f o f nesses the Prince Wales , the Duke Cum

berland, the Duke of Richmond, Admiral Vernon,

a nd o w many other persons of dist inction . H pleasing to reflect that those sunny holidays we ’ enjoy at Lord s have been enjoyed by the people for more than a century past But what were the famous cricket Counties 1 11 these twenty years ? The glory o f Kent had fo r T n a while departed . ime was whe Kent could

ma n no w challenge England for man ; but , only with such odds as twenty -t hreeto twelve As t o

“ but the wide extension of cricket, it advanced o sl wly then compared with recent times . A small circle round London would still comprise all the ’

S S S . 8 MR . WARD LONGE T CORE 7

no t 1 82 0 finest players . It was till that Norfolk, forgetting it s three Elevens beaten by Lord Frede

a t rick, gain played Marylebone and, though hree gentlemen were given and Fuller Pilch played

—o - then a lad of seventeen years Norfo lk lost by ’

4 1 I . o n 7 runs, ncluding Mr Ward s longest score ” —2 B u 7 8 t . record, he was missed, said Mr d “ Bud , the easiest possible catch before he had a ” r scored thi ty . Still it was a great achievement ;

and Mr. Morse preserves, as a relic, the identical

t u ball, and the bat which hit tha ball abo t, a trusty friend that served its owner fifty years ! Kenning t o n n Oval, perhaps, was the all docks and thistles . f o e a nd. Surrey still stood first crick t counties, — Mr. Laurell Robinson was his keeper ; an awful 6 1 1 6 man for poachers, feet inch, and stone, and

— o f strong in proportion most generous supporters, wa s not slo w to give orders o n o ld Thomas Lord

for golden guineas, when a Surrey man , by catch

o r . the innings, had elicited applause Of same of high order were Sir J . Cope Bramshill Park, f a nd . o . Mr Barnett, the banker, promoter the B

matches ; the Hon . D . Kinnaird, and , last not least,

o f Mr. W . Ward, who by purchase a lease saved ’ Lord s from building ground ; an act of generosity in which he imitated the good Old Duke o f “ Dorset, who, said Mr . Budd, gave the ground

a t o f called the Vine , Sevenoaks, by a deed trust,

for the u s e o f cricke ters fo r ever . G 4 THE T CRICKE FIELD .

1 800 The good men of Surrey, in , monopolised o f nearly all the play England . Lord Frederick Beauclerk and Hammond were the only All Eng land players who were not Surrey men . K — ent had th—en some civil contests petty wars of single clans but no county match and their i . . e great friend R Wh tehead, Esq , d pended on the M . C . C . for his finest games . The game had

: become a profession a science to the gentlemen, a nd an art o r handicraft to the players ; and Fa rnha m found in London the best market for its cricket, as for its hops . The best Kent play wa s displayed at Rochester, and yet more at Wdolwich n ffi but chiefly amo g our O cers, whose n bats were bought in Londo , not at Sevenoaks . These games reflected none such honour to the county as when the Earls of Thanet and of Darnley ’ brought their o wn tenantry to Lord s o r Dartford

r w t he w Brent, a med ith native willo wood of

. SO . . u Kent , the Honourables H and A T fton were oblig—ed to yield to the altered times, and play two and-twenty men where their noble father, the Earl of Thanet, had won with his eleven . Thirteen to twenty-three was the number we ” d “ enjoyed, sai Sparkes, for with thirteen good men well placed, and the bowling good, we did

- t r . not wan thei twenty three A third man On, o r and a forward point, kind of middle wicket, or i with slo w bowling, an extra sl p with fast,

90 = THE CRICKET FIELD . b one o f m roke, of the great promoters atches, as

. A isla bie o f well as the late Mr , always fond the ” bu t i r e game, all his l fe too big to play, the m f h o . ark by Lord Frederick Mr Ward, whic , did i being repeated, no l ttle to develop the latent f powers of that most e ficient player.

The Montpelier Club, also, with men given, a nnually played Marylebone . d 1 8 03 Lord Fre erick, in , gave a little variety to the matches by leading against Marylebone ten

m en of Leicester and Nottingham, including the ” VVa rSO i s . . two p T Warsop, sa d Clarke, was ” o ne o f the best bowlers I ever knew . Clarke

h o f m has also a igh opinion Lambert, from who , he n says, he learnt more of the game tha from

a n ma n y other . ’ ’ Lambert s bowling was like Mr . Budd s, against which I have often played a high underhand de w livery, slo , but rising very high, very accurately m pitched, and turning in fro leg stump . About ”

8 1 8 . the year 1 , Lambert and I , said Mr Budd, attained to a kind of round - armed delivery ’ (described as Clarke s), by which we rose de cidedly superior to all the batsmen of the day;

. a I Mr Ward could not pl y t, but he headed a

o ur new i party against us, and bowling was g nored” Tom Walker and Lord Frederick were o f the tediously slow school ; Lambert and Budd

were several degrees faster . Howard and John

Wells were the fast underhand bowlers . . 9 1 MR . BUDD AND LORD F . BEAUCLERK

Lord Frederick was a very successful bowler, and inspired great confidence as a general : his bowling was at last bea ten by men running into him . Sparkes mentioned another player who w brought very slow bo ling to perfection, and was

B eldha m Mr. beaten in the same way . thought ’ ’ Budd s bowling better than Lord Frederick s ;

t he Beagley said same . His Lordship is generally supposed to have been t he bes t amateur o f his day ; so said Calde fi

court ; also Beagley, who observed his Lordship Thad the best head and was most valuable a s a

general . Otherwise, this is an assertion hard to

' i reconc le with acknowledged facts for, first, Mr.

Budd made the best average, though usually placed ’ t n n against Lamber s bowli g, and playi g almost

exclusively in the great matches . Mr . Budd was i a much more po werful h tter . Lord Frederick a a w ‘ the o ff said, Budd l ays wanted to win game “ : B eldha m . a single ball observed, if Mr Budd

he the t would not hit so eagerly, would be fines ” n 1player in all E gland . When I knew him his hit ’ lt in w s i g a quite safe play . St ll Lord Frederick s ' t b was the pret ier style of atting, and he had the

o ha ra ct er c of being the most scientific player . But s m e c Mr . Budd had the largest avera ge in spite

t Of B eldha m his hitting, becomes a witness in his

If r a vo u . . Mr Budd measured five feet ten inches, t and weighed welve stone, very clean made and 2 9 THE CRICKET FIELD .

l a nd powerfu , with an eye singularly keen , great natural quickness, being one of the fastest runners f o . r his day Secondly , Mr. Budd was the bette fi l m n ds a . e He stood usually at middle wicket . I never s a w safer hands at a catch ; a nd I have

s o ut . een him very quick at stumping But, Lord Frederick could not take every part ofthe field but

was t one o f . always shor slip, and not the very best A nd , thirdly, Mr . Budd was the better bowler.

. he . Mr Budd hit well from ,t wrist At Woolwich

n nine . he hit a volley to lo g field for , though Mr ’ s o ld Parry threw it in . He also hit out of Lord

ground . Lord had said he would forfeit twenty guineas if any o ne thus proved his ground too ” s : mall so we all crowded around Mr . Budd ,

B eldha m him said , and told what he might ’ i claim . Well then, he said, I claim it, and g ve ’ it among the players . But Lord was shabby and ” no w 1 8 54 would not pay . Mr. Budd is ( ) in his sixty- ninth year it is only lately that any country

Eleven could well spare him .

Lambert was also good at every point . In

w . batting, he was a bold for ard player He stood his with left foot a yard in advance, swaying bat n and body as if to attain momentum , and reachi g

forward almost to where the ball must pitch . ’ L a mbert s chief point wa s to take the ball at

a nd the pitch and drive it powerfully away, , said “ . w w Mr Budd, to a slo bo ler his return was so

9 4 THE CRICKET FIELD .

ment it was beyond the statute width, and would

d . u ncere not pass through the standar So,

mo nio usl ba t y, a knife was produced, and the

reduced to its just, rather than its fair, proportions . ” ’ o ff Well, said Robinson, I ll pay you for

ha t spoiling my and sure enough he did, hitting

o ne o f tremendously, and making his largest n inni gs, which were often near a hundred runs .

o f In the first twenty years this century, Hamp

be shire, like Kent , had lost its renown , but only cause Hambledon was no w no more ; nor did Sur rey and Hampshire any longer count as one . To confirm o u r assertion that Fa rnha m produced the

- 1 808 players, for in , Surrey had played and

o ne beaten England three times in season, and from 1 8 20 to 1 82 5 Godalming is mentioned as the most powerful antagonist ; but whether called Godal

o r ming Surrey, we must not forget that the —we 1 82 1 locality is the same observe, that in , “ ” M . C . C . plays The Three Parishes, namely, a nd Godalming, Farnham , Hartley Row ; which parishes, after rearing the finest contemporaries of

B eldham , could then boast a later race of players in Th m d Flavel u wo o . , Searle, Howard, , Mathews 2 3 About this time (July . said

Beldham , we played the Coronation Match ; ’ a E d t . . We M C . C . agains the Pl yers of nglan 2 8 scored 7 and only six wickets down, when the game wa s given up. I was hurt and could not S v . 95 HANT . NOTTINGHAM

m t run y no ches still James Bland, and the other L egs, begged of me to take pains, for it was no ’ ‘ a n sporting match, y odds and no takers ; and they wanted to shame the gentlemen against ’ wasting their (the Legs ) time in the same way ” another time .

wa s But the day for Hampshire, as for Kent,

hi i . Fennex doomed to s ne aga n , Small, the

Walkers, J . Wells, and Hammond, in time drop ff — t he o from Surrey , and about same time

a ldeco urt Thu mwo o d C , Holloway, Beagley, , d Shearman , Howar , Mr. Ward, and Mr. Knight,

o f restore the balance power for Hants, as after

f r o . wards, Broadbridge and Lillywhite Sussex “ ” “ 1 8 1 7 i . In , we went, sa d Mr Budd, with

- o f Osbaldeston to play twenty two Nottingham .

In that match Clarke played . In common with others I lost my money, and was greatly dis n i appointed a t the termination . O e pa d player

a s w accused of selling, and never employed after. The concourse of people was very great : these o f were the days the Luddites (rioters), and the i h mag strates warned us, t at unless we would stop ’ o ur game at seven O clock, they could not answer i ’ for keep ng the peace . At seven O clock we

stopped ; and, simultaneously, the thousands who

lined the ground began to close in upon us. Lord Frederick lost nerve and was very much alarmed ; ’

. but, I said they didn t want to hurt us No 9 6 THE CRICKET FIELD .

they simply came to have a look at the eleven men ” who ventured to play two for one . His Lordship i o ne broke his finger, and, batt ng with hand ,

scored only eleven runs . Nine men, the largest

o n as number perhaps record, Bentley marks ” caught by Budd . l’ Just be fore the establishment o f Mr . Wil s wa roundhand bowling, and as if to prepare the y,

Ashby came forth with an unusual bias, but no

great pace . Sparkes bowled in the same style ; a as also, Matthews and Mr . Jenner somewh t

later . Still the batsmen were full as powerful as

s . ever, reckoning Saunders, Searle , Beagley, Messr ff k Ward, Kingscote, Knight . Su ol became very

strong with Pilch, the Messrs . Blake, and others, o f the famous Bury Club ; while Slater, Lilly

B ro a dbrid es white, King, and the g , raised the i f name of M dhurst and o Sussex . Against such batsmen every variety o f under hand delivery fa iled to maintain the balance o f il the game, till J . Broadbridge and L lywhite,

i s u cceeded a in after many protests and d scussions, establishing what long was called the Sussex ” bowling. “ 1 82 0 . o ur a About , said Mr Budd, at nni vers a ry dinner (three-guinea tickets) at the W s i Clarendon, Mr. ard asked me if I had not a d I i would play any man in England at single w cket, fi l m f without e ds en. An a firmative produced a

9 8 HE T CRICKET FIELD.

it hear of Nonsense, he said, y

o r mean it . Yes ; play pay, my Lord, ” 11 l 1 earnest, and shall claim the stakes

t . fact Lamber did beat them both For, h m t suc a man as La ber , when on his met rather discouraging ; and he did make d ” Beldha m exertion, said once he rushed up after his ball, and Lord Frederick was caught so near wa s the bat that he lost his temper, and said it

ot . h n fair play Of course, all hearts were wit

Lambert . ’ Osbaldest on s mother sat by in her carriage , ” n h Beldha m and e joyed the matc ; and then, said , Lambert was called to the carriage and bore away a—paper parcel : some said it was a gold watch, some, bank notes . Trust Lambert to

n bu t o w . keep his secrets We were all curious, ” - no o ne ever knew : nor ever will know . In 1 85 1 him March, , I addressed a letter to at Rei

. n gate Soo , a brief paragraph announced the death o f the once celebrated cricket player Wil ” liam Lambert. 9 SAD DOINGS. 9

A I. CH P . V

A DARK CHA PTER IN THE HISTORY OF CRICKET .

THE lovers of cricket may congratulate them selves that matches, at the present day, are made C at cricket, as at hess, rather for love and the f i honour o v ctory than for money . ’ It is no w many years since Lord s was fro

u ent ed men q by with book and pencil, betting as

rofess1ona ll openly and p y as in the ring at Epsom, a nd ready to deal in the odds with any and every person o f speculative propensities . Far less satis factory was the state o f things with which Lord

. r . t o F Beaucle k and Mr Ward had to contend, say nothing o f the earlier days o f the Earl o f

Winchelsea and Sir Horace Mann . As to the ” N ren latter period, Old y bewails its evil doings . He speaks o f one who had the trouble o f proving ” “ u o f of himself a rog e, and also the legs Mary ” ebo ne l , who tried, for once in vain, to corrupt some primitive specimens o f Hambledon inno

. a cence He s ys, also, that the grand matches o f his

001. day were always made for 5 a side . Add to this the fact that bets were in proportion ; and that n 2 1 00 THE CRICKET FIELD .

o f wi Jim and Joe Bland, turf notoriety,

Whitlo m of Covent Garden , Simpson, a o f house keeper, and Toll Esher, as attended at a match as Crockford and Gully at Epsom and Ascot ; and the idea that all the Surrey a nd Hampshire rustics should either want

' r st ro n t em t a tions o resist g p to sell, is not to be

entertained for a moment . The constant habit o f

i o u t bett ng will take the honesty of any man . A

- o r n half crown sweepstakes , betti g such odds as ’ ’ lady s long kids to g entleman s short ditto , is all ma n very fair sport ; but, if a , after years of high

betting, can still preserve the fine edge and tone

o f honest feeling he is indeed a wonder . To bet

o n . a certainty all admit is swindling If so, to

bet where you feel it is a certainty, must be very

bad moral practice .

n B eldha m If gentlemen wa ted to bet, said ,

just under the pavilion sat men ready, with

r money down , to give and take the cu rent o dds

these were by farthe best men to bet with ; because, wa s o f if they lost, it all in the way business : they i pa d their money and did not grumble . Still, they had all sorts o f tricks to make their betting “ ” safe . One artifice, said Mr. Ward, was t o

‘ keep a player o u t o f the way by a false report that his w ife was dead Then these men wou ld

’ the Green l a nd come down to Man and Stil , dfi k h k with us, and always said, that those w o bac ed

02 E F 1 THE CRICK T IELD .

’ F nnex s t t e . pret y hick on account Some said, ” To o bad to win o f such a green young fellow 1 d ’ i ” others sai , He s old enough serve him r ght . So the laugh was finely aga inst those who were ” t aken in ; the green o ne ran away like a hare ! ” s ee s ir o ne o ld ma n i You , , said fine , w th

n a nd o f m h brillia t eye quickness move ent, t at showed his right hand had not yet forgot its s cunning, matches were bought, and matche w ere sold, and gentlemen who meant honestly

of lost large sums money, till the rogues beat t hemselves at last . They overdid it ; they spoilt

o wn one o f m their trade ; and, as I said to the ,

a knave and a fool makes a bad partnership ; so, ’ ou a nd y yourself will never prosper. Well,

: fe surely there was robbery enough and, not a w of the great players earned money to their o wn ’ disgrace ; but, if you ll believe me, there was not n half the selli g there was said to be . Yes, I can

ou in guess, sir, much as y have been talk g to all the “old players over this good stuff (pointing to t he o i t brandy and water I had pr v ded), no doub y o u have heard that B sold as bad as the ’ : o ne r est . I ll tell the truth match up the country m . s I did sell, a match ade by Mr O baldeston at f Nottingham . I had been sold out o a match

e s l OZ. just befor , and lo t , and happening to hear it

t wo s o f o ur a nd I joined other eleven to sell, get

. won 1 01. a nd o f back my money I exactly, this T TEMPTATIONS o SELL . 1 03 roguery no o ne ever suspected me ; but many wa s t he time I have been blamed for selling when as innocent as a babe . In those days, when so much money was on the matches, every man who lost his i o ne. money would blame some Then, if A m ssed ’ o r — w a catch, B made no runs and here s the player whose hand is always in —that man was

. So wa s called a rogue directly , when a man doomed to lose his character and to bear all the

wa s i smart, there the more temptat on to do like

fo r others, and after the kicks to come in the ’ h i . a halfpence But I am an old man now, and e rt ly

for sorry I have been ever since because, but that

Nottingham match, I could have said with a clear conscience to a gentleman like you, that all that was said was false, and I never sold a match in ’ my life ; but now I can t . But, if I had fifty

ul sons , I wo d never put one of them , for all the

the o f games in the world, in way the roguery that I have witnessed . The temptation really was

—t o o very great, great by far for any poor man —~ to be exposed to, no richer—than ten shillings a w e I eek, let alone har vest tim never told you, sir, the way I first was brought to London . I was

o f a a lad eighteen at this Hampshire vill ge, and Lord Winchelsea had seen us play among o u r

a nd selves , watched the match with the Hamble on - w don Club Broad halfpenny, hen I scored

- a i » forty three gainst Dav d Harris, and ever so H 4 1 04 THE CRICKET FIELD .

’ of many the runs against David s bowling, and no

one ever could manage David before . So, next

111 o f was year, the month March, I down in the w meado s , when a gentleman came across the field

: a n with Farmer Hilton d, thought I, all in a

minute, now this is something about cricket .

W a ell, at last it was settled I was to play H mp

a t shire against England, London, in White

- o f Conduit Fields ground, in the month June . For three months I did nothing but think about

that match . Tom Walker was to travel up from

this country, and I agreed to go with him, and found myself at last with a merry company o f

cricketers all the men, whose names I had ever — heard as foremost in the game met together,

- drinking, card playing, betting, and singing at the ’ Green Man (that was the great cricketer s house),

- in Oxford Street, no man without his wine, I

assure you , and such suppers as three guineas a wa s game to lose, and five to win (that then the

s um for players) could never pay for long . To go i to London by the waggon, earn five gu neas three

o r a n four times told, d come back with half the

money in your pocket to the plough again, was all

very well talking. You know what young folk

a e : r , sir, when they get together mischief brews

str in : a l onger large quantities so, many spent l

' a nd were their earnings, soon glad to make more f money some other way . Hundreds o pounds

106 C I D THE RICKET F EL .

’ them if ever after they dared to win . You ll try ’ me once, and then you ll have me in a line like hi ’ m . of the mill last year No, sir, a man was a slave when once he sold to these folk : fool and ’

. n knave aye go together Still, they fou d fools

‘ enough for their purpose ; but rogues can never

. da trust each other One y, a sad quarrel arose ’ t wo between ofthem, which opened the gentlemen s eyes too wide to close again to those practices . ’ Two very big rogues at Lord s fell a quarrelling, w w and blows were given a cro d dre round, and the gentlemen ordered them both into the pavilion . ‘ o ne 2 01. e When the began, You had to los the

Kent match, bowling leg long hops and missing ’ ‘ ff catches . And you were paid to lose at Swa ’—‘ VVh did ham . y that game with Surrey turn ’ — a nd m about three runs to get, you didn t ake ’ ? o u t f them Angry words come ast ; and, when they are circumstantial and square with previous suspicions, they are proofs as strong as holy writ . ” i - In o ne s ngle wicket match, he continued, and those were always great matches for the sporting m en firs t - o n , because usually you had rate men h i d eac s de, and their merits known, ishonesty wa s as plain as this : just as a player was coming

i o f in, (John B . will confess th s if you talk the ’ o r match he said to me, You ll let me score five ’ t o u no t n six, for appearances, won y , for I am goi g ’ ’ ‘ o ? ou t make many if I can Yes, I said, y FAL SE PLAY ON BOTH SIDES.

’

no t it . n rogue, you shall if I can help But, whe

wo n t he a game was all but , and odds heavy, and

t he o f all one way, it was cruel to see how fortune

n the day then would cha ge about . In that Kent h — ’ matc , you can turn to it in your book (Bentley s 2 8 th 1 8 07 o n B scores), played July, , enenden

—I i -a Heath, and Lord Freder ck had scored sixty o ne o f , and thirty remained to win , and six the best

E o u t . W men in ngland went for eleven runs ell,

h a s sir, I lost some money by that matc , and seven of u s were walking homewards to meet a coach , a gentleman who had backed the match ‘ y drove by and said , Jump up , my bo s, we have

r n o t if all lost togethe . I need mind I hire a

o f fo r pair horses extra next town , I have lost ’ fo r o r money enough to pay twenty pair more .

n o u h Well, thought I, as I rode alo g , y ave rogues

a s ir enough in your carri ge now , , if the truth were ’ a nd o f o ut told, I ll answer for it ; , one them let ’ the secret, some ten years after. But , sir, I can t

u h w n o u : help la g ing he I tell y once, there was a ’ l - i sing e w cket match played at Lord s, and a man h o n . One eac side was paid to lose was bowler,

and the other batsman, when the game came to a

t . i i c near poin I knew the r pol ti s, the rascals, a nd saw in a minute how t hings stood ; and ho w

. Fo r I did laugh to be sure seven balls together, one w ould not bowl straight, and the other would 1 0 8 THE CRICKET FIELD.

t not hit ; but at last a straight ball mus come, ” and down went the wicket . c From other information received, I ould tell

- this veteran that, even in his much repented m Nottingham atch , his was not the only side that T had men resolved to lose . he match wa s sold for Nottingham too, and that with less success, for Nottingham won : an event the less difficult L to accomplish, as ord Frederick Beauclerk broke a finger in an attempt to stop an angry and furious t w hro from Shearman , whom he had scolded for slack play . His Lordship batted with o ne hand. Afterwards lock -j a w threatened ; and Lord Frede

a ! rick was, well nigh, victim to Cricket

It is true, Clarke, who played in the match ,

: thought all was fair still, he admits, he heard o ne o n Nottingham man accused, the field, by his f o wn side o foul play . This confirms the evidence in . W . f . o the Rev C , no slight authority Notting ham matches, who said he was cautioned before the match that all would not be fair . o f m This practice selling atches, said Beld ham, produced strange things sometimes . Once , wa s I remember, England playing Surrey, and , in my judgment, Surrey had the best side ; still I found the Legs were betting seven to four agains t ! h t Surrey T is ime, they were done ; for they betted on the belief that some Surrey men had

: . sold the match but, Surrey then played to win

1 1 0 THE CRICKET FIELD .

I. CHAP . VI

B a r r o ho t a y ,

THE SCIENCE AND ART OF B ATTING .

A WRITER in Blackwood once attribut ed the success of his m a ga zine to the careful exclusion o f

i o r every bit of sc ence, reasoning, above half an d inch long . The Cambri ge Professors do no t ’ exclusively represent the mind o f Parker s Piece ; i ffn o f so, away w th the sti ess analysis and the mysteries of science : the laws o f dynamics might

of h s ics puzzle, and the very name p y alarm, many

- i ki t he a n able bodied cricketer ; so, nvo ng genius i o f our mother tongue, let us exh bit science in its more palatable form . l All the ba ls that can be bowled may, for all

fe w practical purposes, be reduced to a simple i classes, and plain rules g ven for all and each .

There are what are called good balls, and bad n balls . The former, good le gths, and straight, in while puzzl g to the eye the latter, bad lengths

hit . and wide, while easy to see and to

But, is not a good hand and eye quite enough, F R S SCOPE O IN TRUCTIONS. w t t ? ith a little prac ice, without all his theory s Do you ignore the Pilches and the Parr , who have proved famous hitters from their o wn sense

- m alone The question is, not how any have suc ceeded a , but how many more have f iled . Cricket by nature is like learning from a village dame it leaves a great deal to be u a t a ught before t he pupil makes a good scholar. If you have Calde ’ ’ ’ c o r vivd ourt s, Wisden s, Lillywhite s instructions,

voce not o n ? , why paper also What, though many

x u e cellent m sicians do not know a note, every good mu sICIa n will bear witness that the consequence f ’ o Nature s teaching is, that men form a vicious

habit almost impossible to correct, a lasting bar to

brilliant execution . And why because the piano o r the violin leaves no dexterity o r rapidity

in o ne t o spare . The muscles act freely way only , o f in every other way with loss power. So with

batting. A good ball requires all the power and

o f energy the man And, as with riding, driving,

o r on rowing, every other exercise, it depends a o r i certain form, attitude, position, whether th s o r power be forthcoming not . The scope for u seful instructions for f or ming go o d ha bits of hitting befo r e their p la ce is p r e ’ cu ied with ba d — o c p for, there s the rub is

yery great indeed . If Pilch, and Clarke, and i Lillywhite, averaging fifty ye—ars each, are st ll un ff I n . di erent to pace n bowli g, and if Mr Ward, THE C RICKET FIELD .

a s t a s 1 844 t t la e , scored for y agains Mr . Kir ’ w e wan s swiftest bo ling, while som of the most o f active young men, long experience in cricket,

u n are wholly unequal to the task ; then, it is deniable that a batsman may form a certain in b hi t valuable ha it, w ch youth and s rength cannot e always give, nor age and inactivity entirely tak

away . The following are simple rules for forming correct habits of play ; for adding the judgment

o f t the veteran to the activity of youth, or pu ting

old an head on young shoulders, and teaching the said young shoulders not to get into each other’ s

wa y . All balls that can be bowled are reducible to ” length balls and not lengths .

No t len ths the f g , are the toss, the tice, hal

volley, the long hop, and ground balls .

not len th ba lls c t These are g , not pit hed at tha critical length which puzzles the judgment as to o r w whether to play forward back, as ill presently “ be explained . These are all bad balls ; and

a mong good players considered certain hits ; though, I from the delusive confidence they nspire, some times they are bowled with success against even

t he best o f players .

h o t len ths T ese n g , therefore, being the easiest to

r e u l rm e e li play, as q g only hand and y , but ttle judgment, are the best for a beginner to practise

1 1 4 THE CRICKET FIELD .

- the attitude o f extreme caution . Height is a “ great advantage, and a big man, says Dakin , “ ” is foolish to make himself into a little man .

h lo w t i If t e eye is , you canno have the command ng “ of t he sight, nor, as players say , see as much ” o u game, as if y hold up your head, and look well

at the bowler. hl 5 t y . All stand easy , and hold the bat lightly,

yet firmly, in their hands . However rigid your m o u ob uscles , y must relax them, as already t served, before you can star into action . Rossi,

u u o f the sculptor, made a bea tif l marble statue a

batsman at guard, for the late Mr. William Ward ,

who said, You are no cricketer, Mr . Sculptor ;

the wrists are too rigid, and hands too much ” clenched . i After standing at guard in the attitude of P lch ,

1 i . fig . . shows the bat taken up ready for act on

ha t ? But, at what moment are you to raise your

aldecou rt C teaches, and some very good players o f n observe , the habit not raisi g the bat till they

have seen the pitch of the ball . This is said t o tend both to safety and system in play but a

first - rate player, who has already attained to a

right system , should aspire to more power and

a nd t 1 freedom , rise into the atti ude of fig . . as ’ o f soon as the ball is out the bowler s hand . Good players often begin an innings with their

ba t w fi . do n, and raise it as they gain con dence SIMPLE RULE S.

Pr ep a ri n g for A Ct i on

M eet the ha ll with a s f a ll a ha t a s the ca s e

a dmits o f t . . Consider the full force his rule

1 . st . Meet e ba ll th . The bat must strike the

b o u all, not the ball the bat . Even if you block, y

c a n block hard, and the wrists may do a little ; so,

The t o es are r icket and fo o t ha r dl t oo mu ch be fo e W , y within t he crea se o nin suit s o ur illus tr a tio n . F r esho r te g ett er than ar i i b t st c effect . 1 1 6 THE CRICKET FIELD .

with a good playe r this rule admits of no ex n r eco m ceptio . Young players must not think I

a i h mend flour s , but an exact movement of the bat

o at the latest possible instant . In playing back t

a nd a bail ball, a good player meets the ball, plays 2 . f it with a resolute movement o arm and wrist . Pilch is not caught in the attitude o f what some c n all Ha ging guard, letting the ball hit his bat dead , once in a season .

With a a ll ha t e r 2 dly . f . A good player has n ve 2 1 4 his less wood than inches by 7} inches before ha s wicket as he plays the ball, a bad player ’ n rarely more tha a bat s width alone . Remember t he old rule, to keep the left shoulder over the

ball, and left elbow well up . Good players must

m le avoid doing this in excess for, some play fro g

off o f to , across the line the ball, in their over care t o b t keep the shoulder over it. Fix a a b the ground, and try to bowl the wicket d y o u will perceive what an unpromising a i this simple rule creates . I l ke to see i the ball is coming, hang perpend cular as ’ lum from the player s wrists The best compli ment ever paid me was this Whether you play

w o r o r et for ard back, hitting stopping, the wick is always covered to the full measure o f your ” ? bat . So said a friend well known in North ff t t Devon, whose e ec ive bowling , combined wi h

1 1 8 THE CRICKET FIELD .

hit t u r n d To osses is good practice , req i i g goo o m n time and quick wrist play . If y u s ee a a ' s t ifi u play , and p in a heap, a swift toss is

worth t rying . Bowlers should practise both toss

and tice . We remember Wenman playing well against fine bowling when an underhand bowler was pu t o n h , who bowled him wit a toss, fourth ball .

To play tosses, and ground balls, and hops, and o f every variety loose bowling, by the rigid rules o f i straight and upright play, is a pr nciple, the neg lect o f which has often given the old hands a laugh

at the young ones . Often have I been amused

to see the wonder and disappointment occasioned,

o f when some noted member a University Eleven ,

a ll ~ex e ct ed or the Marylebone Club , from whom p

‘ o f course the most tremendous hitting o fi mere ” u nderhand bowling, has been easily disposed of

s o r by a tos a g round ball, yclept a sneak” b ba A fast all to the middle stump , however dly

ff a . bowled , no player can a ord to treat too e sily A ball that grounds more than once ma y turn

" o e more than once ; and, the bat though pr p rly

i b u nches wide, is considera ly reduced when sed ,

‘ er hit a cr os s wiche T a cross wicket ; so nev t . o t urn

a nd s u a re to loose bowling, hit from leg stump q

‘ o n i ver to the side with full swing of the body, ss y ’ ’

ver efiective e ti . gratifying and y ; and, perhaps y ma o r s a to a y hit over the tent, , as I once w, in 1 BAD BOWLING OFTEN EFFECTIVE . 1 9

’ ei n ghbour s carriage ; but, while the natives are ma - Ca ldeco u rt rvel stricken , will shake his head, a nd inwardly grieve at folly so triumphant . This reminds m e o f a memorable match in

1 834 o f . , Oxford against Cowley, the village which fostered those useful members Of u n1 vers 1 ty society ; who, during the summer term , bowl at six n pences o stumps sometimes eight hours a day, \ and ha ve s t rengt h enough left at the end to win one S ixpence more .

n nd o r n The Oxonians, k owing the grou knowi g t i 2 00 n r he r bowlers, scored above ru s in thei first

nn1 n r 1 gs . Then Cowley g ew wiser ; and even n o w ho w a Cowley man will tell the tale, they put o n o ne Tailor Humphreys to bowl twisting

i u underhand sneaks, at wh ch the Oxonians la ghed 7 a nd called it no cricket ; but it actually levelled

fo r n their wickets fewer , ru s than were made a gainst Bayley a nd Cobbett the following week .

t o o a a nd The Oxonians , e ger to score, thinking it not i so easy, hit across and did play the r usual game .

Never lau gh at bowling that t akes wickets . n t Bowli g that is bad , Of en for that very reason h meets with batting t at is worse . Nothing shows a thorough player more than playing with caution n even badly pitched underhand bowli g . One of the best judges o f the game I ever kne w wa s Once Offered by a fine hit ter a bet that he I t 1 2 0 I THE CR CKET FIELD . could not with his underhand bowlin g make him “ give a chance in half an hour. “ i o f wa s Then you know noth ng the game , “ the reply ; I would bowl you nothing but Off t s o u ou t os es, which you must cut ; y would not

fo r those correctly half an hour, for you could i bet not use a stra ght bat once . Your ought to be — h s o . , no c ance before many runs

w - o f Peter He ard , an excellent wicket keeper

—o f o n e Leicester, the same day as Henry Davis, o f m t a the finest and os gr ceful hitters ever seen , as Dakin, or any midland player will attest, l Observed to me, P ayers are apt to forget that a bad bowler m a y bowl o n e o r two balls as well a s t he a o o u m s best ; so , to m ke a go d average, y u t always play the same guarded and steady game , ” and take care especially when late in t he season . T ” “ hy l a te in the season ? Because t he ground is damp and heavy —it takes the spring o u t i l ves of good bowl ng, and g fast underhand i it h bowling as many tw sts as has ops, besides i i n h hi mak ng t hang o t e ground . T s game is hardly worth playing it is true ; bu t a man is bu t ha lf a player who is only prepa red for true “ ” r h . no t e g ound We do play cricket, con

t inu ed o u -f billia rd , tables ; wind and weather, h ’ and t e sta te o f the turf make all the difierence .

o u wm h i So, if y play to , play the game t at w ll carry you through ; and that is a straight and up

1 2 2 T HE K L CRIC ET FIE D .

o n b a t seem as if they felt the ball the , and sprung it away with an elastic impulse ; and, in the more

o ne o f n n forcible hits, a ball from the All E gla d batsmen appears not so much like a hit as a shot

m : fo r i fro the bat , when a ball is hit in the sw ftest ’ part Of the bat s whirl , and with that part Of the b a t that gives the greatest force with the least jar , the ball a ppears to Offer no resistance ; its mo m m t he entu is annihilated by whirl Of the bat , and the t wo - and - twenty field s men find to their surprise how litt le ground a fields ma n can cover against true and accurate hitting .

Clean hitting requires a loose arm, the bat held

no t firmly, but clutched in the hand till the moment Of hitting ; clumsy gloves a r e a sad hin d r n a ce . , the hit is not half so crisp and smart The bat must be brought forward not only by the free swing Of the arm working well from the shoulder,

"

. 1 . . but also by the wrist . (Refer tofig p h Here is t e bat ready thrown back, and wrists proportionally bent ; from that position a hit is

r m always assisted by wrist as well as a . The ff e ect Of the wrist alone, slight as its power appears , is very material in hitting ; this probably arises from the greater precision and better time In which a wrist hit is commonly made . h i if As to ard hitt ng, two men have equal skill,

’ the stronger man will send the ball farthest .

Many slight men drive a ball nearly as far as, OF N THEORY HITTI G .

u i larger men , beca se they exert their force n a more skilful manner. We have seen a man six I feet three inches n height, and —Of power in hit o r proportion, a ball tossed to him not once t —a d r wice, but repeatedly hun red yards o more s in the air . This , perhap , is more than any light

. i t he man could do But, the best man at putt ng stone and throwing a weight we ever saw, was a ma n l i xer Of ittle more than ten stone . In th s e i ’ c se, as in wrestling, the application Of a man s whole weight at the proper moment is the chief point so also in hard hitting . The whirl Of the bat may be accelerated by w - rist, fore arm, and shoulder let each joint bear its proper part . S F OR STRON — ff NUT Gr TEETH . All e ective hits t mus be made with both hands and arms ; and, in

a t a order th t bo h arms may pply their force, the point at which the ball is struck should be oppo site the middle Of the body .

n o 1 s e fo r Take a bat in your ha d, p the body as - r a half volley hit forward, the line from shoulde t o shoulder being parallel with the line o f the ball . Now whirl the bat in the line Of the ball, and yo u will find that it reaches that part o f its circle where it is perpendicular to the ground, midway between the shoulders ; at t hat moment

s o e the bat attains its greatest velocity ; , then alon n t can the stro ges hit be made . Moreover, a hit 1 24 THE CRICKET FIELD . made a t this moment will drive the ball parallel n to and skimmi g the ground . And if, in such a ’ s ix o f hit, the lower inches the bat s face strike ” l is the bal , the hit properly called a clean hit ,

ma being free from all imperfections . The same y f o o r . be said a horizontal hit, cut The bat should meet the ball when opposite the body. I do not say that every hit should be made in this manner ; I only s ay that a perfect hit can be made in no o f other, and that it should be the aim the bats man to attain this position of the body as often as he can . Nor is this mere speculation o n the scientific principle of batting ; it arises from a ct lia l f Observation o the movements of the best batsmen . All good hit ters make their hits just at the mo ment when the ball is opposite the middle o f

- ff . their body . Watch any fine O hitter If he - Midi hits to Mid wicket, his breast is turned to i wicket ; if he hits, I mean des gnedly, to Point, no t his breast is turned to Point . I do his hits would always go to those part field ; because the Speed and spin o f the ball

o r its always, to a greater less degree , prevent going in the precise direction o f the hit ; but I only say that the ball is always hit by the best t ba tsmen when just opposite to them . Cut ing forms nO exception : the best cutters turn the body round o n the basis of the feet till the breast a s fronts the ball, having let the ball go almost

1 26 TH E CRICKET FIELD .

f a t he tre y ou o u t o form for the next b ll, and a s a d angerous habit .

d ba lls all h G r o u n , and balls that touc the

n e ground more than once betwee wickets, I hav

already hinted , are reckoned very easy, but they ” a re always liable to prove very dangerous . Some

‘ t he la s t ike ‘ times you have three hops, and l a good length ball : at each hop the ball may twis t On o r Off with the inequalities o f the gro u nd ;

is u also , if bowled with the least bias, there m ch ff All t es scope fo r that bias to produce e ect . h e i e peculiarit es account for a fact, strange but tru , that the best batsmen are often o u t with the worst i o f bowling . Bad bowl ng requires a game its

o f t oo o wn , and a game the greatest care, where c ommonly we find the least because only u n ” n — derha nd bowli g, and not by any means good la m t he lengths ; it requires, especially, p y g at

n o t ca l ball itself, even to the last inch, and by i culation o f the pitch o r r se . be Let me further remark that hitting, to t he either free , quick, or clean, must be done by the arms and wrists, and not by the body though weight o f the body appears to be thrown in by h it putting down the left leg ; thoug , in real y, the leg comes down after the hit to restore the bala nce Can t a man throw his body Into a blow (at cricket) ? About as much as he can hold up a hors e with a bridle while sitting on the same H 1 2 SECRET OF HARD ITTING . 7

’ horse s back . Both are common expressions ; both are at variance with the laws of nature . A

man can only hit by whirling his bat in a circle . t If he stands wi h both feet near together, he hits feebly because in a smaller circle ; if he throws

his left foot forward, he hits harder because in a

wider circle . A pugilist cannot throw in his body with a round hit ; and a cricketer cannot make

anything else but round hits . Take it as a rule

I I not not n hitting, that what is elegant is right ; ” for the human frame is rarely inelegant in its movements when all the muscles act in their

me l natural direction . Many n p ay with their

u shoulders p to their ears, and their sinews all in

knots , and because they are conscious of desperate

h 1 cm exertion, they forget t at their force s g g any

where rather than into the ball . It is often r e marked that hard hitting does not depend o n d n strength . No . It epends not on the stre gth a man i has, but on the strength he exerts, at the right t me and in the right direction and strength is exerted h h in itting, as in t rowing a ball, in exact pro portion to the rapidity o f the whirl o r circle which f the bat or hand describes . The point o the ba t moves faster in the circle than any other part t and, therefore , did not the jar, resul ing from the

i a o f t want of res stance, pl ce the point hi ting, as

i h u r exper ence s ows, a little higher p, the nea er

hit . s the end the harder would be the The wri t, 1 28 TH E E CRICKET FI LD .

however slight its force, acting with a multiplying o f power, adds greatly to the speed this whirl .

i o n Hard h tting, then, depends, first, the free d om with which the arm revolves from the s im b ff houlder, un peded y constrained e orts and

o f the o n o f contortions body ; next, the play the

b o n arm at the el ow ; thirdly, the Wrists . Oh

a nd serve any cramped clumsy hitter, vou will

o rec gnise these truths at once . His elbow seems f i glued to his side, his shoulder sti f at the jo nt, and the little speed o f his bat depends on a twist and a wriggle o f his whole body . Keep your body as composed and easy as the requisite adjustment o f the left leg will admi t ; let your arms do t he hitting ; and remember the i wrists . The wh z that meets the ear will be a i r i criterion of increasing power. Pract se ha d h t

- o f ting, that is, the full and timely application

o f t he your strength , not only for the value extra t score, but because hard hitting and correc and clean hitting are o ne and t he same thing . Mere stopping balls and poking about in t he blockhole s t is not cricket, however successful ; and I mu mi ad t, that one of the most awkward, poking , vexatious blockers that ever produced a countess

" f e feit o cricket, defied Bayley and Cobb tt at 83 6 — Oxford in 1 , three hours , and made five and thirty runs . Another friend, a better player, n m a a t addicted to the same teasi g game, in a am1

1 30 THE CRICKET FIELD .

steady motion . And this shows ho w uncertain all

of hitting must be, when, either by the movement

o r t s o f ud the body o her cau e, the line sight is s

r denly raised o depressed . The same law of sight shows the disadvantage o f lo w e men who stand at guard very , and th n min suddenly raise themselves as the ball is co g. The same law o f sight explains the disadvantage

hit S of stepping in to , especially with a low drop ping ball : the eye is puzzled by a double mo tion

n o f e the cha ge in the level the ball, and the chang f In the level of the line o sight . So much for o u r theory : now for experience

Look at Pilch and all fine players . Ho w chara c t eristic is the ease and repose of their figu res no hurry or trepidation . How little do their heads ! a s o r bodies move Bad players dance about, if n t h they stood o hot iron, a dozen imes w ile the r ecis elv ball is coming, with p the disadvantage that attends an unsteady telescope . Then yo u ” would actually teach a man ho w to see ? We his would teach him how to give eyes a fair chance .

S o f e Of ight, as q uickness, most players hav

enough, if they would only make good use of it . To see a man wink his eyes and turn his head away is not uncommon the first day o f partridg e A n shooting, and quite as common at the wicket, undoubting j udgment and knowledge o f the prim; “ l l S cip es of batting literal y improves the ight, for UPRIGHT PLAY . 1 3 1 it increases that calm confidence which is essential fo r keeping your eyes open and in a line to see clearly . Sight o f a ball also depends o n a habit o f u n divided attention both before and after delivery, and very much o n health . A yellow bilious eye

: bespeaks a short innings so, be very careful what you eat and drink when engaged to play a match .

1 83 6 o f At a match at Purton in , five the Lans e downe sid , after supping on crab and champagne,

o n could do nothing but lie the grass . But your sight may be seriously affected when yo u do not feel actually ill . So Horace found at Capu

Na m ue ild li is inimioum et luder e orudis g p pp .

I A D STRA GHT N UPRIGHT PLAY . To be a

o f h n good judge a horse, to ave good commo i sense, and to hit stra ght and upright at Cricket, are qualifications never questioned without dire

ff . u o ence Yet few, very few, ever play as pright i as they m ght play, and that even to guard their

To u three stumps . be able, with a full and p right bat, to play well over and to command a ball Off o r a few inches to the , a little to the leg, is a f a very superior and rare order o ability . The first exercise for learning upright play is to practise several times against an easy bowler, with both hands o n the same side o f the handle of

a the bat . Not that this is the way to hold a b t K 2 3 2 1 THE CRICKET FIELD .

t in play, though the bat so held must be uprigh but this exercise o f rather poking than playing will inure you to the habit and method o f upright w play . After ards shift your hands to their proper position, and practise slipping your left hand

o f round into the same position, while in the act coming forward .

B ut o r be sure you stand up to your work, close to your blockhole ; and let the bowler ad monish yo u every time yo u shrink away o r appear afraid o f the ball . Much practice is required before it is possible for a young player to attain that perfect composure and indifference to the ball that characterises the professor. The least nervousness o r shrinking is sure to draw the bat o u t o f th—e perpendicular. As to shrinking from the ball I do not mean any apprehension o f

of w o f injury, but only the result a ant know

f o r o f u ne ledge o length distance, and the result

ho w ho certainty as to the ball is coming, and w i to prepare to meet it . Not hing d stinguishes the professor from the amateur more than the co m posed and unshrinking posture in which he plays

a ball. Practice alone will prevent shrinking : so en courage your bowler continually to remind you of

A S i it . to practis ng with a bowler, you see some ’ men at Lord s and the University grounds batting to be hour after hour, as if cricket were taken by

HE T CRICKET FIELD .

This exercise will teach, at the same time, the full powers o f the bat ; what style of hitting is most efficacious ; at what angle you smother the

o u ball, and at what y can hit clean ; only, be careful to play in form and always see that your right foot has not moved before yo u follo w t o

pick up the ball . Fixing the right foot is alone a great; help to upright play ; for while the right a foot remains behind, you are so completely over

straight ball, and in a form to present a full bat, ll that yo u will rarely play across the ba . Firmness n in the right foot is also essential to hard hitti g, for you cannot exert much strength unless you

stand in a firm and commanding position .

Upright and straight hitting, then, requires,

o f briefly, the point the bat thrown back to the middle stump as the ball is coming ; secondly,the w left elbo well up ; and, thirdly, the right foot

fi . xed, and near the blockhole Never play a Single ball without strict atten~

o u tion to these three rules . At first y will feel cramped and powerless ; but practice will soon

give ease and elegance, and form the habit not

o f f n o f only all sure de e ce, but all certain hitting fo r , the straight player has always wood enough a and to s pare in the way of the ball ; whereas, deviation o f half an inch leaves the cross-player

at . l fault Mr. Wil iam Ward once played a single

” t m t t r wicke atch with a thick s ick, agains anothe ART OF STRAIGHT PLAY. 1 35 with a bat ; yet these are not much more than the odds o f good straight play against cross play . At Cheltenham College the first Eleven plays the ” second Eleven a broomstick match . When a player hits almost every time he raises

ha t W his , the remark is, hat an excellent eye that ! h batsman has But, uprig t play tends far more than eye to certainty in hitting . It is not easy to miss when you make the most o f every inch o f your bat . But when you trust to the width

u n alone, a slight error produces a miss , and not commonly a catch . The great difficulty in learning upright play consists in detecting when you are playing across . So your practice -bowler must remind you of the

o f f i slightest shifting the oot , shrink ng from the

o r o f . wicket, declination your bat Straight bowling is more easy to stand up to wit hdu t nervous shrinking, and slow bowling best reveals w be every weak point, because a slo ball must f played : it will not play 1 t s el . Many stylish be players are beaten by slow bowling ; some, cause never thoroughly grounded in the principles o f o f correct play and judgment lengths ; others, because hitting by rule and not at the ball . Sys tem with scientific players is apt to supersede ’ sight ; so take care as the mind s eye opens the n no t atural eye does shut . Underhand bowling 1 8 by far the best fo r a K 4 1 36 THE CRICKET FIELD .

e or r learn r, and learners are, should be, a la ge

. u class Being generally at the wicket, it prod ces

: fia t the straiaghtest play falling stumps are no

t erers f we . , but eelingly remind us what are Ca ldecou r t who i , had a pla n, though judicious, style of bowling , once observed a weak point in ’ Mr. Ward s play, and levelled his stumps three l NI times in about as many ba ls . any men boast o f t ing, as Mr. Ward then did, nearly the firs w average of his day, ould have blamed the bowler, n the ground, the wind, and , in short, any thi g o but themselves ; but Mr. Ward, a liberal patr n o f o f a the game, in the days his prosperity, g ve Caldecourt a guinea for his judgment in the gam e ” ; . and his useful lesson Such , Dr Johnson “ the f- o f o would say, is spirit and sel denial th se whose memories are not doomed to decay ” with ” b , . their ats but play cricket for imm—ortality PLAYING FORWARD AND BACK An d no w

- about length balls, and when to play forward at of h the pitch, and when back for a better sight t e rebound . — A length ball is o ne that pitches at a pu z z m l length from the bat . This ength cannot be re du ced x to any e act and uniform measurement, depending o n the delivery o f the bowler and the f reach o t he batsman . For i I efer more intell gible explanation , must r n you to your frie ds .

1 38 HE E T CRICKET FI LD.

l ha t reach, as at A, may be met with a fu l a nd t he I forward ; , being taken at pitch, it s o r either stopped driven away with all its rising,

o r u cutting, shooting, twisting propensities nde

velo ed . p If not stopped at A, the ball may rise

‘ a nd forced t o shoot in six lines at least ; so, if

o u d play back, y have six things to guar against f n o o e. instead Still, any ball you cannot cover

forward, as at B, must be played back ; and nearly

in the attitude shown in page 1 1 5 . This back

o f s play gives as long a sight the ball as po sible, and enables the player either to be up for a bailer o r down for a shooter. — MORE HARD NUT S. Why do certain lengths

z pu zle, and what is the nature of all this puzzling

emotion ? It is a sense of confusion and of doubt . the o f At moment the pitch, the ball is lost in the

o u ground ; so y doubt whether it will rise, or — o r whether it will shoot whether it will twist, t i l come in straigh . The eye follows the ball t l it touches the ground : till this moment there is no

great doubt, for its course is known to be uniform .

s a a s I y no great doubt, because there is alw y some doubt till the ball has passed some yards ’ Th o n from the bowler s hand . e eye cann t disti guish the direction o f a ball approaching till it has f Ca n s een a fair portion o Its flight . Then only you calculate wha t s t he rest o f the flight will be; t Still, before the ball has pitched, the first doub S P PHILO O HY OF FORWARD PLAY . 1 3 9

’ o s is resolved, and the batsman kn ws the ball d irection ; but, when once it touches the ground, the change o f light alone (earth instead o f air being the background) is trying to the eye . the Then, at the rise, recommences all uncertainty of o f a second delivery ; for, the direction the ball i has once more to be ascerta ned, and that requires almost as much time for sight a s will sometimes bring the ball into the wicket . All this difficulty o f sight a pplies only to the batsman ; to him the ball is advancing and fore i shortened in proportion as it is stra ght . If the

l i or bal is rather w de, if seen, as by Point, from the side, the ball may be easily traced, without t o f confusion, from first to last . It is the fac an

o u object approaching perfectly straight to y , that f confuses your sense o distance . A man stand ing on a railway cannot judge o f the nearness o f the engine ; nor a man behind a target of the

o f approach the arrow ; whereas, seen obliquely, n n the flight is clear . Hence a lo g hop is ot a t o puzzling length, because there is time ascertain t he f r n second part o the course o rebou d . A toss

o ne . is easy because course only The tice also,

- o r - and the half volley, any over pitched balls, are not so puzzling, because they may be met forward, n and the two parts of the flight reduced to o e.

S o f in uch is the philosophy forward play, ’ ffi tended to obviate the batsman s chief di culty, 1 40 THE CRICKET FIELD .

o r o which is, with the second part, , the reb und of the ball. The following are good rules 1 v . Meet e ery ball at the pitch by forward play which you can conveniently cover.

r o u Whatever ball you can pla forward , can — y y a fel v e n play s y as by o e single movement . But in playing the same ball back, you give yourself — t wo things to think of instead of o ne stopping a nd keeping down a bailer ; and, stopping

s . f hooter Every ball is the more di ficult to play . back in exact proportion to the ease with which it t migh be played forward. The player has a s o f horter sight, and less time to see the nature

a fl b rdin the rise ; so the ball crowds upon him, g neither time nor space for effective play. Never play back but o f necessity ; meet every ball for ward which you can conveniently cover—I say convenientl o f y , because, if the pitch the ball cannot be reached without danger o f losing your

a o r bal nce, misplacing your bat, drawing your

f o t o f oot u your ground, that ball should be con

s ider ed o u t o f . reach, and be played back This r ule many fine players, in their eagerness to score,

a re apt to violate ; so, if the ball rises abruptly,

they are bowled o r caught . There is also danger

- o f o f v . playing wide the ball, if you o er reach

2 d . . Some say, When in oubt play back Cer t ainly all balls may be played back ; but many it

14 2 THE CRICKET FIELD . will safely meet forward every ball which pitches within that distance from the crease . There are two ways o f holding a bat in playing

‘ forward . The position of the hands , as of Pilch,

a t u in the frontispiece, standing g ard, will not

o f admit a long reach forward . But by shifting

t he i the left hand behind bat, the act on is free, and the reach unimpeded . Every learner must practise this shifting o f the left hand in forward play . The hand will soon

- come round naturally . Also , learn to reach for 1 ward with composure and no loss o f balance . w M it Play for ard evenly and gracefully, with er in an elastic movement . Practice will greatly

t o u crease your reach . Take care y do not lose

o f do sight the ball , as many ; and, e t o u ball its lf, not merely at the spo where y

expect it to pitch . Much depends o n commencing

e e r at the proper mom nt, and not b ing in a hu ry . R CAU TION IN FO WARD PLAY . 143

r Especially avoid any catch o flourish . Come forward, foot and bat together, most evenly and most quietly . Forward play may be practised almost as well in a room as in a cricket -field : better still with a f d ball in the path o a fiel . To force a ball back to the bowler o r long- field by hard forward play is commonly called Driving ; and drIVIng you may bOwler practise without any , and greatly improve " o f ln in balance and correctness form, and thus

Of crease the extent your reach, and habituate the eye to a correct discernment o f the point a t which forward play ends and back play begins . By practice you will attain a power o f coming forward d with a spring, and playing hard or riving . All fine players drive nearly every ball they meet

o f forward, and this driving admits so many degrees o f strength that sometimes it amounts to “ ” “ quite a hard hit . I once , said Clarke, had thought there might be a school opened for

n for o u cricket in the winter mo ths ; , y may drill a

an - m to use a bat as well as a broad sword . With

- — driving, as with half play, be not too eager play forward surely and steadily at first, otherwise the o f point the bat will get in advance, or the hit be b i adly timed, and g ve a catch to the bowler. This is o ne error into which the finest forward players

—a have sometimes gradually fallen vicious habit, formed from a n overweening confidence and suc 1 44 THE CRICKET FIELD .

cess upon their o wn ground . Comparing notes re lately with an experienced player, we both membered a time when we thought we could make hard and free hits even o f those balls which good players play gently back to the bowler ; but eventually a succession o f short innings sent us

back to safe and sober play.

Sundry other hits are made, contrary to every

o ne rule, by players accustomed to ground or f o ne set o bowlers . Many an Etonian has found t h hat a game, w ich succeeded in the Shooting

fi a s elds , has proved an utter failure when all w ’ r new at Lord s o in a country match . Every player should practise occasionally with

fo r o ok 4 professional bowlers ; , they to the princi I ple of play, and point out radical errors even n

showy hits . Even Pilch will request a friend to stand by him in practice to detect any shifting o f

o r i r the foot other bad habit, into which exper ence ~ u i teaches that the best men nconsc ously fall. I would advise every good player to take o ne o r i n of e two such lessons at the beg nni g the s ason.

A man cannot see himself, and will hardly believe

bat s a -r that he is taking up his across wicket, w ing across at a draw, tottering over instead o f

off Or r steady, moving his ground at leg balls, vey often playing forward with a flourish instea d of l a nd h fu l on the ball, making often most c fldfih

1 46 TEE C RICKET FIELD . and readiness marks a habit of correct play ; and the question is, how to form such a habit. All the calmness or composure we admire in i proficient s results from a habit o f play ng each wa o ne length in one y, and in way only. To th a ttain this habit, measure your reach before e

s e crea e, as you begin to practis with a bowler

nd k the n ot a , ma e a mark visible to bowler, but o n such as will divert your w eye . let Having fixed such a mark, your bowler s e pitch , as nearly as he can, sometimes on this id

o n . of the mark, sometimes that After every s ? o ball, you have only to ask, Which ide and y u will have demonstrative proof whether your play

a s t . h been righ or wrong Constant practice, with attention to the pitch, will habituate your

o n e ye t lengths, and enable you to decide i a moment how to play .

For my own part, I have rarely practised for y ears without this mark . It enables me to as r certain, by eferring to the bowler, where any w ball has pitched. To kno at a glance the exact

Of length a ball, however necessary, is not quite a s easy to the batsman as to the bowler ; and, h i o u wit out pract sing with a mark, y may remain a long time in error . ’ After a few days practice, you will become a s Of o f pertain the length each ball, and of your t a a r a i , s sa w the bility to e ch if you actually , T A HABIT O FORM.

a k m r , for you will carry the measurement in ’ ” your mind s eye. So far well : you have gained a perception of lengths and distance ; the next thing is, to apply

t . I his knowledge Therefore, bear n mind you ha ve

a HA B IT TO M . O FOR N doubt, many will laugh at this philosophy. Pilch does not know t he o f theory moral habits, I dare say ; but he knows well enough that wild practice spoils play ; and if to educated men I please to say that, wild play involves the formation o f a set o f bad habits to hang about you, and continually interfere with ? good intentions, where is the absurdity Ho w s hould you like to be doomed to play with some m w a ischievous fello , alw ys tickling your elbow, and o u w d makingy spasmodically play for ar , when ‘l ou ht t o o r you g play back, or, hit round cut, when you ought to play straight ? Precisely such a mischievous sprite is a bad habit . Till you have got rid o f him,he is always liable to come across y o u and tickle you o u t Of your innings : all your r esolution is no good . Habit is a much stronger principle than resolution . Accustom the hand to d obey sound ju gment, otherwise it will follo w its ld h ne o abit instead of your w principles . a l To borrow an admirable illustr tion from P ato, which Socrates’ pupil remarked was rather apt a t s th n elegant, While habi keep up itching, ’ ” ma n can t help scratching. A nd What . is most L 2 H R 148 T E C ICKET FIELD.

t o f ‘ n remarkable in bad habi s play is, that, lo g r afte a man thinks he has overcome them, by

a t e ld some ch nce association, h o trick appears ! fo r ! again, and a man feels (oh fine —a moralist ) ne la w in his mind a nd a no ther la w o r o rather, he n him let us say, feels a certain latent spri g in e nd a l t h har ver liable to be touched, a disturb l e of i mony his cricket ng economy.

Having, therefore, a habit to form, take the greatest pains that yo u methodically play forward - d - to the over pitche , and back to the under pitched , m balls . My custo was, the moment the ball “ o pitched, to say audibly to myself forward, r ” back . By degrees I was able to calculate the length sooner and sooner before the pitch, having, o f he m course, t more ti e to prepare ; till, at last, ’ n o wa s o ut of sooner the ball the bowler s hand, than ball and bat were visibly preparing for each ’ ’ o . ther s reception After some weeks practice, f orward and back play became so easy, that I cease to think about it : the very sight of the ball naturally suggesting t he appropriate move o f ment ; in other words, I had formed a habit correct play in this particular. ” S ua e ma m ma no v g , says Lucretius ; that is,

u t o o f it is delightf l, from the van age gr und

o h n o f science, t see ot ers flounderi g in a sea error, and to feel a happy sense of comparative security ; was it no little pleasure to see the many

1 50 THE CRICKET FIELD .

of h a nd e perception critical lengt s, giv i uncontrollable habit of dangerous hitt n . — g THE SHOOTER This is t he surest and mos t

destructive ball that is bowled . Stopping shooters

on i o n o f n depends correct pos tion, a habit playi g;

” n o t t a d at the ball and losing it af er the pitch, n

o f n o n a quick discernment le gths . The great thing is decision ; to doubt is to lose

a nd I . time, to lose time s to lose your wicket And this decision requires a correct habit of S e is forward and back play . But ince prev ntion

u e v better than c re, by meeting at the pitch ery

” o u h ball within your reach, directly diminis the y t o f bu t o f must number, not only shooters, fi the

d o f s h h angerous all shooters, because of tho e w ic

a ff . n ord the shortest time to play But, supposi g

ou a n “ a y cannot cover the ball at the pitch, d

s hooter it must be, then w The first thing is, to have the bat a l ays

. 1 . 1 1 5 ; pointed back to the wicket, as infig page g a al t hus yo u will drop down on the ball, and h ve l

/ the time a nd space the case admits of. If the ba t o t is not previously thrown back, when the ball sh o s - o ne ut t h the player has two operations, the , to p e : te d bat back ; and the other, to ground it ins a of

“ s a an ma o ne simple drop down alone . I never w y n ’ h h do this better t an Wenman, when playing t e ’ ’ » North and So u th ma t ch a t Lord s in Reds .

“ hi ba lls gate wa s in his prime, and almost all s 15 THE BAIL BALL . 5

i h o were shoot ng down the ill ; and , from the go d time and precision with which Wenman droppe d

a ll down upon some dozen shooters, with the—pace and spin for which Redgate wa s famous the ground being hardened into brick by the sun —I have ever considered Wenman equal to any bats f man o his day . a The second thing is, to prepare for back pl y with the first possible intimation that the b all will require it . A good player descries the enemy, and drops back as soon as the ball is o u t of the ’ bowler s hand—. — The third a golden rule for batsmen is expect a good length to shoot, and you will have

i : time, if it r ses but if you expect it to rise, you

it S are too late if hoots .

THE . BAIL BALL First, the attitude is that

o . 1 a f fig . The b t t hrown back to the bails is indispensable fo r quickness : if yo u play a bailer n t too late, short slip is placed o purpose to ca ch you o ut ; therefore watch the ball from the ’ o n in bowler s hand, and drop back your wicket in good time . Also, take the greatest pains tracing the ball every inch from the hand to the ” ba t . or k i Look hard for the twist, a brea w ll

f . To o n l be atal keep the eye steadily the bal ,

fo r and not lose it at the pitch , is a hint even experienced players : so make this the subject of

attentive practice. 1 5 2 THE CRICKET FIELD .

The most difficult o f all bailers are those which , ought not to be allowed to come in as bailers

at all, those which should be met at the pitch .

- Such over pitched balls give neither time nor ,

c t a . spa e, if you a tempt to play them b ck f t Every length ball is di ficult to play back, jus in proportion to the ease with which it could be A covered forward . certain space, from nine to d twelve feet, before the crease is, to a practise

ter m r ma batsman, so much fi , whereon pitching every ball is a safe stop or score . Practise with

k ter m the chalk mark, and learn to ma e this

r ma fi as wide as possible . D W I The RA is so called , suppos e, because;

n . whe perfectly made, there is no draw at all

. 2 i Look at fig . The bat s not drawn across the wicket, but hangs perpendicularly from the wrists though the wrists of a good player are never l few idle , but bring the bat to meet the ba l a b inches, and the hit is the natural angle formed y ” rke the opposingforces . Say also, suggests Cla i

t e . hé that the ball meeting the bat, held easy in o wn c th hand, will turn it a little of its for e, and e ol l wrists f eel when to help it . This d ru e hardly,

i f l K is cons sts with the principle o meeting the bal “ . The Draw is the spontaneous result of s traight o for o u play about the t w leg stumps if y begin, of ue as in fig . with point bat thrown back tr r n ba t to middle stump, you cannot b i g the

T F i E THE CRICKE LD .

l bal , and, as the line of the ball must make a very a i t o f cute angle, you w ll have the benefi a hit A without lessening your defence . Draw is very dangerous with a ball that would hit the leg ” stump, some say ; but only when attempted ho w the wrong way for, can a full bat increase your danger ?

This mode of play will also lead to, what is

u o f most val able but most rare, a correct habit passing every ball the least to the Near side o f middle stump clear away to the On side . This c blo king between legs and wickets, first, obviates o ff dl the ball going legs into wicket ; secon y , it ’ kee ps many awkward balls o u t of Slip s hands ; a nd o ff h , thirdly, it makes single runs t e best balls .

no w-a - i a Too little, days, is done w th the Dr w ; ” t oo e much is attempted by the blind swip , to f the loss o many wickets . Every man in a first -rate match who loses his w icket, while swiping round, ought to pay a forfeit to the Reward Fund . The only balls for the Draw are those which h m threaten the wicket. To s u e backwards half

o n a yard , scraping the bat the ground, or to let the ball pass one side the body with a blind swing on t o the other, are hits which mention is to reprove .

Our good friend, Mr. ! Abraham Bass, 1 55 OFF PLAY.

"what cricketer in the Midland Counties defers not to his judgment - thinks that the Draw cannot

o f be made quite so much as we say, except by a

- - t left handed man . The short pi ched balls which to some draw, he thinks, are best played back

o f a rm middle On, by a turn the left to the

On side . —a Here Mr. Bass mentions a very good hit

— o ne i : good variety and , too, l ttle practised his bit ' and the Draw are each good in their res pec m h im tive places . To discri inate every s ade is I possible . Mr. Taylor had most hits ever saw,

Ca ldeco u rt said , and was a better player even ’ s than Lord Frederick ; though Mr . Taylor s hit were no t all legitima te so much the better ; new ‘ o f o ld combinations hits .

- old i hit . As to the fash oned under leg, Mr lVI nn 1 8 3 6 ff y , at Leicester, in , gave great e ect to o ne variety o f it ; a hit which Pilch makes

m . useful, though hard to ake elegant Some say,

Ca ld eco u rt with , such balls ought always to be drawn : but is it not a useful variety E DRAW C R GLANCE FROM C E STUMP. W u Off hat is tr e of the Leg stump is true of the , i care be ng take n o f catch to Slips . Every ball

Off o f played from two stumps , by free play wrist a nd left shoulder well over, should go away a mong the Slips “ Play hard on the ball ; the 1 6 5 THE CRICKET FIELD . ball must never hit a dead bat ; and: every so ff a o t . c lled block, from stumps, mus be a hit

Commence, as always, from fig . stand close up to your wicket ; weight o n pivot-foot ; balance foot ready to come over as required . This is the only position from which you can command the ff o stump .

Bear with me, my friends, in dwelling so much

o n ff- this O play . Many fine cutters could never in their lives command off stump with a full and

u s o f pright bat . Whence come the many mis es o ff- hits Observe, and you will see, it is because

t he o r t bat is slanting, it mus sweep the whole h space through which t e ball could rise . l r By standing close up, and playing wel ove

your wicket with straight bat, and throwing, by

m o f eans left leg, the body forwards over a ball

to off- m ma k effec rising the stu p , you y ma e an tive hit from an off-bailer without lessening your

f r l defence ; o ho w can hard blocking, with a ful ? 1 s bat, be dangerous All that is required ,

straight play and a free wrist, though certainly

a tall man has here a great advantage . — e A FREE WRIST . Without wrist play ther e can be no good style o f batting . Do not b

puzzled about throwing your body into your hit . w — - Absurd, - except ith straight hits half volley,

- a fo r “ , instance Suspend a ball oscillating ” by t string from a beam , keep your right foo fixed,

‘ I E E 158 THE CR CK T FI LD .

r. i t weathe When proficient, you w ll find tha

- hit s you have only to at the ball, and the balance foot will naturally cross over and adjust itself. i I In practis ng with a bowler, have often fixed

n o ff- a fourth stump, about six i ches from stump ,

E x er and learnt to guard it with upright bat . p to cr ede t , you may learn to sweep wi h almost an i ff upr ght bat balls as much as two feet to the O .

But this is a hit for balls requiring back play, but O -HIT - ff- C V ER is the hit for over pitched o balls .

o ff- Come forward hard to meet an ball ; and then, as your bat moves in one line , and the ball meets - B it in another, the resultant will be Cover hit . y no means turn the bat : a full face is not only safe but effective . With all o ff-hits beware o f the bias o f the ba ll

o ff — to the , and play well over the ball very dif

ficu lt for young players . Never think about what

fi- o hits you can make , unless you keep the ball safely down .

- - The fine square leg hit is similar to cover hit,

- though on the other side . To make cover hit clean , and not waste power against the ground,

ou y must take full advantage of your height, and t he w o n hi play bat well do n the ball from your p, i n t o n i t mi g nicely, eye s ill the ball, and nclining

3 n ither the bat e too little nor too much . HE CUT I l T FORWARD , a name by which w ou d FORWARD CUT 1 59

di t a ff- s a s inguish nother o hit, i hit made by l Butler, Guy, Dakin, Parr, and indeed especial y by the Nottingham men, who , Clarke thinks, hit ” a ll round them better than men of any other fi county (see fig . The gures being fore u n shortened as seen by the bowler, the artist willingly sacrifices effect to show the correct

1 of pos tion the feet . This hit may be made from

l t oo and t oo lo ar cu ba ls wide w for the backw d t . 1 60 THE L CRICKET FIE D .

‘ s the f wm. i Cros the left leg over, watch ball t s

ff- f a nd. o u o rom b lls lo pitch, y may make hits a w

o r n ou cut balls high (unless very high, and the y have time to drop the bat) with more commanding

power than in any other position . Some good o f f players do not like this crossing left oot, f 3 preferring the cutting attitude o fig . bu t I e know from xperience and observation, that there is not a finer or more u seful hit in the field ; for Off , if a ball is some two feet to the , it m - - d atters not whether over pitched or short pitche ,

w . the same position , rather for ard, equally applies The Forward Cut sends the ball between Point

a nfl - o f a n Middle wicket, an Open part the field, d

-field : even to Long sometimes no little advantage . f o . You Also, it admits much greater quickness

o u may thus intercept forward, what y would be too late to cut back .

~ ’ m in To learn it, fix a fourth stu p the ground, o ne foot o r more wide to the Off practise care n i h f fully keepi g r g t oot fixed, and crossing left over, and preserve the cutting attitude ; and this

c i most brilliant hit is easily a qu red . Off d o When you play a ball , not lose your balance and stumble awkwardly o ne foot over the e f other, but end in good form, w ll on your eet. i I Even good players commit th s fault ; also, n ‘ la in ba ck m ou

p y g v so e players look as if they w ld tumble over their wicket .

1 62 THE CRICKET FIELD .

far c not and that with greater ertainty, though m o f with so brilliant an effect . Pilch and any the steadiest and best players never make the F ” genuine cut . Mr. elix, says Clarke, cuts e splendidly but, in order to do so, he cuts b fore ”

t wo ou t . he sees the ball, and thus misses of three Neither do I believe that any man will reconcile the habitual straight play and command o f Off stump, which distinguishes Pilch, with a cutting game . Each virtue , even in Cricket, has its ex cess i fine L eg-hitters are apt to e ndanger the ” THE CU T . 16 3

~ le s t u m Off. Fo r t he g p § fine Cutters , the , Cutter é t o i i must begin take up his altered pos t on so soon, that the idea must be running in his head almost

t he r while the ball is being delivered ; then, fi st impulse brings the bat at once o u t o f all defensive

a nd straight play . Right shoulder involuntarily

o f starts back ; and, if at the wrong kind ball, the wicket is exposed, and all defence at an end . B u t with long- hops there is time enough to cut ; t he diffiCuft i : y is w th good balls and, to cut them, i no t . F i . 5 . by guess but , by s ght g represents a i cut at a ball nearer the wicket, the r ght foot being drawn back to gain space . f n SO much for the abuse o C utti g . If the ball

no t does rise, there can be no Cut, however loose

i t he Off- the bowl ng ; though , with other hits, two o r three might be scored . The most Winning game is—that which plays the greatest number o f balls a n a r t in which no man can surpass

fir - Baldwins on of Yorkshire . Still a s t rate player s hould have a command o f every hit : a bowler f may be pitching uni ormly short, and the balls

i : I h may be ris ng regularly n t is case, every one l the w wou d like to see a good Cutter at icket.

a To learn the Cut, suspend a ball from string w and a beam , oscillating backwards and for ards

- l a s ex place yourse f at a wicket, and periment

Yo u alise . will find 1 In n . You have no power Cutti g, unless you M 2 1 64 I THE CR CKET FIELD .

Cut late Off the bails : then only can you use the point o f your bat .

2 . Y o u n h o u have no power, unless y turn o t e

Of t basis your fee , and front the ball, your back n bei g almost turned upon the bowler, at the moment o f cutting. 3 s ~ . Your muscle have very little power in Cut

r ting quite horiz ontally, but very g eat power in

Cutting down on the ball.

1 6 6 THE CRICKET FIELD .

’ - n e . . x ha d , pr cisely Mr Bradshaw s hit E cuse ” ‘ ’ s i lvl r . F Out me , my Lord , a d elix , that s not a , ”

a t . a t o r but only a p The said p , wrist play, I

i o f n bel eve to be the only kind cutti g by sight, for

- good length balls .

To encourage elegant play, and every variety

o f bit o f o ut , we say practise each kind , both ’ ’ i i f-hi F a t . F o f t Lord reder ck s p and Mr el x s , and

t he m Nottingha forward cut, with left leg over ;

o f but beware using either in the wrong place .

o f n o ff A man one hit is easily ma aged . A good

lIitt er l n should send the bal accordi g to its pitch,

o ne t . not to poin only, but to three or four Old

nnex u Fe , used to stand by Sa nders and , say no hitting could be finer n o hitter such a fool

o ut — ma n see, sir, they have found his hit put a — to stop his runs still, cutting, nothing but cutting ’ ” - why doesn t t he ma n hit somewhere else ? S o

w Ja r VIs o f a nd o ne ith Nottingham, a fine player

o f Of wa s the best cutters his day, when a man

i i . placed for his cut, it greatly d m nished his score

F o r o ff- Off- balls we have given , play to the slips

— “ a — Cover hit the Nottingham bit more towards middle wicket and, the Cut bet ween slip and

r, point four varieties . Let each have its prope

old sa a s Fennex s place, till an player can y, aid o f B eldham , He hit quick as lightning all round

‘ H r d him . e a ppea e to have no hit in particular : 1 L E - ‘ 6 G HITTING. 1 7

you co uld never place a man against him : where it the ball was pitche—d there was hit away - L E G . HITTING Besides the draw, there are

- — i i o ne the two d stinct kinds of leg h ts forward,

~ . le hit is other back The forward g made, as in

fig . by advancing the left foot near the pitch o f n a the ball, and the hitting down upon the b ll

n o r with a free arm, the bat bei g more less hori 1 68 K THE CRIC ET FIELD .

z o nt al a . , according to the length of the b ll A ball so fa r pitched as to require little stride o f left

a : a ball leg, will be hit with ne rly a straight bat

o u as short as y can stride to, will require nearly a n horizontal bat . The ball you ca reach with

t o ff o n o f s raight bat, will go the principle the

c o ver~hit — the more square the better . But, n when a ball is only just withi reach, by using a

o u horizontal bat, y know where to find the ball

just before it has risen ; for, your bat covers the

space about the pitch . If you reach far enough , even a shooter may be picked up ; and if a few

o f i inches short the p tch, you may have all the

- joyous spring o f a half volley . The better pitched bit the bowling, the easier is the , if the ball be i . u only a l ttle to the leg In sing a horizontal bat, if you cannot reach nearer than about a foot from

the pitch , sweep your bat through the line in i u . wh ch the ball sho ld rise . Look at fig 7 .

. or p 1 73 . The bat should coincide with sweep ’ i a fair bat s length of that dotted line . But f t he point of the bat cannot reach to within a foot

o f i . the p tch, that ball must be played back THE SHORT - PITCHED L E C BALL needs no n comment, save that, accordi g —as it is more or 1 . 2 . less to the wicket, you may, Draw it ;

a hit Pl y it by a new , to be explained, a Draw or 3 glance outside your leg ; . You ma y step back t o o n your wicket gain space, and play it away to

1 0 E 7 TH C RICKET FIELD. o t nce you move your pivo foot, you lose that

- - self command essential for leg hits . So, practise, in o r your garden your room, the stride and swing o f the bat, till you have learnt to preserve your

balance . One of the best leg-hitters is Dakin : and his rule is : keep your right foot fir m o n your ground ;

advance the left straight to the pitch, and as far

o u as y can reach, and hit as straight at the pitch a s you can, just as if you were hitting to long

: o f field as the lines bat and ball form an angle, f the ball will fly away square o itself. M d y belief is, the Wykehamists intro uced the

o f - art hitting leg balls at the pitch . When, in 1 8 33 , at Oxford, Messrs . F . B . Wright and Payne scored above sixty each o ff Lillywhite and Broad it bridge, was remarked by the players, they had

- never seen their leg hit before . Clarke says he showed how to make forward leg-hits at Notting bit ham . For, the Nottingham men used to after

- b a nd of leg alls, miss them, till he found the way

intercepting them at the rise, and hitting square . And this will be a fair occasion for qualifying certain remarks which would appear to form what is aptly called a toe -in- the - hole play When I spoke so strongly about using the

” t e righ foot as a pivot, and the left as a balanc

i i o n foot, ins st ng, also , not moving the right foot, m no t roficient s but t o I addressed yself to p , STEPPING IN.

is fo r learners . Such the right position almost a ll o n o f the hits the ball, and this fixing the foot is t he Only way to keep a learner in his proper form . — Experienced players I mean those who have passed through the University Clubs , and aspire ’ t o G E o f be ch—osen in the entlemen s leven All England must be able to move each foot on

w . its proper occasion , especially with slo bowling

l o n C arke says, If I see a man set fast his legs, ’ ” I know he can t play my bowling . The reason is h i , as we s all expla n presently, that the accurate

( hitting necessary fo r slo w bowling requires no t

Of long reaching, but a short, quick action the

o n arms and wrists , and activity the legs, to shift h i n the body to suit t is h tting in arrow compass . A practised player should also be able to go in t o - i ff over p tched balls, to give e ect to his forward

o u t play. To be stumped looks ill indeed ; still, a firs t - rate player should have confidence a nd

u coolness eno gh to bide his time, and then go i boldly and stead ly in and hit away . If you do

in o u go , take care y go far enough, and as far as the i p tch ; and, only go in to straight balls, for to those

o u o alone can y carry a full bat . And, never g in to make a free swing o f the bat o r tremendous swipe . Go in with a straight bat, not so much

hit o r o r to , as to drive block the ball hard away, , “ ” o w . as Clarke says , t run the ball do n Step 2 TH E I 1 7 CRICKET F ELD . ping in only succeeds with cool and judicious

o f t n hitters , who have some power execu io . All young players must be warned that, for any but a most practised player to leave his ground, is deci dedly a losing game . Supposing the batsman knows ho w to move his

i t -hO the right foot back read ly, hen, a long p to leg admits of various modes of play, which I feel

f r bound to mention, though not to recommend o , a fir s t -rate player should at least know every hit : whether he will introduce it much o r little into his game is a nother question . A leg-ball that can be played by sight is some i h times played by rais ng the left leg. T is is quite a hit o ld h o f Fennex of the sc ool, Sparkes and , ’ F ennex s for instance . pupil, Fuller Pilch, com

nl first - — mo makes t his hit . Some rate judges Cal y — decou rt among others maintain it should never t he w e be made, but Dra always us d instead .

it u f Mr . Taylor found a seful variety ; for, be ore him he used it, Wenman used to stump from balls i inside leg stump . For some lengths t has cer t a inly the advantage of placing t he ball in a more open part of t he field . Another way to play such b a lls is to step back t h i h n t the r ght foot, and t us gai time and leng h o f ho a n d t he a w i i p, play, b ll a ay, w th short act on o f t he i t h arm and wr st , abou middle On . T is also is o ne hi a t . good, as m king more in your game

1 4 7 ; THE CRICKET FIELD . makes it with all the ease and elegance o f the

w o f I o ne . Dra , which consider it variety Clarke

o f says, that with a ball scarcely wide your leg,

: I he thinks it a good hit have, therefore, given a f drawing o it in the last page . When done cor r ectl y, and in its proper place, it is made by an o f easy and elegant movement the wrists, and lo oks as pretty as the Draw ; but this kind o f forward play, which takes an awkward ball at its

o n Ou - rise and places it the side, however useful to Sampson o f Sheffield and the—very few who introduce it in its proper place, this is a hit

’ na s czt ur no n t a s which fi , must come naturally, a

o f w . variety for ard play To study it, makes a

o f poking game, and spoils the play hundreds . So,

ho w o u beware y practise the poke . The best way to score from short-pitched leg ” “ balls, writes a very good hitter, is to make a t sort of sweep with the lef foot, almost balancing o f yourself by the toe the said left foot, and rest

—a t ing chiefly on the right foot, the same time drawing yourself upright and retiring towards the

. o n e In wicket This of course is all movement . this position you make the heel of y our right t he

o n h , pivot whic you turn and move your . left (but in s o a greater circle), that both pres erve the same t parallel as at starting, and come round ogether

‘ ’ and thi s I regard a s t he g reat secret o f a batsman s i h movement in this h t . T is gives you the power - D L E - A SHORT PITCHE G B LL S.

of simply playing the ball down, if it rises much, and likewise of hitting hard if it keep within a foot o f the ground . Both Sampson and Parr score very l much in this sty e .

However, with fast bowling, there are almost a s many mistakes as runs made by hitting at

- - these short pitched leg balls . Pilch, in his later m days, would hardly eddle with them . - r l Lastly, as to leg balls, emember that a most

o ne ca n any learn to hit clean up (square, espe

i l . c al y) ; the art is to play them down Also, leg I ff hitting alone s very easy ; but, to be a good O

player, and an upright and straight player, and

. w yet hit to leg freely, is very rare We kno a fine leg-hitter who lost his leg- hit entirely when

- ff he learnt to play better to the o . 1 6 7 THE CRICKET FIELD .

HA III. C P . V

HINTS AGAINST SLOW B OWLING .

WHILE o u r ideas on Slow Bowling were yet in

o f t a state solu ion, they were , all at once, pre cipit a t ed and c rystallised into natural order by the following remarks from a valued co rr espon dent I have said that Pilch was u nequalled with timin the bat, and his great excellence is in g the 0 o ne i ball . N ever mastered Lillywhite l ke w Pilch ; because, in his for ard play, he was not ’ very easily deceived by that wary individual s repeated change of pace . He plays forward with i his eye on , not only the p tch, but on the ball

a itself, being f ster or slower in his advance by a calm calculation o f time a point too little con s idered by some even of the best batsmen o f the

0 hi i day . N man ts much harder than P lch ; and, h be it observed, ard hitting is doubly hard, in all i i n fa r compar so , when combined with that steady posture which does not sacrifice the defence o f

- the wicket for some one favourite cut o r leg hit. m Co pare Pilch with good general hitters, who, at

1 7 8 THE CRICKET FIELD .

i d not get used to being sk nne , nor do the genera tions of men get tired o f doing the same foolish ff ’ ’ . t r o r iet ers onci no t thing Each mus su er p p p , and

b . o f y proxy So, the gradual development the human mind against Clarke ’ s bowling is for the

t : o f most par this first, a state confidence in

o f i hitting every ball ; secondly, a state d sgust and contempt at what seems only too easy fo r a scientific player to practise ; and, lastly, a slowly increasing conviction that the batsman must have w t t o as much head as the bowler, ith pa ience play an unusual number o f good lengths . i ff Slow bowl ng is most e ective . when there is

- er u z u a fast bowler at the other end . It is v yj p z ling to alter your time in forward play from : fast to slow , and slow to fast, every Over so,

Clarke and VVis den work well together. A shooter from a slow bowler is sometimes found even more difficult t han one from a fast bowler

and this for two reasons first, because the bats man is made u p for slow time and less prepared l for fast ; and, secondly, because a good slow bal

1 u s pitched further up, and, therefore, tho gh the t h fast ball shoots quicker, the slo w ball has e

shorter distance to shoot into the wicket . Compare the several styles of bowling in the

. n o u following diagram A good le gth ball, y see, pitches n earer t o the bat in proportion t o the

it s e. s en no r slowness of pac Wi d is not so fast, S » SLOW BOWLING COMPARED WITH FA T . 9

S w B l b C r k e 8 lo a l alls la .

—W ’ F as t B ai l b alls i sd en s

’ M edi u m ce I uJJ t t e s p a y ,

’ Slow Sh oot er s Clark e s

’ M e d i u m ce Sh t e r L i ll w ha t e s p a oo s y .

F ast Sh oot e r s WI s d en 8

e Clarke as slow, practically, as they respectiv ly T ’ “ is den s t i is appear . With straigh l nes, it far easier t o calculate Where the ball will pitch , than with the curved lines and droppl ng balls o f ’ ha s Clarke ; and when Wisden s ball pitched, though its pace is quicker, the distance it has to I ff is come is so much longer, that Clarke, n e ect,

t . no so much slower, as he may appear Lilly white and Hillyer are Of a medium kind ; having N 2 1 80 THE CRICKET FIELD.

’ VVisden s a nd partly the quickness of pace, partly ’ the advantage of Clarke s curved lines a nd near pitch . From this diagram it appears that the n slower the bowli g the nearer it may be pitched, and the less the space the bat can cover ; also, the f more di ficult is the ball to judge for, the curved line of a dropping ball is very deceiving to the eye . ’ In speaking of Clarke s bowling, men commonly s if imply that the slownes is its only d ficulty . Now a ball cannot be more difficult for hand o r eye because it moves slowly . No ; the slower t he easier ; but the difficulty arises from the fol lowing qualities, wholly distinct from the pace, though certainly it is the slowness that renders those qualities possible ’ 1 st . Clarke s lengths are more accurate .

2 dl . y He can vary his pace unobserved, with out varying his action or delivery . f l . o 3d y More his balls would hit the wicket . S w : 4 t hly . A lo ball must be played it will not play itself.

a 5 thly. Clarke can more readily take advant ge ’ t Of each man s weak poin hl i w . 6t y . Slo bowl ng admits of more bias Th n fi hl . e 7 t y le gth is more dif cult to judge,

owing to the curved lines .

- 8thly. It requires the greatest accuracy in

~ in p Yo u mu st s hitt g play at the ball with hort,

1 82 THE CRICKET FIELD .

ba t n o u t i t u a full ; and, only whe y can s ep r gh p o f it to the pitch the ball, otherwise, by a twist will escape yo u ; and slow balls turn more than fast in l 2 nd . a given space . y You can only go in to such lengths as yo u can easily and steadily command :

o r a very long step , any unusual hurry, will hardly be safe with only the said two inches o f

wood to spare .

o w n is w t N the questio , ith what lengths, agains ’ s such bowling as Clarke s, can you tep in steadily

s a s and afely, both as far the pitch, and with

o f a nd ? ou full command hand eye Remember, y cannot begin your step till you have judged the i f length ; and th s, with the curved line o a slow

d o u a t i ropping ball, y c nno judge t ll within a little

o f i fo r ecISl o n its grounding ; so, the critical t me d I a and action s very brief, and, in that brief sp ce,

how far can you step secure o f all optical illusions, a for, Cl rke can deceive you by varying both the

f — o pace and the curve o his ball ? G and try .

o u Again, when y have stepped in, where will you hit ? o f s tra i ht a On the ground, course, and g

? o u And where are the men placed Besides, are y aware o f the difficulty o f interchanging the steady

i o game with r ght fo t in your ground, with that springy and spasmodic impulse which characterises t “ ? ” ’ 1 84 9 his going in At a match at Lord s in , I saw Brockwell score some forty r uns with many

s o ff : S e o ut hit Clarke he aid to me, when he cam , S P S L S 83 TE PING IN TO LOW BA L . 1

C fo r Clarke annot bowl his best to me ; , some in times, I go to the pitch of the ball, when pitched w ell up, and hit her away ; at other times, I make

i SO a fe nt, and then stand back, and Clarke gets ” Off H “ if . e the u t his bowling added, d fic l y is to keep your temper and no t to go in with a wrong ” diffi ult — . e c a ball This, I believ , is indeed a y, ffi much greater di culty than is commonly imagined . My advice t o all players who have not made a s tu dv o f the o f no t art going in, and have fully

S o n a ucceeded practising d ys, is, by no means to

m O a a s attempt it in a atch . It is not S e sy it

Yo u o r . w appears will find Clarke, any good slo —“ t o o o u . bowler, much for y But, supposing I s o ut o f e hould stand my ground, or start befor ’ ” o ut ? the ball is of the bowler s hand Why, with a n i unpractised bowler, espec ally if in the con

d o f i strained attitu e the overhand del very, this man oeuvre has succeeded in producing threes and fours in rapid succession . But Clarke would

o r in n s pitch Over your head, send a quick u der ha o u nd ball a little wide, and y would be stumped ; ‘ and Wisden wo uld pro ba bly send a fast toss about t he o f d height your shoulder, and, being prepare i to play perfectly stra ght at the pitch , you would hardly raise your bat in time to keep a swift tos s ’ u t o f - o the wicket keeper s hands . The difficulty o f curvilinea r bowling is this i

1 s t . n fields m n s As in maki g a catch, every a find N 4 1 84 THE CRICKET FIELD .

has u 1 11 that , in proportion as the ball been hit p t he it ffi air, is di cult to judge where to place

: la w o f b himself by the same sight, a fast all

- it s is that goes almost point blank to pitch, far easier to judge than a slow ball that descends in a curve . 2 n l t h d y . As e slow ball reaches the ground at a i greater angle, it must rise h gher in a given

if u space ; so, the batsman misj dges the pitch of a slow ball by a foot, he will misjudge the rise to a

. t i i greater extent than wi h a fast ball, wh ch r ses less abruptly . Hence, playing forward is less easy w i with slo , than w th fast, bowling .

3 dl A S i in y . to t m g the ball, all the eye can d i t iscern in a body mov ng direc ly towards it, is the angle with the ground : to see the curve o f i a dropping ball you must have a s de view . The m a n at Point can see the curve clearly ; but no t so n ff t o f the batsman . Conseque tly, the e ec the

o u t t he u n curve is left in calc latio , and the exact ’ i o f a a t me the ball s ppro ch is, to that extent,

i o ne f o f m s taken . Every knows the di ficulty i - - hit o ff mak ng a good half volley a slow ball, because the timing is so difficult : grea t speed without a curve is less puzzling to the eye than a i h l e w. curvi near movement , owev r slo It were n Odd, indeed , if it were harder to hit a slow tha a

It a diffi fast ball. No . is the curve that m kes c ult what of its pace alone would be easy . All

86 TH 1 E CRICKET FIELD .

u : its co rse a straight line so, most men like very f ast bowling, because, if the hand is quick enough ,

the judgment is not easily deceived, for the ball i moves nearly in straight lines . But, in cutt ng o r w o f i in crossing a slo ball, the height the r se varies enough to produce a mistake while the bat

“ n is descending o the ball . a e Once more, in playing at a ball ft r its rise, a s afe and forcible hit ca n only be made in two

ways . You must either meet the ball with full

ha t out . and straight , or horizontally across it

o w N , as slow balls generally rise too high for a

o u u hard hit with perpendicular bat, y are red ced generally to the difficulties o f cutting o r back h play . Add to all this, t at the bias from the hand and from t he inequalities Of the ground is much r n greater, and also that a catch , esulti g from a feeble

o f o f the hit and the ball spinning the edge bat, remains commonly so long in the air that every fieldsm an can cover double his usual quantity

o f a nd c ground, then we shall ease to wonder that the b est players cannot score fast Off slow

bowling. H I! C AP. .

B WL N ‘ —A N H UR W H L CLARKE O I G . O IT O D .

IN cricket wisdom Clarke is truly Old what r n he has lea nt from a ybody, he learnt from Lam

e . B ut .b rt he is a man who thinks for himself, nd a knows men and manners, and has many wily ’ ” “ e di é e a a x r de ICes s l n d m n . o u a r v , p I beg y p

d on o ne i in , sir, he day sa d to a gentleman tak g ’ ” o u ? guard, but ain t y Harrow Then we ’ ” h ma n s an t want a down there , he said, address ’ fields ma n w i ing a ; stand for the Harro dr ve, bet ween point and middle wicket The time to s ee Clarke is o n the morning o f a

match . While others are practising, he walks n f o f round with his hands u der the laps his coat, ’ reconnoitring his adversaries wicket .

o u ma n Before y bowl to a , it is worth some

thing to know what is running in his head . ” “ n o n That gentlema , he will say, is too fast his

me : feet, so , as good as ready money to if he doesn ’t hit he can’ t score if he does I shall have ” him directly .

he ma n Going a little further, sees a lobbing to 1 8 8 THE CRICKET FIELD .

I . another, who is practising stepping n There, ‘ ’ a sir, is practising to play Cl rke, that is very plain ; and a nice mess, you will see, he will make o f ! o u it . Ah my friend, if you do go in at all, y

in o r must go further than that, my twist will

o u I beat y ; and, going in to swipe round, eh

ru n I Learn to me down with a straight bat, and ’ will say something to you . But that wouldn t

u n score quite fast eno gh for your notio s . Going ” in to hit round is a tempting o f Providence .

t : There, hat man is purely stupid alter the

i r n pace and he ght with a d oppi g ball, and I shall h i is ave no trouble with him . They th nk, sir, it ’ nothing but Clarke s vexatious pace they know . i nothing about the curves . With fast bowl ng; y o u cannot have half my variety ; and ’ o ut have found the weak point, where bowler that can give the exact ball There is often no more head- work than there is in the catapult without ” I should be hit o u t o f the field . A man is n ever more taken aback he prepares for one ball, and I bowl hi

" t ra r : . m y one there was Mr Na eless, the first time

u o f ut he came to Nottingham, f ll fancies abo

s t r s playing me . The fir ball, he walked some ya d o u t s o to meet me, and I pitched over his head, ’ his t near wicket, that, thought I, that bird won u n fight again . Next ball, he was a little c nni g,

1 90 THE E CRICKET FI LD .

a h t e . mechanic l part, and intellectual part First,

o u t he o u y want hand to pitch where y please, and

then the head to know where to pitch , according t o the player . To A RT OF LEARN THE BOWLING . consult with some Lillywhite or Wisden o n o ne o f , and one only, plan holding ‘ f manageable pace, and general style o Consult and experiment till style that suits the play Of your muscles strength . If you choose a violent and

w l o f : style , you i l certainly become tired it but a

‘ 4 b ”5 " x A. p 7, l t . l I . h \\. style within your strength will be so e 3

o u . that y will be always practising Secondly, having definitely chosen one form and style o f m bowling, the next thing is to fix it and for it ’ : fo r on he la o f into a habit , t w Habit a bowler s accuracy entirely depends .

T0 form a steady habit of bowling, the nerves d o and muscles being a very elicate machinery, y u o ne must be careful to use them in way, and one way only ; for then they will come to serve yo u

: b , h truly and mechanic—ally ut even a few ours spent in loose play in bowling with fe w—st eps r new o f i o r many, o with a mode delivery w ll f i o r o Often establish con lict ng habits, call int

et o f w action a new s muscles, to interfere ith m the muscles o n which yo u ainly depend . Many h good players(including the mo st destructive of t e . HINTS ON BOWLING .

Gentleman’ s Eleven 1) have lost their bowling by these experiments : many more have been thrown back when near perfection . Therefore,

2 . Never bowl a single ball but in your chosen — and adopted form and style with the same steps, “ and with the ball held in the same way . If these seem small things, habit is not a small ” n o u thi g . Also, never go on when y are too tired i to command your muscles ; else, you w ll be twist

r o ut o f li ne ing you self form, and cal ng w and f in con lict g muscles into action . t As to Pace, if your strength and sta ure is little,

your pace cannot be fast . Be contented with

being rather a slow bowler. By commencing

slowly, if any pace is in you, it will not be lost ; o u but by commencing fast, y will spoil all . 3 L u i . et your carriage be pr ght though easy ;

and start composedly from a state of perfect rest.

Let your steps, especially the last, be short ; and ,

for firm foothold, and to avoid shaking yourself

i u o r cutt ng p the ground, learn to descend not o n . t he o n f o f heel but more the toe and lat the foot, and so as to have both feet in the line o f the

i . Fo r oppos te wicket , i 4 . A golden rule for stra ght bowling is to d present, at elivery, a full face to the opposite w i icket ; the shoulders being in the same l ne, or h parallel wit , the crease . That is the moment to — quit the ball a moment s ooner and you will E 1 92 TH CRICKET FIELD .

a nd bowl wide to the leg, a moment later you ff ’ will bowl wide to the O . Observe Wisden and i H llyer. They deliver just as their front is square

with the opposite wicket . They look well at

their mark, and bowl before they have far round for the line o f sight t o be

bo line of the wicket . Observe, also, bad you will see a u niformity In their deviat bowl regularly too much to the On ;

Off. i regularly to the Then, watch the r and you will recognise a corresponding error

their delivery . The wonder is that such men

Should ever bowl straight .

o a . Also, adopt a run of from five t seven y rds Let your r un be quite straight ; no t from side t o g

side, still less crossing your legs as you run . ” i d t“ 5 . Practise, says L llywhite, both si es a

. To Is i h the wicket be able to change sides, h g ly n it ten u seful whe the ground is worn, and Of ” proves p uzzling to the batsman

In t 6 . Hold the ball the fingers, not in he

a . s palm , and alw ys the same way If the tip cf

r o f W the finge s touch the seam the ball, it ill i assist in the sp n . The little finger guides the

ball in the delivery . o f I d 7 . The essence a good delivery s to sen

a o r o n o n i the ball forth rot ting, turning its w a x s. o u b r The more spin y give the ball, the ette the e u is delivery ; b ca se then the ball will twist, r e

1 9 TH E I 4 CRICKET F ELD .

. w h hand The lo er the and, the more the spin ,

and the quicker the rise . Unfair or throwing

h firs t - bowlers never ave a rate delivery . See ho w w o r l easy to play is a thro , a bal from a c atapult and simply because the ball has then no

spin ; Redgate Showed how bo wling may be most ’ ff 0 fair and most e ective . N man ever took Pilch s

wicket so Often . His delivery was e asy and

a he n tural ; had a thorough command of his arm,

a l and gave great spin to the b l . In Kent against

England, at Town Malling, he bowled the finest ’ s a Over on record . The fir t ball just gr zed Pilch s wicket ; t he second took his bails ; the third ba ll . l M nn t he t n level ed y , and four h Stearma ; three he o f the best bats o f t day .

i . I 1 0 . Pract se a little and Often f you over

fatig ue the muscles, you spoil their tone for a

time . Bowling , as we said of batting, must become a matter of habit ; and habits are formed

i . o f by frequent repet tion Let the bowlers Eton, w if Harro , and Winchester resolve to bowl, it be

o r . b ut a dozen balls, every day, wet fine Inter i mission is very prejud cial .

ffi . 1 1 . The di culty is to pitch far enough Com

h i o r mence , according to your strengt , e ghteen , n -t w n ineteen yards, and increase to twe ty o by

degrees . Most amateurs bowl long hops .

e : o f 1 2 . S ek accuracy more than speed a man fourteen stone is not to be imitated by a youth of S O N O HINT B WLING . 1 9 5

eight stone . Many batsmen like swift bowling, and why ? Because the length is easier to judge ; the lines are straighter for a cut ; the ball wants little accuracy o f hitting ; fast bowlers very rarely

’ . i t i p tch qui e as far even as they might, for th s requires much extra power ; fast balls twist less i in in a g ven space than slow balls, and rarely crease their speed a t the rise in the same propor tion as slow balls fast bo Wling gives fewer

a fields m a n t o f chances th t the can ake advantage , and admits generally o f less variety ; fewer fast h balls are pitched straig t, and fewer even of those

t he . would hit wicket You may find a Redgate ,

o r M nn a a Wisden, a y , who can bring f st bowl ing u nder command fo r o ne o r two seasons ; bu t these are exceptions too solitary to afford a pre f cedent . Even these men were naturally o a fast i : . SC pace swiftness was not their ch ef Object , study accurate bowling, and let speed come Of itself. SO much for attaining the power o f a bowler ; i d a . No t s tu next to pply it only pract se, but y

: bowling to pelt away mechanically, with the same

, b , lengths and same pa—ce is excusa le in a catapult but not in a ma n Ca n your adversary guard l leg- stump or ofi s t ump ? Can he judge a length ?

' Can he allow fo r a curve ? Can he pla y well over an o ff-ball to prevent a catch ? Can yo u 0 2 1 9 6 THE CRICKET FIELD . deceive him with time o r pace ? IS he a young

o r old ? gentleman, an gentleman

u n nd m b E ta tis c j uz; 58 ota i t z t ti i mo r es .

1 . Pitch as near the bat as you can without ’ being hit away . The bowler s chance is to compel back pla y with the shortest possible Sight Of the

rise . 2 d . If three good balls have been stoppe , the ’ fourth is often destructive , because the batsman s patience is exhausted so take pains wi th the .

fourth ball o f the Over. l 3 . The straighter the ba l, the more puzzling to f the eye, and the more cramping to the hand o the

batsman .

4 t - a n o t . Shor pitched b lls are only easier to

hit, but have more scope for missing the wicket,

though pitched straight .

- t o u t 5 . A free leg hit er may Often be put by

placing an extra man On side , and bowling repeatedly at leg- stump only do not pitch very h - i - far up to him . S ort p tched leg balls are the

ifi ult d c . most to hit, and produce most catches

o r - n ma n By four five attempts at leg hitti g, a

i Off ga ns a tendency to swing round, and is his i t stra gh play . i r n 6 . t Bes des trying eve y variety of le g h, vary your pace t o deceive the batsman in timing his play ; and practise the same action so a s not to

1 98 THE CRICKET FIELD .

ff t ; is very e ec ive, producing both catch and stump

‘ . i r h fo u r men ing Th s is well wo t trying, with

o n On if the side, even some great player is

brought to win a country match . 1 0 . Most men have a length they cannot pla y

The fault of young bowlers is, they do not pitch fa r enough : they thus afford too long a sight o f the

ball . In the School matches and the University ’ e match s at Lord s , this is very observable, espe

cia lly with fast bowle rs . ld - - n 1 1 . o The fashioned —under hand lobbi g, if governed by a good head dropping short when i s i a. man is coming out, and somet mes tos ed h gher i h and somet mes lower, is a valuable c ange in most Elevens ; bu t it must be high and accurately

h - r Pu t pitched, and must have ead wo k in it .

o - - i l ng stop upon the On side, and bring long sl p n earer in ; and be sure that your long-fields stand far away .

1 2 i s ou r . Lastly, the last diagram expla n that vilinea r bowling ( t he effect o f a moderate pace with a spin) gives the bats man a shorter Sight of the rise than is possible with the straighter lines o f ha s a s swift bowling . A man nearly much time to make up his mind and prepare for Wisden d i ’ as for Clarke ; because, he can ju ge W sden s

h n r a nd h ball muc soo e , , t ough the rise is faster, t he ba ll has fa rther to come in .

' ’ L I G — s THEORY OF BOW N . What characterise THEORY OF BOWLING. 1 99 a good delivery ? If two m en bowl with equal n m I force and precisio , why does the ball co e n from the pitch so differently in respect of cutting w i i ? t ist ng, or abrupt r se Because o ne man gives the ball so m uch more r m o wn o r m m otatory otion on its axis, , so uch ore ” spin than the other.

A throw, or the catapult which strikes the ball

o S is fr m its rest, gives no pin ; hence, the ball i nd u I t s a . reg lar n rise, easy to calculate Cobbett gave a ball as much spin as possible : his fingers appeared wrapped round the ball : his wrist became horizontal : his hand thro wn back a t i r i u n the del very, and his finge s seem ngly t t t t glued join by join , till the ball qui ted the ips

a i of them l st, just as you would sp n a top . Cob ’ i a nd bett s delivery designed a sp n, the ball at h i t e . pitch had new l fe in it No bowling so fair, h o r and with so little roug play violence , ever ff h ’ proved more e ective t an Cobbet t s . Hillyer is i f entitled to the same k nd o praise.

A spin is given by the fingers ; also, by turning

the hand over in d ehvermg the ball .

‘ ha s o ne t i t A good ball two motions ; , s ra gh ,

h i h o n . from and to p tch the ot er, its own axis The effect o f a spin o n its own axis is best ’ e i xemplified by bowl ng a child s hoop . Throw it w h S from you it out any pin, and away it rolls ; but spin o r revolve it against the line o f its flight 0 4 2 00 mm : CRICKET FIELD .

t ouehes with great power, and the hoop no sooner

t he ground than it comes back to you . So grea t

' a degree o f spin as this cannot possibly be given to a cricket ball ; but you see the same effec t in

“ - the draw back stroke at billiards . Revolve

h ‘ h0 0 s it w t e p with le s power, and ill rise abruptly from the ground and then continue its course similar to that awkward and abrupt rise often n i o f see in the bowl ng Clarke among others . n Thirdly , revolve the hoop as you bowl it, ot a a ins t in t he o f o u g but line its flight, and y have its tendency to bound expended x creased quickness forward . This e emp in swimming ball, quickly cutting and i making a shooter. Th s is similar to ” i t h lowing stroke at billiards, made by strik ng e i in k ball h gh and rotating it the line of the stro e . S uch are the effects o f a ball spinning or ro tating vertically .

N t e ff n o r ow try h e ect of a spi from right to left, left to right : t ry a side stroke at billiards ; the apparent angle o f reflection is no t equal to the

o f i i . So i i angle nc dence a cr cket ball, w th lateral Off Off spin, will work from Leg to , or to Leg, i i accord ng to t he Sp n .

r But why does not the same delive y, as it gives

he a t he e t s me kind of spin, always produce sam vertical o r lateral effect o n a b a ll ? In other

ho w do fo r t t words, you account the fac tha

202 THE D CRICKET FIEL .

I v the ha e already shown that, in bowling, a pp a r ent angle o f reflection is rendered unequal to the angle o f incidence by the rotatory motion o f f or spin the ball , and also by the roughness o the ground . I have n o w to explain that this law is e qually disturbed in batting also ; and by attention t o t he w l r following Observations, many a for ard p aye ma y learn so to adapt his force to the inclination o f o u t u h his bat as not to be caught , even altho g ’ (as Often happens to a man s great surprise) he play s over the ball I The effect Of a moving body meeting another h t is body moving, and t at same body quiescen ,

v ff . ery di erent To prove this,

’ Fix a ba t zmmo vea bly perpendicula r in the

fr t he ground, and suppose a ball rises to it om ° ground in an angle o f 4 5 a s the angle o f incidence ; then supposing the ball to have no — a b e x r eflect ed a t a n rot tory motion , it will equal

n l l t he . a gle, and fa l near y under bat t he i s But supposing bat not fixed, but brought i forc bly forward to meet that ball, then, according

the o f to weight and force the bat, the natural i h il d rection Of t e ball w l be annihilated, and the

a il t b ll w l be re urned, perhaps nearly point blank, i f e not in the l ne o reflection, but in some other lin more nearly resembling the line in which the bat is moved . " i ~s H T 2 03 T EORY OF BA TING.

ba t r If the were at est, or only played very

n o f n o t gently forward, the a gles reflection would

t he be materially disturbed, but ball would return to the ground in proportion nearly as it rose from

the s it ; but by playing very hard forward, bat man annihilates the natural downward tendency o f t he d ball, and drives it forwar , perhaps, into ’ n the bowler s hands ; and then , fancyi g the laws

o f gravitation have been suspended to spite him ,

wa lks baick he disgusted to the pavilion, and says , i N0 man in England could help be ng o u t then .

I e t was as clean over the ball as I could be, and y it went away as a catch

n o u t Lastly, as to bei g by luck, always con

h t he i o r sider whether, wit same adversar es, Pilch i Parr would hav e been so put o u t . Our Op nion

s o u in i , that could y comb e the experience and

i o f h o f sc ence Pilch with the and and eye Parr, i luck would be reduced to an infin tesimal quantity .

F o r tuna o r tes aa w a t o f t he f s , men best nerve

’ have the best luck ; and nu llu m na men ba bes s z s it

r udentia w ma u t he p , hen a n knows as m ch of game

a s h we would teach him, he will find t ere is very i s n l ttle luck after all . Young player should o t think about being o u t by chance there is a cer

i o f ta n intuitive adaptation play to circumstances,

whi e ch, however seemingly impossibl , will result m i i i fro Observat on and exper ence, unless the dea

o f a chance closes the e rs to all good instruction . 2 04 THE CRICKET FIELD .

H ! . C AP .

HINTS ON F IE LD ING .

THE n esse ce of good fielding is, to start before t he a t b ll is hit, and to pick up and return straigh

o ne n . to the top of the bails, by continuous actio V V keha mis t — I This was the old y s—tyle old, hope n o t yet extinct, past revival (thus had we t 1 8 5 1 t writ en, March , and three mon hs after the Wykehamists won both their school matches at ’ L - so w i ord s) ; for, me t enty years s nce, the Wyke ha mis t fielding was unrivalled by any school in

. t . England Fif een years ago Mr Ward and,

a severally and sep rately, Cobbett instanced a Winchester Eleven as the first fielding they had ’ h ever seen at Lord s . And among t is chosen

m h m o f nu ber were t e yet re embered names R . ll h Kna t chbu . Price, F . B . Wrig t, , and Meyrick — These h a rdy Trojans for t he ball never came

t m — o u t n too fast for he commenced fagging lo g , in very long, before they were indulged batting,

i a in and were forced to qual fy, even for f gg g, by practising till they could thro w over a certain n i i e ghbouring barn , and were always in bod ly fear o f t he pains a nd penalties o f t he middle stump if

h a f ever t ey missed a b ll . But these days o the

HE 2 06 T CRICKET FIELD . proclaim that men must qualify by fine fielding and let him enco urage the following exercises

t wo Put in batsmen, whose play is not good t i enough to spoil, to p and run . You will then find what very clean fielding is required to save

ne . o run , with men determined to try it

- Let every man practise long stop . Long-leg is a fields ma n nearly as essential as a

- good long stop . A man who can r un and thro w

h - a o well s ould make a long leg his forte, and pr tise judging distances for a long catch, covering h t ground bot to right and lef , neat handling , with w allowance for the twist, and especially an arro

. t e like and accurate return No hing is so lik ly to . put the runner o u t as a s wift throw to the hands from a long distance . Aspire to foil the usual calculation, that, at a long distance, the runner can beat the throw .

- Let the wicket keeper take his place, and while

o r him some one throws hits, let require the quickest and most accurate throwing . A ball — properly thrown comes in like an arrow no time

i in a ir » being lost by soaring h gh . At short dis

w nu tances, thro at once to the hands ; where

h n . avoidable, wit a lo g hop But this hop should

a nd h w result from a low skimming t ro ; or, the ball

. P i t will lose its speed ract se throwing, withou

r any flou ish , by a single action of the arm . Any

eldsm a n a r our good fi will expl in, far bette than HINTs ON FIELDING . 2 07

en u a l o p , the art of picking p a b ll in the on y p sitiou consistent with a quick return . A good throw often runs a man o u t ; an advantage very rarely gained without something superior in

fielding . Young players should practise throwing, and remember never to thro w in a long hop when “ ‘ they can throw to the hands . Many a run “ . n t b says Mr R . T . Ki g, has been los y that injudicious practice o f throwing long hops to

wicket s k ee er o f n the p , instead straight, and, whe ” n r ecessary, hard , to his hands ; a p actice that

a s m should be utterly reprobated, especially any l rising players wi l fancy it is the most correct, f f o w o . instead the slo est, style throwing To throw in a long hop is only allowable when you mi w h ght fail to thro a catc , and, which is worst o f ho all, make too short a p to the wicket keeper . The Captain should keep an account o f

t - u the bes runners, throwers, clean pickers p, and especially o f men who ca n meet and anticipate the

o f d i ball, and those who eserve the pra se given to Chatt rt o n the safest pair o f hands in l Eng and . SO much for quick throwing ; but for a throw u - field p from long , Virgil had a good notion o f picking up and sending in a ball

Ille manu r apt u m t repida t or qu eb at in b o st em ; ” Alt io r a s su r ens her o s et cur u n i s . g , s co c t u , n E . xn . 90 1 . ' “ THE CRICKET FIELD .

Here we have snatching up the ball with a

o f n ff a nd uiver the wrist , risi g with the e ort, a q — quick step or two to gain power. Meeting the

o f o wn ball requires a practice its , and is a charm ing operation when you can do it ; for the same impetus with which you run in assists the quick k

ness o f your return . Practice will reveal the

f r un secret o running in only, with your hands

near the ground, so as not to have suddenly to o n stoop ; and, keep your eyes well Open, not l si g

t . in the ball for an instan In fielding, as batting,

you must study all the varieties of balls, whether

- o r . tices , half volleys, other lengths

’ ‘ r na s czz ur no n t : t A fast runne fi still, prac ice

o f does much, and especially for all the purposes

a fieldsm a n near the wicket . A Spring and quick

s h i tart are things to learn and that, bot r ght and

: i a left few men spr ng equ lly well with both feet . i i Anticipat ng the ball, and gett ng the momentum

o n the i i a proper s de, is everything in field ng ; nd practice will enable a man to get his proper

o h ti . fo ting and quick s if ng step A good cricketer, like a good skater, must have free use o f both feet : and o f course a fine fields ma n must catch h h wit both ands . Practise left -handed catching in a ring ; also picking up with left : Any o ne can catch with “ his ht s t he o ld no w bo rig , say player ; , my y , l ” et o u . T us see what y can do with your left ry,

2 1 0 THE CRICKET FIELD .

with mutual dependence ; though I would ‘ warn

good players that, among strangers in a country

i Is S m . match, harp runn ng a dangerous ga e F OS F N SYMPTOMS O A L ER O RU S. He never

bu t s n s follows up the ball, leans on his bat, or ta d sociably by the u mpire ; he has 2 0 yards to r un

m o f o f 1 6 on fro a state rest, instead , already the move ; he is addicted to checks a nd false sta rts ; ’ he destroys the confidence of his partner s running ;

a his he condemns his p rtner to play worst, because

s in a state of disgust ; he never runs and turn , but

o r m runs and stops, shoots past his wicket, aking

ones for twos, and twos for threes ; he Often runs

o a man out, and, besides this l ss, depresses his

o wn m side , and ani ates the other ; he makes slow fields men as good as fast ; having no idea of stealing

r un t he t he fields men a for least miss, he lets

n t wo stand where they please, savi g both the and the o ne ; he lets the bowler coolly experiment

i o ne with the w cket, when run breaks the dan

i o he gerons ser es, and destr ys his confidence ; spares t he bowler that disturbance of his nerves which results from stolen runs and suspicion of

' his field s men he continues the depressing in

fl uence o f ma iden / Overs , when a Single would dispel the charm ; he deserves the name o f the ” r een Still e G man and , and usually commenc s ’ his innings by saying, Pray don t run me out, ” ‘ 5 ’ u n Sir, We ll r no risks whatever When t n here is a lo g hit, the same man will tear away THE ACTIVE RUNNER . 2 1 1

ma d n a nd like , forgetti g that both he his partner ( a hea vIer man perhap s ) want a little wind left for

0 I a va m ec s - the next ball . g n p u SO called “ . I ! steady players Steady, ndeed You stand

h i o f like posts, wit out the least intu tion a run . The true cricketer runs while another is thinking

o f it ; indeed, he does not think he sees and feels

r n i fi ld m it is a u . He descr es when the e s a n has a

t o r long reach with his lef hand, when he must

u overbalance and right himself, or t rn before he

can throw. He watches hopefully the end o f a

- o r u . long throw, a ball backed carelessly p Bear i s o f w tness, bowler , to the virtue a single run i made sharply and vexat ously . Just as you r plot

a n is ripe, the b tsme change, and an ordinary length supersedes the very ball that would have n beguiled your ma . IS it nothing to break in

v t o ? A nd upon the complete O er the same man , how fe w the bowlers who repeat the length from

! r which a run is made To epeat, passionless

or as the catapult, a likely length , hit not hit, here it is the professional beats the amateur. These i of ” indirect nfluences making each possible run, “ i . . . says Mr R T King, are too l ttle considered . t h Once I saw, to my full conviction, e whole fortune o f a game changed by simply effecting

S o ne two ingle runs ; , while a man was threaten n ing to throw, instead of throwi g, in the ball ; the

r e d othe , whil a ball was ribbling in from about 1? 2 HE 2 1 2 T CRICKET FIELD .

" k o ne e e middle wic et . This run nded thirte n

fields m aiden Overs, set the bowlers blaming the o f t men at the expense, as usual, their equanimi y - a and precision, and proved the turning point in

“ match till then dead against us . Calculate the

' effect o f stolen runs o n the powers of a bowler

s o n a nd hi tactics as against a batsman, the places

fields men o f the , on their insecurity when hurried, a nd t he Spirit it puts into the o ne party and takes a way from the other ; and add to this the runs

evidently lost ; and , I am confident that the same

o u t S Eleven that go for ixty would , with better

-five n u running, generally make seventy , and not f ” commonly a hundred .

Attend, therefore , to the following rules e 1 . Back up every ball as soon as actually deliver d , a nd as far as consistent with safe

ca n . When both men see the ball, o n t h Wicket, let the decision depend o r as less prepared to start, on the

heavier man, by special agreement ; decision be the partner’ s when the ball b 3 . the hitter. Let men run y some mere beckoning with strangers leads to fata l “ ” fo r run e rrors, backing up being mistaken . ” ” ” r run t h o e ords . Yes, no, , stop, are W

. 4 Away sounds like stay . Let the bit t er

’ a lso remember that he can often back up a few f y ards in anticipation o a ball passing t he field s

2 14 THE CRICKET FIELD .

eleven, he will, if worth anything, make a study

n a nd of ru ning, avoid so unpleasant a reflection

mem. for the future . Fancy such a as this ” l o r Pi ch run out because Rash hesitated, Rash run o u t because when the hitter called he was ” n ot backing up . These and many other ideas o n this most essen

S tial, yet most neglected, part of the game, I hall endeavour to illustrate by the following compu t a tio n o f runs which might have been added to an 00 innings of 1 . 1 00 90 Suppose, therefore, runs scored ; by 4 6 b hits, by wide balls, and y byes and leg byes —the loss is commonly as follows

Singles lo s t fr om hit s abo ut 1 0

nes inst ea d Of t wo s n ot m akin the O , by g

fo rmer r un u ickl and t u r nin fo r a s econd q y g , b u t o ver -ru nning gr o u nd a nd s t o pping

h mi ht have een s t olen fro m ll 3 . Ru ns t at g b b a s dr opped a nd Slovenly handl ed

L SS fr om field sm en st andin wher e the 4 . O g y

lea s e a nd cover in m o r e r o u n d t ha n the p , g g y d ar e d o with shar p r un ner s

L o s s fr om no t havin t ho s e mi s s es which r e 5 . g s ult fr o m hu rr ying the field

6 L o s s fr o o wler s n o t ein r u ffled a s the . m b b g , y wo u ld b e if feeling t he r u ns sho u ld b e s t o pped

E xt r a lo s s fr o m b es no t r u n with the lea s t 7 . y ( “ ” l bber ing the r u n n er s m ay cr o s s though D ean is cunning) O S 21-5 C OMPUTATION OF L T RUNS.

8 F d r nd sli s st o e d which . r o m ha vin a ws a g p pp , long-s t 0 p co u ld n o t s t o p if near er in

One m a n r u n o u t

Depr es s ing infl u ence o f the s ame Fr o m no t ha ving t he o nly lo ng-st 0 p disgu st ed a nd hu r r ied int o mis s ing ever ything From no t havmg the a dver s a ry all wild by these c ombined a nno ya nces

To t a l

L s fr om a dver s ar la in ett er when l3 . o s y p y g b go ing in a ga ins t a s co r e o f 1 00 tha n a ga ins t 1 5 2

No w n , though I have put down nothi g for four

o f sources loss , not the less material because hard

the iff to calculate, d erence between good runners and bad seems to be above half the scor e . That

I a b u t many will believe me can h rdly expect ; ,

i a n d before they contrad ct, let them watch reckon

n firs t - for themselves , where fieldi g is not rate . It was only after writing as above that I read ” th 1 8 5 1 that in Nor South, , the North lost

i t he u n o u t I six w ckets, and South two, by r nni g ’ t he t m o f In first Gen lemen and Players atch,

it h o ne ma n the same year, was computed t at ,

a a s who made a long score, ctually lost many runs m ! as he ade In choosing an eleven , such men o f i should be marked, and the loser runs avo ded o n i fields ma n the same pr nciple as a bad . Reckon

ma not only the runs a man y make , but the runs he may lose, and how the game turns about P 4 2 1 6 HE T CRICKET FIELD .

sometimes by a man being run o ut . A perfect r i — crickete , like a perfect wh st player, must qualify his S i o f cient fic rules, and make the best a bad — ho w partner but, few are perfect, especially in

! o f this point Talk not alone good batsmen, I — have often said Choose me some thorough-bred ’ - “ s public school cricketers ; for, the only men, say

o f run Clarke, I ever see judges a , are those who have played cricket as boys with sixpenny bats, used to distances first shorter, then longer as

w no t they gre stronger, and learnt, from being

t o h o f bowled by the our , but by years practice in real games . You blame me because the All ’ o u t England Eleven don t learn not to run , though i t . r un always pract sing toge her Why, a is a ’ in thing not learnt a day . There s that gentle man yonder—with all his fine hitting he is no ’ he he t a cricketer ; can t run ; learnt a catapult, ” a nd how can a catapult teach a man the game ?

men o r Great have the same ideas, Clarke would seem to have borrowed from Horace

Qu i st u det o pt at am cur su cont inger e met a m ” f it u e u er su d avit et alsit M u lt a t u lit ec q p , .

A good innings disdains a sleeping partner. Be —i o fs alive and moving and nstead aying, Well ” ” I & c . o r a s played l Famous hit , we some o f Ho w times he ar in the way encouragement, ” 1” t l l near Wha a c ose shave Pray , take care,

2 1 8 THE CRICKET FIELD . whoS hould advance quietly, like Box, and return a

. o r catch A swift throw, any exertion in the field ’ or “ which hurts the bowler s hand, sets it shaking,

- may lose a game . If a bowler has half volleys i n returned to him , by stretch ng and stoopi g after f t o ut o . No w i hem, he gets his swing , th s same swing is a great point with a bowler. Watch him

his a nd after he has got his footsteps firm for feet,

when in his regular stride, and see the increased f precision o his performance . Then comes the time when your great gun tumbles down his men i and that is the time that some sure, judic ous

batsman, whose eminence is little seen amidst the o f loose hitting a scratch match, comes calmly and composedly to the wicket and makes a stand ; o f and, as he disposes maiden Overs, and steals ones

his and twos, he breaks the spell that bound men , and makes the dead - straight bowling go od for Cuts

- r t and leg hits . In no game o spor do I ever witness half the satisfaction o f t he bowler who can thus bowl maiden Overs and defy a score ; o r

o f t he o ff the batsman who takes edge the same,

runs up the telegraph to even betting, and gives easier work and greater confidence to those who - d o ff a nd follow . A wicket keeper, too , may art

save a bowler from fielding a three o r four and, h w enever he leaves his wicket, slip must take ’ ” - b ut c . wi cket keeper s pla e How stale , true , ’ ” — “ ins ta ntl s the y word, from neglect of which , HINTS ON FIELDING . 21 9

we have seen dreadful mistakes made even in good

matches . A y, and what beautiful things are done by q uick return and a low Shy ; no time wasted in para bolic curves : ball just skimming the ground o f when it comes in a long hop , but quickest all returns is a t hrow to the top o f the bails into ’ w - icket keeper s hands . O — P INT . Your great strength lies in anticipa

' ’ " ctio n : it n s a ci 8 w es Av § v pcbv. To that gentleman ! every ball seems hit, because he always gets l ’ gt herea bo u t s ; yet is he near- sighted witha l Tis t he the mind that sees, eyes are its glasses, and izis too goo d a workman to want excuse for his v tt o o ls in . With slow bowl g and a bad batsman, lPo int ca n i i antic pate eas ly enough . Still, with

o f all bowling, fast and slow , the common fault fPOint h if n is, t at he stands, ear, too near ; and if l ff ff O o . far , yet not far enough Stand where you

o u rs elf S a nd gy can catch and stop . If low in hand

o ff s n eye stand for longer catches, el e , by standi g w here a quick man would catch sharp catches, i tyou miss everyth ng . With fast bowling, few balls w hich co uld be caught at seve n ya rds ground lShOI't o f h twelve . Thoug , if the ground is very r o u h the l g , or bow ing slow , the ball may be

u r popped p nea the bat, even by good players . W Off t henever a ball is hit , Poin must cross 2 20 THE CRICKET FIELD .

’ i t t o o t o nstan er, or he ll be late back up , especially ’ the bowler s wicket . t t Poin is sometimes Point proper, like a Wicke

o r Sho rt sli keeper p, to cramp the batsman, and take advantage of his mista kes ; but with fast

n a dva n bowli g and good batsmen, Point may t a eo u sl o ff fi l ma n F g y stand like any other e ds . or e then, he will save many more runs, and may mak i quite as many catches . If Mr. K ng stood as

a s Point, and Chatterton Cover in the same line , n with Pilch batting and Wisden bowli g, they would not (as I presume they are well aware) d work to the best a vantage . When Clarke is bowling he generally wants a veritable Point for

the catch . But, to stand near, as a Scientific Point,

with wild bowling is absu rd . SHORT -L E G is often a very hardly used per-f

s o na e g , expected to save runs that seem easy , but i are actual impossibil ties . A good ball, perhaps , is i -le pushed forward to m ddle wicket On, Short g

. being square, and the bowler looks black at him h - Then a Draw is made, when S ort leg is standing

rather forward, and no man is ubiquitous . If the batsman often does not kno w where the i rise o r b as may reflect the ball, how should the fields ma n know ? C O VER -P OINT and LONG- SLIP are both difficult h it places ? t e ball comes so fast and curling , that

a the puzzles eventhe best man . N0 pl ce in field

HE T CRICKET FIELD .

“ Ca ldeco u r t You would think , said , that a ball to the right hand may be returned more ” h the . him quickly t an a ball to left But ask ,

i S w and he w ll ho you how , if at a long reach , he

always found it otherwise . The right sho ulder may be even in the better position to return (in

o f s u spite of change hands), when the left pick p i the ball tha n when the r ght picks it . Some good Covers have been quicker with a h w t i hard jerk t an a thro , for the at itude of field ng is less altered . Still a jerk is less easy to the

- - h wicket keeper . A long slip with good ead and heels may assist long-stop his triumph is to run

' a man o ut by anticipating the balls that bump o fi ’ - long stop s wrists and shins .

m a n u o r - A third p, a middle slip, is at times very killing this allows long-slip to stand ba ck for

. hard hits, and no catch escapes A forward Point, h o r middle wicket close in, often snaps up a catc l t s o r two, particular y when he ground is dangerou m for forward play, or the bats an plays hesita tingly .

- Thick soled shoes save colds in soppy weather, and do not jar when the ground is hard for the Cantabs s a y t hat

r d r o u nd = t ender feet Thin s oles ! ha g ,

S is an undeniable equation . Bowlers hould wear s i m n worsted socks t o ave bl sters, and i d the S . 2 23 HINT ON FIELDING “ J

" n t a o fi thread is o f stened in a knot, just under the i most sensit ve part of the heel . Much inconvenience arises in a match (for the best player may be o u t ) by spectators standing in

e e o f t he t the y ball so, stre ch strips of white i i h canvass on poles five feet h gh for th s, w ile it i keeps the stup d away , provides a white back i ground for each w cket . h T is is good also in a park, where the deep shade o f trees increases the confessed uncertainty h o f the game . Some suc plan is much wanted o n all public grounds where the sixpenny free h olders stand and hug their portly corporations,

a nd o f , by standing in the line the wicket, give h the ball all the s ades of green coat , light waist

. t coat, and drab smalls S ill, batsmen must try to i rise super or to such annoyances ; for, if the bowler

his o f changes side the wicket, the umpire will i f o ften be n the light o the ball . h ! ’ O that ring at Lord s ; for, as in olden

time,

si quid fricti cicer is pr obat et nu cis empt or ;

- - that is, if the swillers of half and half and

i - a s mokers of p gtail, preponderating influence o f — and large majority voices, applaud a hit, it does h it o ne not follow t at is a good nor, if they cry ” f ‘ r fin ers I o n Bu tt e g need the m—iss be a bad e . f r I fo credit o . good intentions no allowance r 2 24 THE CRICKET FIELD.

a twisting catch and the s u n enough to singe your eyelids l—the hit that Wins the half- and-half

fo r is the finest hit that select assemblage, whose ” “ sweet voices quite drown the nicer judgment f b o the pavilion, even as vote y ballot would o f s wa mp the House Lords . x - o u LONG STOP . If y would estimate the value f i e - o a pract s d long stop, only try to play a match

o ne . with a bad Still, patient merit is rarely a p

recia t ed . p ; for, what is done very well looks so easy Long- stopping requires the cleanest handli ng and quickest retu rn . The best in form I e ver saw was

1 8 3 8 . i an Oxonian about , a Mr Nap er. One o f h wa s f hi the worst in form, owever, the best o s da ff t he y in e ect, Good ; for he took ball side - m . A a n ways left handed , as Good was, has a

- great advantage in stopping slips under leg.

Among the ancients, Old Beagley was the man , But there is many a ma n whose praise 1 s yet u n

f r . . . s o a w . sung when Mr E H Budd Mr R . Stot hert at Lansdown, Bath, stop right and left to Mr. ’ ’ Kirwa n s B ea le s bowling, he alluded to g y doings, a nd . St o t h r said Beagley never came up to R e t .

Mr. Marshall jun . ) in the same Club stopped for o ne Mr. Marcon without bye through a long in: in who n gs . The gentleman opposed the firmes t f ront, however, for years, to Messrs . Kirwan and e bo vVlers Fellow s, , who have broken studs into t - o of - t the breas b ne a long s op, and then, to make

2 2 6 THE CRICKET FIELD .

o u enables y to cover more tips and draws, and

- saves leg byes . Good runners ought to cross if in the ball is the least fumbled but clean fielding, n - the with quick u der hand return, would beat n Rege t Street Pet himself, did he attempt a run . Long- stop is wholly at fa ult if he requires the wicket- keeper to stand aside : this would spoil

. v r the stumping As to gloves and pads, let e e y o ne please himself ; we mu st choose between gloves and sore hands ; but wrist gauntlets are o f great use , and no hindrance to catches, which often

- come spinning to the long stop , and otherwise l difi cu t .

. o n o ne As to form, dropping knee is a bad . position for any fielding : you are fixed and left

i o f beh nd by any sudden turn the ball . The best rule is to wat ch the ball from the bowler’ s hand and move accordingly, and you will soon find for how much bias to allow ; and beware o f a slope ’ like Lord s it causes a greater deviation than yo u “ would imagine in thirty yards . Just as the ball t comes, draw yourself up heels toge her (thus many i i a shooter have I stopped), and, p ck ng as neatly i - it as you can , pitch it back to w cket keeper as if

" were red hot . Quick return saves many byes, a nd keeps up an appearance which prevents the

i o f is attempt . The same discriminat on lengths required with hands as with bat . Long hops a re x easy a tice is a s ha rd almos t as a shooter ; hall - WICKET KE EPING . 22 ?

“ v a s olley is a teaser. Such balls pitch up to yo u s hould be played forward by pushing or sweep ing your hands out t o meet them ; even if yo u do

not field them clean, still you will often save a run by forcing the ball up towards the wicket f o u . keeper, and having it be ore y A Long-stop wants much command of atten

— o ff tion, eye never the ball ; and this, so little

o f one o f thought , is the great secret all fielding you must also play your hardest and your very best ; a habit which few have energy to sustain . If t you miss a ball, rattle away af er it ; do not s tand, as many do, to apologise by dumb show . o f If the ball bumps up at the moment handling, thr ow your chin up and let it hit your chest as full as it may this is Horace s advice

' ’ or tia ue a dver sis o omte ectora r ebus F g pp p .

Long- stop should assist the backing up on the i On s de, and must start at once to be in time . t o The attention he has sustain is very trying , to ”

e . the eyes, specially in w—indy weather - f no t W1 0 KE T KEEPING . I born with better r I ocula nerves than the average, doubt whether any degree o f practice would make a firs t -ra te

- . d wicket keeper Still, since Lillywhite succeede in training o ne o f the Winchester eleven in Wicket b - keeping, y bowling accordingly, wicket keeping seems an art to be acquired . To place the hands Q 2 2 28 THE CRICKET FIELD .

o r d o f accurately, right left, accor ing to the pitch

nu the ball, and to take that ball, however fast,

o r o f l baulked by the bat body the player, is rea ly f — very di ficult . But What if we add and how few,

s I— very few, can accompli h it taking the ball in

spite of an unexpected bias or turn from the bat .

Still, practice will do much where nature has done a little ; but with modern bowling yo u want ” t a man both rough and ready . Mr. Herber

Jenner was the ready man so also are Messrs .

. B iddin Anson, Nicholson, and W g, and Box ; but

Wenman was ready and rough too . He had fine

o f working qualities, and could stand a deal

: t pounding, day after day others have had a shor

o n e o u life and a merry , and mere transient p p la rit - ffi y but, for wicket keeping under di culties, - give me Wenman . At wicket keeping, the men

o f labour ought to beat the men o f leisure . Hard

: hands are essential and, hard hands can only come ’ . Wenma n s i o f from hard work call ng, that a hi s . wheelwright and carpenter, is in favour I m found y hands quite seasoned, writes an ama ’ ” - t eu r o a r . , after a two month s work at the Chat L ’ terton fears no pace in bowling. But o ckyer s n ame now stands highest o f all : the certainty ’ sd i and facility with which he takes Wi en s bowl ng,

both with right and left, can hardly be surpassed . k - We leave wic et keepers to emulate Lockyer, especially in his every -day lasting and working

2 30 THE CRICKET FIEL D .

o ne o ut ha s e ven of three of possible chances , e proved, in his experience, good averag wicket

le ! . keeping ; for, think of g shooters though Mr

B idding could take even them wonderfully well . ” “ H ...... C I have seen, writes Mr E S E , Mr o Tayl r who was capital at running in, and rarely

t o u t n t he s umped , havi g an excellent eye, and if twist of the ball beat him it was enough to beat the

- a wicket keeper also I have seen him, fter miss ing a ball, walk quietly back to his ground, poor wicket-keeper looking foolish and vexed at not n stumpi g him, and the ring, of course, calling ” ff - a re r him a mu . Really, wicket keepers ha dly used ; the spectators little know that a twis t which

ma misses the bat, y as easily escape the hand.

A I r s aw gain, the best piece of stumping eve ’ wa s b . done y Mr Anson, in the Players Match, - 1 843 . one of o f No t a in Butler, the finest the “ t in ha m in o ne o f g batsmen, trying to draw Mr . ’ M nn s y leg shooters, just lifted, for an instant, his

Mr . right foot ; t Anson timed the feat beautifully, and swept the ball with his left hand into t he

. ffi wa s d n wicket . I fancy a feat so di cult never e s:

sa w . so easily . I also Mr Anson, in a match t against the Etonians, stump a man with his righ , c i atch the flying bail with his left, and replace t ’ so quickly that t he man s surprise ‘ and puzzle m e t he : i ad all fun stumped out, though w cket ” i l Mr m n n er I . J r was e g y ev down , enne v ry J - WICKET KEEPERS.

h o ff o ne clever in t ese things, skimming bail with i his little finger, ball in hand, and not troubl ng

B K . . r . . the umpire Once his f iend, Mr , had

o f his an awkward trick pulling up trousers, which lifted his leg every time he had missed a ball

Mr a for . Jenner w ited his accustomed habit, him caught him in the act, and stumped . A s imilar piece of fu n happene d in Gentlemen o f

v. of 1 84 England Gentlemen Kent in 5 . A

Kent player sat down to get wind, after a run,

ha t o f o u t his in his ground but with seat honour , and h the , for a moment let go the andle, and wicket

o ut . wa s n r keeper stumped him He very a g y,

n : he and said he ever would play again however, n did play the retur match at Canterbury, where

“ wa s o ut in he put precisely the same manner. n Since which, like Monsieur To son, he has never ” been heard of more . ’ fields ma n n That a wants wits to his fi gers ends, was shown by Ma rtingell o ne day : being just too far to command a ball he gave it a touch to keep it ” u c . p, and cried, Cat h it, Slip Slip, so assisted,

reached the ball .

- The great thing in Wicket keeping is, for hand

and eye to go together, j ust as with batting, and

f r . what is exercise o the former, assists the latter Any exercise in which the hand habitually tries

to obey the eye, is useful for cricket ; fielding

. m roves . p batting, and batting improves fielding Q 4 2 2 3 THE CRICKET FIELD .

Twelve of the principal wicket-keepers o f the l f i ast fifty years were all e fic ent Batsmen ; namely,

ea Hammond, S rle , Box, Wenman, Dorrington ,

C . Brown , Chatterton , Lockyer, with Messrs .

B d . Jenner, Anson, Nicholson, and i ding ” Ho w o u would y explain, sir, said Cobbett, that the player’s batting keeps pace with the ’ gentleman s, when we never take a bat except in a ” game ? Because you are constantly following t he ball with hand and eye together, which forms a valuable practice for judging pace, and time, and distance : not enough certainly to teach bat

n to . ti g, but enough keep it up Besides, if you i practise too l ttle, most gentlemen practise too

s ecu much , ending in a kind of experimental and p — ’ lative play, which proves like gentleman s farm — ing more scientific than profitable . Amateurs

t ff s of en try at too much, mix di erent tyles, and,

o r m co ictin ha bits . e worse than all , f nfl g The gam , ’ for an average, is the player s game ; because, less f ambitious, with less excitement about avourite hits, of a simple style, with fewer things to think o f i , and a game in which, though l mited, they are better grounded . Amateurs are apt to try a bigger game than they could safely play with twice their practice . t Many a man, for instance, whose talen lies in

f r free hittin n t wo de ence, t ies w g, and, betwee the ,

for . can proves good nothing Others, perhaps,

2 34 F THE CRICKET IELD .

! . CHAP . I

CHAPTER OF ACCIDENTS. MISCELLANEOUS.

WILLIAM BE L DHA M saw as much of a n n y other man in E gland, from the ye 1 20 a u 8 . . . bo t Mr. E H Budd and C the best of chroniclers from the days of Beldha m

of down to George Pa rr. Yet neither thes e worthies could remember any injury at cricket, which would at all compare with those moving accidents of flood and field ” which have thinned

of o r . the ranks Nimrod, Hawker, Isaac Walton A fatal accident in any legitimate game of cricket

. r is almost unknown . Mr. A Haygarth, howeve , kindly informed me that the father of George III . died from the effects o f a blow from a c ricket ’ Wra xall s ball . His authority is Memoirs i o f IVa les IL Frederick, Pr nce , son of George ,

1 75 1 a t expired suddenly in , Leicester House, in the o f e l d arms Desnoy rs, the ce ebrated ancing master. His end was caused by an internal abscess that had long been forming in consequence o f a blow which he received in the side from a cricket ball while he was engaged in playing at F 2 CHAPTER C ACCIDENT S. 35

! that game o n the lawn at Cliefden House in

u h re B cking amshire, where he then principally It sided . did not take place, however, till several t of months af er the accident, when a collection ” n ff matter burst and i stantly su ocated him .

1 825 y A solicitor at Romsey, about , was, sa s an - in eye witness, struck so hard the abdomen that f m i i n he died in a week o ort fica t o . There is inlets o f a rumour a boy at school, about eighteen 1780s n w - years since , and a other boy about t enty eight s nare years ago, being severally killed by a blow on

. t o f the head with a cricket ball A dir y boy also , that w 1 82 6 I Salisbury to n, in , having contracted a bad

o f s o f . l habit pocketing the balls of the pupil Dr

ff o n Ratcli e, was hit rather hard the head with a

l - brass tipped stump, and, by a strange coincidence, ” o f died, as the jury found, excess of passion , a

! cricket few hours after .

er u s , The most likely source of serious injury, is

. e t his mm wh n a hitter re urns the ball with all force,

a ld urt straight back to the bowler. C eco and the

’

B ev. . W w re C ords orth, severally and separately, Imarked in my hearing that they had shuddered at

n acricket ! a once, each in the same position, and each lfro m the s ame hitter ! Each had a ball hit back

l o f . . t him by that power ul hitter Mr H Kingscote,

ce Iwhich o f or fi an whizzed , in defiance hand eye, most

. d dangerously by A similar hit, already describe , lb t y Hammond who ook a ball at the pitch, just 2 36 THE CRICKET FIELD .

’ B ea u clerk s missed Lord F . head, and spoiled his n f r B u o . t erve bowling ever after , what if these several balls had really hit ? who knows whether the respective skulls might not have stood the shock, as in a case which I witnessed in Oxford,

1 83 5 o ne in ; when Richard Blucher, a Cowley

f - , b , bowler was hit on the head y a cle—an hal volley from the bat o f Henry Da u beny than whom fe w Wykehamists us ed (fl at I) to hit with better o r wa s eye stronger arm . Still Richard him ” s a w self again the very next day ; for, we him w i in ith his head tied up, bowl ng at shillings as du st rio u sl t y as ever. Some skulls stand a grea d eal . Witness the sprigs o f Shillelah at Donni brook fair ; still most indubitably tender is the face ; as also which hor res co r eferens and here

- - letme tell wicket keepers and long stops especially, t l tha a cricket jacket made ong and full, with pocket s to hold a handkerchief sufficiently in front , is a precautio n not to be despised ; though t he race o f inventive men have also devised a cross ’ - d ll s bar india rubber guar , aptly described in Achi e * hers it es . threat to T , in the Iliad T he most alarming accident I ever saw occurred in one o f the many matches played by the Lans ’ down Club a gainst Mr. E . H . Budd s Eleven, at

1 8 35 . Two o f a s Purton, in the L nsdown player

Horn . II. II . 2 62 .

2 38 THE CRICKET FIELD .

hit wa s or run from a cover when Price there,

i o f o ne to give the s ght stump to shy at, was a h w . . . r icket lost W en his friend, F B Wright, o o ne any he could trust, was at the wicket, well u o ld t backed p, the ball, by the fine Wykehamis n in actio , was up and with such speed and preci sion as I have hardly seen equalled and never ex d W ’ in 1 2 ce ede . 8 5 hen he came to Lord s, , with

r that Wykehamist Eleven which Mr. Wa d so long o remembered with delight, their play was unkn wn and the bets o n their opponents but when once

Price was seen practising at a single stump, his Eleven became the favourites immediately ; for he wa s on e of the straightest o f all fast bowlers and ’ I have heard experienced batsmen say, We don t

a fo r his - w c re under hand bo ling, only it is so

a nd t straight we could take no liberties, the firs ” we missed was Out . I never envied any man his — sight and nerve like Price the coolest prao t itioner : you ever saw he always looked bright, though others blue ; and yo u had only to glance

a o at his sharp grey eyes, and you could at once o ne count for the fact that stump to shy at, a rook o r i o f for a single bullet, the r pple a trout in a

for B . bushy stream , was so much fun Price. Some of the most painful accide nts have been o f t he same kind from collisio n ; therefore I b man never lame a who, as the ball soars high in

“ a ir t o f s o he , and the cap ain his ide d es not (as CHANCES OF WAR . 39 ought if he can) ca ll o ut Johnson ha s it stops

for o f his short, fear three spikes in Z instep, or the ’ buttons o f his neighbour s jacket forcibly coin

o n . l distinc ciding with his w Stil , these are not t ively the dangers o f cricket : men may run their heads together in the street . The prInCIpal injuries sustained‘ are in the w n fingers ; though, I did once kno a gentlema who played in spectacles, and seeing two balls in the air, he caught at the shadow, and nearly had

. old the substance in his face The players, in the

o f - days under hand bowling , played without gloves and Bennet as sured me he had seen To m

Walker, before advancing civilisation made ma n tender, rub his bleeding fingers in the dust . The old players could show finger-joints o f most u n genteel dimensions ; and no wonder, for a finger has been broken even through tubular india-rub

o f ber . Still, with a good pair cricket gloves, no man need think much about his fingers ; albeit

flesh will blacken, joints will grow too large fo r fin er - ff the accustomed ring, and g nails will come o . A spinning ball is the most mischievous ; and when there is spin and pace too (as with a ball

. o u from Mr Fellowes, which y can hear humming like a top) the danger is too great for mere amuse ’ ment ; for when, as in the Players Match o f 1 84 9 , Hillyer plays a bowler a foot away from his stumps, and Pilch cannot face him which is 2 40 THE CRICKET FIELD .

l true when Mr. Fellowes ho w s o n any but the — we smoothest ground why then , will not say that any thing which that hardest o f hitters and

o th rough cricketer does, is not cricket, but cer

la ta inly it is anything but p y . Some o f the worst injuries o f the hands occur

rather in fielding than in batting . A fine player

o f r fa r the Kent Eleven , about three yea s ago, so injured his thumb that o ne o f the joints was re

d . move , and he has rarely played since Another o f the best gentleman players broke one o f t he

of : bones his hand in putting down a wicket but,

o f s a w o ne o f strangest all, I the Christchurch

v 1 8 35 a t ele en at Oxford, in , in fielding Cover, s plit up his hand an inch in length between his

: second and third fingers still, all was well in

a few weeks . o f t e Add to all these chances war, h many balls which are flying at the same time at Lord ’s and

u at the Universities, and other m ch frequented

o n . grounds , a practising day At Oxford you may

o n see, any day in the summer, Cowley Marsh,

o f two rows six wickets each facing each other, with a space o f about sixty yards between each

r o w . he , and ten yards between each wicket T n,

e dos d d os a s a you hav twelve bowlers, , and m ny — - hitters making twelve balls and twenty four ’ a t i Ja men , all in danger s way once, bes des y The o f e s can standers . most any one these bowl r

2 2 HE I E T FIE D 4 T CR CK L .

one l ne off f d -i a hard , g a c d from his orehea he c lled “ ut wa s ! o Catch it, and it caught by bowler

u ‘ He wa s not h rt not even marked by the ball. 1 850 hi Four was scored at Beckenham, , by a t ’ that glanced off Point s head ; but t he player

a suffered much in this instance . s A spot under the window o f the tavern at ’ Lord s was marked as the evidence o f a famous

. vi hit by Mr Budd, and when I played , Oxford 1 8 36 o f d : Cambridge, in , Charles , son Lor F

ob; Beauclerk, hitting above that spot elicited the l s ervatio n from the o d players . Beagley hit a ball 1 20 from his Lordship over a bank yards . Free ’ mantle s famous hit wa s 1 30 yards in the air; ’ Freema ntle s bail was once hit u p and fell back

: u n o n the stump Not o t . A similar thi g was n witnessed by a friend o the Westminster Ground. ” i s a m One hot day, sa d Bayley, I saw a new t p ou t o f l bowled the perpendicular, but the bai stuck in the groove from the melting o f the var d nish in the sun, and the batsman continue his

. i a innings . I have seen Mr K rwan hit bail

t . t thir y yards A bail has flown for y yards . w I once chopped hard do n upon a shooter, and t he ball went a foot away from my bat straight

w the ro for ard towards bowler, and then, by its t lin tary motion, re urned in the same straight e f i i d - s t a t s exactly, l ke the raw back roke billiard , ff and shook the bail o . E FE MALE CRICK TERS.

A ' t tila! At t a ma ch played at Cambridge, a lost ball bowl- art as found so firmly fixed on the point o f a broken Mal l. le n ew in an ivied wall, that a ball was b ahit y n ecessary to continue the game . la er 1 of py Among remarkable games cricket, are games o n on w 4 the ice as Christchurch meado , Oxford ,

- 1 1 84 9 e . o ne in , and other plac s The armed and z o ne- legged pensioners of Greenwich and Chelsea f - is an o t repeated match .

Mr. Trumper and his dog challenged and beat

u .tlIeob t wo 1 82 n players at single wicket in 5, o Hare é alall 1 fi eld common, near Rickmansworth. Free Female cricketers Southey deemed worthy o f

- notice in his Common place Book . A match, he k l fallbac . S ays, was p ayed at Bury between the Matrons

ra t i o f i hg and the Ma ds the parish . The Matrons v n

. dica t ed their superiority and challenged any eleven

m o f ffo . st a p . petticoats in the county Su lk A similar

‘ n In match, it is noted, was played at West Tarri g fi 1 8 50 . ve !hear Southey also was a—mused at legs mi lls bein—g broken in o ne match but only wooden f i . a tail legs o Greenw ch pensioners 3 Eleven females of Surrey were backed against

nd l s e e e w a , H , E , w, E even of amp hir says Pierc gan at N

ht in to n . 2 . 1 8 1 1 5 00 mig g , Oct , by two noblemen for i " n . ts ? guineas a s de . Hants wo And a similar ”i fi lm match was played In strict order and decorum o n 3000 fflifldfl’ Lavant Level, Sussex, before spectators . Matches of much interest have been played B 2 2 . E LD 44 TH CRICKET FIE .

between members of the same family and sbme “ ” ae other club . Besides the Twelve C sars, the

the . B four Messrs . Walker and Messrs idding

have proved how cricket may run in a family, not

. to forget four o f the House o f Verulam . u P gilists have rarely been cricket players . ” the fi htin We used to see g g men, said Beld “ h a m , playing skittles about the ground, but ” ’ al there were no players among them . Ned O Ne wa s a pretty good player ; and Bendigo had be friends confident enough to make a p . p . match 5 0 tween him and George Parr for 1. When the

day came, Bendigo appeared with a lame leg, and ’ Parr s friends . Set an example worthy o f true

r cricketers ; they scorned to play a lame man, o to fi ’ pro t by their neighbour s misfortunes . 1 8 1 7 In the famous Nottingham match, , Bent

“ o n wa s ley, the All England side, playing well, ” when he was given run out, having run round ” his . Beldham ground Why, said , he had n ff been home lo g enough to take a pinch of snu . They changed the umpire ; but the blunder lost h the matc . “ i s B eldha m not Sp ked shoe , said , were in

use in my country . Never saw them till I went ” ” . l Mor o d Di r . to Hambledon Robinson, said

t e o f ton, h dramatist, began with spikes a mon ” o o n o ne . o f str us length, foot The first notion ” sa w old a e as a leg guard I ever , said an pl y r, w

24 ET F THE CRICK IELD .

’ 1 8 1 5 v i L r s d In , Epsom . M ddlesex, at o d s, core

n 4 6 . 1 8 1 7 first inni gs, 7 Sussex Epsom, in , ’ 44 5 o ne s at scored in innings . Mr. Ward gre

2 8 . 2 h 7 . c . 4t innings was , in M C C . Norfolk,

1 82 0 . July, , but with underhand bowling . Mr ’ Mynn s great Innings at Leicester wa s in North

v. 1 8 36 . b 2 1 8 r . South, in South winning y uns

f Mr . Mynn 2 1 ( not o ut) and 1 2 5 (not o ut ) against ’ B d a t e s e . g bowling Wisden, Parr, and Pilch,

e ae F lix, and Julius C sar, and John Lillywhite, have scored above 1 00 runs in o ne innings

e en against good bowling. Wisd n once bowled t

ke one : n the ; wic ts in innings Mr. Kirwan has do e

same thing . IN - OWL N . B— I G The greatest feat ever recorded is this z that Lillywhite bowled Pilch 6 1 balls without a run, and the last took his wicket . True,

r o 6 0 a s Cla ke bowled Daniel Day, at Weym uth, b ll w w d hit a t ithout a run, but then Daniel oul no t 4 hing. Clarke also bowled 6 balls without a run

aff n in v. in 1 853 to C y and Box, Notts England , no a doubt great achievement ; still, at slow

n o t con bowling, these players have their usual fidence : they had over pitched balls which they

n wa s ma n did o t hit away . But Pilch not the f no to miss a chance, and the act that he made run from 6 1 balls speaks wonders a s to what

i in da Lillywh te could do his best y. n Ma rcori at t 1 85 0 e fouré M , A tlebury, , bowl d ; “ f 5 BOWL ING. 247

The a n tnen in four successive balls . L nsdow 1 850 t he t Club, in , put Wes Gloucestershire for r n o f t wo e Club out six u s, and these only wer s cored by hits so ten ciphers l ~ Eleven men

t 1 8 50 o ut for la s year ( ) were a run each ; Mr.

e o ne. . . t Felix b ing Mr G Yonge, playing agains

n ou t fo r si x . the Etonia s, put a whole side runs

la ut A friend, p ying the Shepton Mallet Club, p his e adversari s in, second innings, for seven runs to ’ al o u t ! fa o e tie, and got for five In a m us Wyk ’ hamiet match all depended on an outsider s making

o r hit the t w uns, he made a hard when, in

o f exut a tion w -s moment , Cut a ay, you young sin ” bi fello w d wn ner, said a g ; and lo o he laid his

inceed —t o t ent l bat, and did cut away, but the

s o f r while the other ide, amidst screams laughte

It o n the a t the mistake, p down the wicket and w match

n . t 1 8 1 0 B S o e o I a B Ma ch , the , sc red s c nd 6 aid m e one innings, only four of these were ad at

3. hit, by J . Wells, man given, though the first innings scored 1 37 ” B u t -c e . . d a s a bs en the Tru , E H w , still Bent

e BeldIa m l ys, Bennett, and Lord Frederick Beau

clerk were among he ten .

ou nd 1 85 1 no t a On the Surrey g , , had an e sy o f n d catch been missed , the Eleven All E glan n would have gone on for a ru apiece . The Smallest Sore o n record is that o f the a 4 2 4 8 THE CRICKET FIELD .

Pa ltiswick t r i Club, when playing agains Bu y n 1 8 24 : their first innings wa s only 4 runs Pilch

1 nnm bowled out eight of them . In their next gs

4 6 . 1 0 1 . they scored Bury, first innings,

1 8 35 sa w In a match at Oxford, in , I the two

last Wickets, Charles Beauclerk Buller,

1 0 . score 1 runs , and in an I Z . at Lea min t on g , the last wickets scored TIE A TCHE s — o f M . There have f ur o

any note : the first was played, in h 1 8 1 8 . . 11 t . , M . C C . Royal E H .

. 1 8 3 9 Budd, Esq the second, at in , M . ’

C. . 0 . C Oxford ; the third rd s, between

al Winchester and Eton ; the at the Ov , 1 84 7 in , Surrey Kent . at a scratch

v. Shiere 8 match of Woking , in , at Woking, there was a tie each innings an 1 four 1 nn1ngs 7 1 I the same number, t o th As HARD HITTING . of e longest ’ o f hits in air modern days, rites a friend, “ wa s made at Himley about years since dl by Mr. Fellowes, confesse y hard o f est all hitters . Th in prac tice o n the Leicester over t he o ne poplars, hundred long wicket the distance from bat to pi f ball may be

1 4 0 . r fairly stated as yards his was ten ya ds .

m » further, I think, than the h at Hi ley, which every one wondered at ; tho the former wa s off

2 0 5 THE CRICKET FIELD .

fellow Jim threw his bat a couple of yards at a

t o o ball wide to reach , and Mr. Ward caught ’ him I o f one at Point The loss this man s innings, wa s t he not all, for the men went in disgusted ;

wa s quicksilver up with the other side, and down

m - r with us, and the atch was lost by twenty fou ” ~ r . Bu t n a uns , though stupid in this i st ance , Bro d bridge was o ne o f the most artful dodgers that e n fo r. ver handled a ball , And o ce he practised some match till he appeared to all the bowlers ’ a bout Lord s to have reduced batting to a cer t : ainty but when the time came , amidst the most

n o f e sa guine expectations his friends, he mad no runs . Now for Generalship : A manager had better no t l o f fo r he be a bowler, east all a slow bowler, wants some impartial observer to tell him when t o o n c —a o ma n go and when to hange, m dest ff t will leave o too soon a conceited man too la e .

o f ff o f To say nothing the e ect a change, so well k t o i no t s nown ga n, only wickets, but catche ff e (because the timing is di erent), it is too littl considered that different bowlers are difficult t o ff t men —a o ne di eren , very forward player, and e no n-s uited ager for a Cut, may respectively be y n each by the bowli g easiest to the o t her. A manager requ ires the greatest equanimity a nd” t m l a o n e per; especial y in man ging his bowlers, l whom all depends . He should lead whi e he E 2 cno o e e AN ELEV N. 5 1 ;

a thenr ppears only to consult them, and never let feel that the men are placed contrary to their

i fieldmen t he : w shes . By changing the best into

o r e busiest places, four five good men appear lik a i is good eleven . To put a man short sl p who w o f i n o slo s ght, and a man lo g leg who d es not

In * understand a long catch, may lose a match .

i t o : putt ng the batsmen in, it is a great point have men in early who are likely to make a

s - dis co u ra in ow tand, falling wickets are very g Also beware o f the bad judges o f a run ; a nd

m a atch your men to the bowling, I have seen ma n score t wenty against o ne bowler who was at — work two against another keep your men in good spirits and good humour ; if the ga me is

a o u ca n o ne of ag inst you , save all y , and wait t hose wondrous changes that a single Over some ’ i . i o ut t mes makes Never despair t ll the last man s . . 84 i The M C . C . in 1 7 in play ng Surrey followed 1 06 wo their innings, being headed by still they n

the match by nine runs . The manager should always choose his o wn

a nd a lrea dv Eleven ; , we have hinted that fielding,

rather than batting, is the qualification . A good fi n eld is sure to save runs, though the best batsma h may not make any . When all are agreed on t e b t o owlers, I would leave the bowlers select such

-r men a s t st . i c n they can ru Then, n their secret o 2 52 THE CRICKET FIELD . clave y ou will hear such principles o f selection as “ these King must be Point, Chatterton we cannot afford to put Cover unless you can ensure Wenman to keep wicket ; Dean must be longstop he works so hard and saves so many draws ; and I have not nerve to attack the leg stump t o with any other man . We shall have at least against us whom we cannot bowling o ut ; so if for Short-slip we have f f e and at leg such a man as Coates o She field, w ” a s may pick these men up pretty easily . But

W o ur to Sir ormwood Scrubbs, secretary vows he shall never get any more pine apples and cham ’ o u r pagne for Gala days if we don t have him, ” ’ a nd . he is about our sixth bat Can t be helped, for, what with his cigar and his bad temper, he w we ill put us all wrong ; besides, must have John

Gin erle w I ff e g y, hose only fault s cha inbg, and thes

th n . t wo men will never do together . e for Middle ” “ E d wicket we have Young George . Why, ” no wards is quite as safe . Yes ; but t half as tractable; I would never bowl without George

o n a nd if I could have him ; his eye is always me, he will shift his place for every ball in the Over, a if I wish it. A handy man to put about in m t oment just where you want him, is worth a grea ” ou t i s-2 deal to a bowler. Then you leave K ng

a nd Cot eswo rth ? Wh ca n mill, Barker, y, they

‘ score better than most of the tail o f the Eleven I

254 T HE CRICKET

o e v t ou ut o ft n gi es . And take care tha y p g od

judges of a run in together. A good runner starts i ntuitively and by habit, where a bad judge, seeing

o u t . no chance, hesitates and runs him If a good O ff - - hitter and a good Leg hitter are in together, t he same field that checks the o ne will give a n

o pening to the other. n w e o m n Frequent cha ge of bowlers, h re t w e a re m : aking runs, is good but do not change good i bowling for inferior, t ll it is hit ; unless, you know ma n your batsman is a dangerous , only waiting

till his eyes are open .

n r With a fine forward player, a ea Middle

o r t c wicket forward Point of en snaps up a atch,

l a when the Bowler varies his time ; genera ly, t hird Slip can hardly be spared . If your Wicket-keeper is not likely to stump

one o f e o u any , make a Slip him, provid d y play a Short-leg ; otherwise he is wanted at the wicket

to save t he single r uns . A nd if Point is no good as Point for a sharp f o . catch, make a field him A bad Point will m e s ak more catches, and ave more runs some i s yards back . Many a t me have I een both Point T and “ icket- keeper standing where they were of T t no use . he general mus place his men not o n

o r h b ut any plan t eory, where each particular ’ n n u s ma s powers ca b e t rned to the be t a ccount . M S LA C OM ENT ON ws . 2 55

! We have already mentioned the common error of

m en fa r n t a standing too to save One, and o s !fa T o r as is compatible with saving w . ho not With a free hitter, a man w does pitch very far up answers best ; short leg-balls a re not

e . lOb n asily hit A g bowler, with the Longstop, nd o n l n a four men in all, the On side, wil shorte t h f t e innings O many a reputed fine hit er. n A good arra gement of your men, according to t i hese princ ples, will make eleven men do the r f w o k o thirteen . Some men play nervously a t fi i f rst they come n, and it is so much waste o

fa r o u t your forces to lay your men , and equally a waste not to Open your field as they begin to

hit .

We must conclude with comments o n the La ws o f t he Game . a o f I . The ball. Before the d ys John Small a ball would not last a match ; the stitches would b i give way . To call for a new ball at the eg n ” i o f n ng each innings is not customary now . Th . e . o f II bat Here , the length of the blade a b a t may b e any thing the player likes short Of

- i i . t o a t hirty e ght nches As the width, n iron frame was used in the o ld Hambledon Club as a t v wh n ~ gauge, in those primi i e days e the Hamp

o u o wn s hire yeomen shaped t their bats .

V . The popping creas e mu st be four feet from 2 6 T HE 5 CRICKET FIELD.

“ t it : n the wicke , and parallel to unlimited in le gt h; e - nZi- but not shorter than the bowling creas , u g wited in this sense that it shall not be said the

o u t ra n runner is because he round his ground . The bowling crease is limited

wise, the batsman never could umpires should be very careful to call if the bowler bowls outside the return

or The return, crease, is not limite ’ it is against a batsman s interest to his wicket ; and a little latitude is prevent dangerous collision with

keeper.

. VI . The wickets Secretaries shou

o r a o f rule, fr me, consisting two woode

fe six feet eight inches long, and four w o f w -t parallel . Then, ith a chain t enty the relative positions o f the two wickets may be a ccurately determined ” ri f o n IX . The bowler. O e oot the ground . i n No man can deliver a ball w th the foot o t touch,

ing the ground in the full swing of bowling. SO, the if the foot is over crease, there is no doubt

Of its being o n the ground . : or X . The ball must be bowled not thrown j erked here there is no t a word about touching ” i the side with the arm . It is left to the ump re t o

decide what is a jerk . We once heard an umpire

m o ut ? asked, how could you ake that to be a jerk

E D 258 TH CRICKET FIEL .

n clea r l r the ha d must be y not above the shoulde , e and the ball as clearly not thrown, nor jerk d .

o w d e N , as to high delivery as a source of ang r, we never yet witnessed that kind o f high bowling that admitted o f a dangerous increase o f speed in

' a n a ngry moment . The only bowling ever deemed

dangerous, has been clearly below the shoulder, r o f o r o f and savouring mo e a jerk, an underhand

o r n - sling, throw, than Of the rou d armed or high b ld . . Os a est o ne delivery Such bowlers were Mr ,

t . . l Browne Of Brigh on, Mr Kirwan, Mr Fel owes,

Ma roo n o n and Mr. , neither Of whom, except smooth ground, should we wish to encounter.

la But, we have Often been asked, do the w and the practice coincide ? Is it not a fact that few round-armed bowlers are clearly below the shoul d er ? Undoubtedly this is the fact . The better h the bowler, as we ave already explained, the

z more hori ontal and the fairer his delivery . Cob bett and Hillyer have eminently exemplified this principle ; but amongst amateurs and all but the o f most practised bowlers, allowing, course, for

la w some exceptions, the is habitually infringed . In a country match a strict umpire would often cry ” “ o n i no ball to the bowlers both sides, cramp the r action, produce wide balls and loose bowling, and ’ n t o s o il eve tually, not p the day s sport, the two parties Would come to a compromis e . And do ? such things ever happen Not Oft en . Because 2 COMMENTARY ON THE LAWS. 59

U e o f the mpir s exercise a degree discretion, and l the a w in the country is Often a dead letter. l oth e Practically, the law enables a fair umpir to prevent an undisguised and dangerous throw but, at the same time , it enables an unfair umpire to put aside some promising player who is as fair as his neighbours, but has not the same clique to support him . ? ff t What, then, would we suggest The di icul y f To is in the nature o the case . leave all to the ’ umpire s discretion would, as to fair bowling,

Of i o f increase those evils partial ty , and, instead an uncertain standard, we should have no standard

i la w at all . With fair ump res the does as well as many other laws as it is ; with unfair u mpires no form Of words would mend the matter . I can f never forget the remark o the late Mr. Ward Cricketers are a very peaceably disposed set o f

r men . We play for the love Of play ; the fai er h . t w t e play the better we like it O her ise, so o f - indefinite is the nature round arm bowling, that I never yet s a w a match about which the discontented might no t find a pretext fo r a ” h . a m t e 1 85 0 wrangle I happy to add, in year ,

s o lutio n he . r e t the M C . C . passed a to enforce o f i o f la w law fa r delivery . The violation this o had, we know, become almost c nventional ; this no i . w n convention the M . C . C have ignored the strongest terms ; they have cautioned their s 2 60 H T F LD 2 T E CRICKE IE .

t a n indeé umpires, promised to suppor them in

a pendent judgment, and daily encour ge them in

o f u T t he performance their unpleasant d ty . his is beginning at the right end . To expect a judge to do that which he believes will be the signal for his own dismissal is too much . d la w The absur ity of having a and breakingit, v o n n is Ob ious ; so let me insist a ewer argument, namely, that to indulge a bowler in an unfair delivery is mistaken kindness, for the fairest hori ’ ’ z ont al Cobbet t s Red a t e s delivery, like and g , tends

u most to that spin, twist, q ick rise, shooting and c utting, and that variety after the pitch in which ” efl ective bowling consists . A throw is very easy to play as it comes down, so it bounds up the d batsman feels little cre it due, and the spectator feels as little interest . The ball leaves the hand at

a n o ne a of once without y rotatory motion, and b ll the same pitch and pace is like another. Very different is that life and vitality in the ball as it spins away from the skimming and low delivery ’ f o f o a hand like Cobbett s . The angle reflection is not to be calculated by the angle of incidence

o ne n . in ten times, with such spinni g balls That rotatory motion which makes a bullet glance — instead o f penetrating that causes the slowly moving top to fly O ff with increased speed when rubbing against the wall that determines the the angle from the cushion , and either following

2 62 THE CRICKET FIELD .

t he bu t t game for them, the fair represen atives of

o wn r o n their club o their w county . i XI . He may require the str ker at the wicket o n t o f from which he is bowling, to stand tha side ” ma it which he y direct .

e . o ne e Qu ry 1 Can a bowler give guard for sid o f the WIcket and bowl the other ? N0 la w

(though law XXXVI. may apply) plainly forbids s l it ; ti l, no gentleman would ever play with such

a bowler another time .

XII . If the bowler shall toss the ball over the ’ striker s head . As to wide balls, some think there

should be a mark, making the same ball wide to a o f man six feet and to a man of five . With good

is . umpires, the law better as it is Still, any

o n parties can agree a mark for wide balls, if they

please, before they begin the game . Bowl it s o wide These words say nothing a bout the ball pitching more o r less straight and t urning Off afterwards : t he ~ dist a nce o f the ball

when it passes the batsman is the point at issue .

“ the XVI. Or if the ball be held before it touch ” i t ground . Query ; is it Out, f a ball is caugh r olling back off the tent ? If the ball striking the n tent is, by agreement, so ma y runs, then the ball

ers- is dead and a man cannot therefore be out . Oth o n wise, I should reason that the tent, being the f a s t u . t o ground, is par Of the gro nd By the spiri

t he la i not out t he t out. B ut to w t is , by le ter , L A 2 COMMENTARY ON THE ws . 63

a void the question, the better plan would be not

to catch the ball, and disdain to win a match

except by good play .

XVIII . Or, if in striking at the ball, he hit ” down his wicket . t In striking, not in running a no ch, however

awkwardly . t o f o r XIX . Or, if under pre ence running,

otherwis e . l Or otherwise ; as, for instance , by cal ing

o ut . , purposely to baulk the catcher wilq XX. Or , if the ball be struck and he y ” s trike it again . ” Wilfully strike it again . This Obviously a means, when a man blocks a ball, and afterw rds m hits it away to ake runs . A man may hit a ball

o ut o f o r . his wicket, block it hard The umpire ’ of is sole judge the striker s intention, whether to

score or to guard .

wa s o ne a This law , in memorable instance, p

t o . plied the case Of T Warsop , a fine Nottingham who hefli eld 1 8 22 player, , in a match at S in , as he h it was running a notc , hit the ball to prevent ’ - Oming home to the wicket keeper s hands . Clarke, who wa s theui playing, thinks the player was i h properly given o u t . Certa nly e deserved to be ou t o ld not new ff ; but laws do always fit O ences, h owever flagrant . 2 64 THE CRICKET FIELD .

. e an ; XXI With ball in hand . The sam h d

Bat (in hand) that is, not thrown .

XXIII. If the striker touch . This applies to A n m the Notti gha case better than Law XX . but neither Of these laws contemplated the exact

’ ' ff . u m nd O ence A ball once ran p a an s bat, a spun into the pocket o f his jacket ; and a s jhe “ ” touched the ball to get it out o f his he was given o ut . The reply of Mr. Bell

o ut fo r to uch subject was, the player was ball - he might have shaken it o ut of his poc This we mention for the curiosity of the currence .

. a n o f XXIV Or, if with y part his person, A man has been properly given ou t by st oppl ng a ball with his arm below the elbow. Also a short man, who stooped to let the ball pass over

a n d wa s a s his head, hit in the face, w once give

ou t . , as before wicket “ b From it ; that is, the all must pitch in m the line, not fro hand, but from wicket t w icket . Much has been said on the Leg-before-Wicke law . Clarke and others say that a round-arm bowle can rarely hit the wicket at all with a ball no - o u t t he o f over pitched, unless it pitch Of line t

“

. ha s wickets If this is true, a ball that be

" “ pitched straight would not have hit it ; and

2 THE 66 CRICKET FIELD .

t no t t o An umpire mus be blind indeed, discern when the ball keeps its natural line from the hand

out o f to the wicket, and when it pitches that

a . a s line, and then bruptly turns into it Besides,

la w n o w the stands, the umpire has the same

f can di ficulty and the same discretion , for how he hit ” decide the condition, would have , without

making allowance for the wide arm, and the “ o f working the ball, and bringing the said objectionable g ues s ing into requisition ? The no w no judgment proposed for the umpire, is ffi di culty at all, but the judgment he has already f o to exercise is a great di ficulty indeed . H w t often is a batsman convinced, that the ball tha hit him before wicket was making so abrupt a

w a nd turn, that it must have missed the icket, , n hit but for that abrupt turn, would ever have im no t h at all. I do believe that of the men given “ ” o ut o ne deser leg before wicket, in three are

vedl o u t . y But, often do we see a wicket saved o f by the leg and pads, when both the skill the bowler and the blunder o f the batsman deserved f alling stumps .

m . With these observations, I ust leave my friends to the free exercise o f their heads and h ands, feet and faculties, patience and perseverance, holding myself up to them as an example in o ne r ect not to o old t o nd esp only, that I am learn, a o n 2 COMMENTARY THE LAWS. 67

r will thankfully receive any contribution, whethe

o r t o o r from pen pencil, that is calculated enrich to illustrate a work, which, I am but too happy o f to acknowledge, the community cricketers have adopted as their own.

THE E ND . L ONDON

A . and . A G . Sp oTTIswo onE , ; New-street -S qua re .