Part 12

6. Besides trying every variety of length, vary your pace to deceive the batsman in timing his play; and practise the same action so as not to betray the change of pace. Also, try once or twice a high dropping ball.

7. Learn to bowl tosses and tices. With a stiff player, before his eye is in, a toss often succeeds; but especially practise high lobs--a most useful variety of ball. In most Elevens there are one or two men with whom good roundhand bowling is almost thrown away. A first-rate player in Warwickshire was found at fault with lobs: and till he learnt the secret, all his fine play was at an end.

8. Find out the farthest point to which your man can play forward safely, and pitch just short of that point with every variety of pace and dropping balls. Lillywhite’s delight is by pitching alternately just within and just out of the batsman’s reach, “_to catch him in two minds_.” Here we have positive metaphysics! Just such a wary antagonist as Lillywhite is described by Virgil,--

“Ille, velut celsam oppugnat qui molibus urbem, Nunc hos, nunc illos aditus, omnemque pererrat Arte locum; et variis adsultibus irritus urget.”

Of course _aditus_ means an unguarded stump, and _locum_ where to pitch the ball.

9. A good underhand ball of two high curves--that is, a dropping ball rising high--with a twist in to leg-stump, and a third man to On side, is very effective, producing both catch and stumping. This is well worth trying, with four men on the On side, even if some great player is brought to win a country match.

10. Most men have a length they cannot play. The fault of young bowlers is, they do not pitch far enough: they thus afford too long a sight of the ball. In the School matches and the University matches at Lord’s, this is very observable, especially with fast bowlers.

11. The old-fashioned underhand lobbing, if governed by a good head--dropping short when a man is coming out, and sometimes tossed higher and sometimes lower,--is a valuable change in most Elevens; but it must be high and accurately pitched, and must have head-work in it. Put long-stop upon the On side, and bring long-slip nearer in; and be sure that your long-fields stand far away.

12. Lastly, the last diagram explains that curvilinear bowling (the effect of a moderate pace with a spin) gives the batsman a shorter sight of the rise than is possible with the straighter lines of swift bowling. A man has nearly as much time to make up his mind and prepare for Wisden as for Clarke; because, he can judge Wisden’s ball much sooner, and, though the rise is faster, the ball has farther to come in.

THEORY OF BOWLING.--What characterises a good delivery? If two men bowl with equal force and precision, why does the ball come in from the pitch so differently in respect of cutting, twisting, or abrupt rise?

“Because one man gives the ball so much more rotatory motion on its own axis, or, so much more spin than the other.”

A throw, or the catapult which strikes the ball from its rest, gives no spin; hence, the ball is regular in its rise, and 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 thrown back at the delivery, and his fingers seemingly unglued joint by joint, till the ball quitted the tips of them last, just as you would spin a top. Cobbett’s delivery designed a spin, and the ball at the pitch had new life in it. No bowling so fair, and with so little rough play or violence, ever proved more effective than Cobbett’s. Hillyer is entitled to the same kind of praise.

A spin is given by the fingers; also, by turning the hand over in delivering the ball.

A good ball has two motions; one, straight, from hand to pitch; the other, on its own axis.

The effect of a spin on its own axis is best exemplified by bowling a child’s hoop. Throw it from you without any spin, and away it rolls; but spin or revolve it against the line of its flight with great power, and the hoop no sooner touches the ground than it comes back to you. So great a degree of spin as this cannot possibly be given to a cricket ball; but you see the same effect in the “draw-back stroke” at billiards. Revolve the hoop with less power, and it will rise abruptly from the ground and then continue its course--similar to that awkward and abrupt rise often seen in the bowling of Clarke among others.

Thirdly, revolve the hoop as you bowl it, not _against_ but _in_ the line of its flight, and you will have its tendency to bound expended in an increased quickness forward. This exemplifies a low swimming ball, quickly cutting in and sometimes making a shooter. This is similar to the “following stroke” at billiards, made by striking the ball high and rotating it in the line of the stroke.

Such are the effects of a ball spinning or rotating vertically.

Now try the effect of a spin from right to left, or left to right: try a side stroke at billiards; the apparent angle of reflection is not equal to the angle of incidence. So a cricket ball, with lateral spin, will work from Leg to Off, or Off to Leg, according to the spin.

But why does not the same delivery, as it gives the same kind of spin, always produce the same vertical or lateral effect on a ball? In other words, how do you account for the fact that (apart from roughness of ground) the same delivery produces sometimes a contrary twist? “Because the ball may turn in the air, and the vertical spin become lateral. The side which on delivery was under, may, at the pitch, be the upper side, or the upper side may become under, or any modification of either may be produced in conjunction with inequality in the ground.”

With throwing bowling, the ball comes from the ends of the fingers; why, then, does it not spin? Because, unlike Cobbett’s delivery, as explained, wherein the ball left the fingers by degrees, and was sent spinning forth, the ball, in a throw, is held between fingers and thumb, which leave their hold at the same instant, without any tendency to rotate the ball. The fairer and more horizontal the delivery the more the fingers act, the more spin, and the more variety, after the pitch. A high and unfair delivery, it is true, is difficult from the height of the rise; otherwise it is too regular and too easy to calculate, to make first-rate bowling.

A LITTLE LEARNING IS A DANGEROUS THING--and not least at cricket. The only piece of science I ever hear on a cricket field is this: “Sir, how can that be? The angle of reflection must always be equal to the angle of incidence.”

That a cricketer should have only one bit of science, and that, as he applies it, a blunder, is indeed a pity.

I have already shown that, in bowling, the _apparent_ angle of reflection is rendered unequal to the angle of incidence by the rotatory motion or spin of the ball, and also by the roughness of the ground.

I have now to explain that this law is equally disturbed in batting also; and by attention to the following observations, many a forward player may learn so to adapt his force to the inclination of his bat as not to be caught out, even although (as often happens to a man’s great surprise) he plays over the ball!

The effect of a moving body meeting another body moving, and that same body quiescent, is very different. To prove this,

Fix a bat _immoveably_ perpendicular in the ground, and suppose a ball rises to it from the ground in an angle of 45° as the angle of incidence; then supposing the ball to have no rotatory motion, it will be reflected at an equal angle, and fall nearly under the bat.

But supposing the bat is not fixed, but brought forcibly forward to meet that ball, then, according to the weight and force of the bat, the natural direction of the ball will be annihilated, and the ball will be returned, perhaps nearly point blank, not in the line of reflection, but in some other line more nearly resembling the line in which the bat is moved.

If the bat were at rest, or only played very gently forward, the angles of reflection would not be materially disturbed, but the ball would return to the ground in proportion nearly as it rose from it; but by playing very hard forward, the batsman annihilates the natural downward tendency of the ball, and drives it forward, perhaps, into the bowler’s hands; and then, fancying the laws of gravitation have been suspended to spite him, he walks back disgusted to the pavilion, and says, “No man in England could help being out then. I was as clean over the ball as I could be, and yet it went away as a catch!”

Lastly, as to “being out by luck,” always consider whether, with the same adversaries, Pilch or Parr would have been so put out. Our opinion is, that could you combine the experience and science of Pilch with the hand and eye of Parr, luck would be reduced to an infinitesimal quantity.

_Fortuna fortes adjuvat_, men of the best nerve have the best luck; and _nullum numen habes si sit prudentia_, when a man knows as much of the game as we would teach him, he will find there is very little luck after all. Young players should not think about being out by chance: there is a certain intuitive adaptation of play to circumstances, which, however seemingly impossible, will result from observation and experience, unless the idea of chance closes the ears to all good instruction.

CHAP. X.

HINTS ON FIELDING.

The essence of good fielding is, to start before the ball is hit, and to pick up and return straight to the top of the bails, by one continuous action. This was the old Wykehamist style--old, I hope not yet extinct, past revival--(thus had we written, March 1851, and three months after the Wykehamists won both their school matches at Lord’s);--for, some twenty years since, the Wykehamist fielding was unrivalled by any school in England. Fifteen years ago Mr. Ward and, severally and separately, Cobbett instanced a Winchester Eleven as the first fielding they had ever seen at Lord’s. And among this chosen number were the yet remembered names of B. Price, F. B. Wright, Knatchbull, and Meyrick. These hardy Trojans--for the ball never came too fast for them--commenced fagging out long, very long, before they were indulged in batting, and were forced to qualify, even for fagging, by practising till they could throw over a certain neighbouring barn, and were always in bodily fear of the pains and penalties of the middle stump if ever they missed a ball. But these days of the voluntary system are far less favourable for fielding. To become a good fieldsman requires persevering practice, with a “big fellow” to fag for who will expect a little more smartness than is always developed by pure love of the game.

And now, Etonians, Harrovians, Wykehamists, I mention you alphabetically, a few words on training your Eleven for Lord’s. Choose first your bowlers and wicket-keeper and long-stop; these men you must have, though not worth a run: then if you have any batsmen decidedly superior, you may choose them for their batting, though they happen not to be first-rate fieldsmen. But in most school Elevens, after naming four or five men, among the other six or seven, it is mere chance who scores; so let any great superiority in fielding decide the choice. I remember playing a match in which I had difficulty in carrying the election of a first-rate fieldsman against a second-rate bat. Now, the said batsman could not certainly be worth above fourteen runs; say seven more than the fieldsman. But the fieldsman, as it happened, made a most difficult catch, put one runner out, and, above all, kept the bowlers in good heart, during an uphill game, by stopping many hard hits. A bad fieldsman is a loose screw in your machinery; giving confidence to the adversary, and taking the spirit out of his own party. Therefore, let the captain of an Eleven proclaim that men must qualify by fine fielding: and let him encourage the following exercises:--

Put in two batsmen, whose play is not good enough to spoil, to tip and run. You will then find what very clean fielding is required to save one run, with men determined to try it.

Let every man practise long-stop.

Long-leg is a fieldsman nearly as essential as a good long-stop. A man who can run and throw well should make a long-leg his forte, and practise judging distances for a long catch, covering ground both to right and left, neat handling, with allowance for the twist, and especially an arrow-like and accurate return. No thing is so likely to put the runner out as a swift 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 some one throws or hits, let him require the quickest and most accurate throwing. A ball properly thrown comes in like an arrow--no time being lost by soaring high in air. At short distances, throw at once to the hands; where unavoidable, with a long hop. But this hop should result from a low and skimming throw; or, the ball will lose its speed. Practise throwing, without any flourish, by a single action of the arm. Any good fieldsman will explain, far better than our pen, the art of picking up a ball in the only position consistent with a quick return. A good throw often runs a man out; an advantage very rarely gained without something superior in fielding. Young players should practise throwing, and remember never to throw in a long hop when they can throw to the hands. “Many a ‘run out,’” says Mr. R. T. King, “has been lost by that injudicious practice of throwing long hops to the wicket-keeper, instead of straight, and, when necessary, hard, to his hands;” a practice that should be utterly reprobated, especially as many rising players will fancy it is the most correct, instead of the slowest, style of throwing. To throw in a long hop is only allowable when you might fail to throw a catch, and, which is worst of all, make too short a hop to the wicket-keeper. The Captain should keep an account of the best runners, throwers, clean pickers-up, and especially of men who can meet and anticipate the ball, and of those who deserve the praise given to Chatterton--“the safest pair of hands in England.”

So much for quick throwing; but for a throw up from long-field, Virgil had a good notion of picking up and sending in a ball:--

“Ille manu raptum trepidâ torquebat in hostem; Altior assurgens, et cursu concitus, heros.”

_Æn._ xii. 901.

Here we have snatching up the ball with a quiver of the wrist, rising with the effort, and a quick step or two to gain power.--Meeting the ball requires a practice of its own, and is a charming operation when you can do it; for the same impetus with which you run in assists the quickness of your return. Practice will reveal the secret of running in; only, run with your hands near the ground, so as not to have suddenly to stoop; and, keep your eyes well open, not losing the ball for an instant. In fielding, as in batting, you must study all the varieties of balls, whether tices, half-volleys, or other lengths.

A fast runner _nascitur non fit_: still, practice does much, and especially for all the purposes of a fieldsman near the wicket. A spring and quick start are things to learn; and that, both right and left: few men spring equally well with both feet. Anticipating the ball, and getting the momentum on the proper side, is everything in fielding; and practice will enable a man to get his proper footing and quick shifting step. A good cricketer, like a good skater, must have free use of both feet: and of course a fine fieldsman must catch with both hands.

Practise left-handed catching in a ring; also picking up with left: “Any one can catch with his right,” says the old player; “now, my boy, let us see what you can do with your left.” Try, also, “slobbering” a ball, to see how many arts there are of recovering it afterwards. I need hardly say that jumping off your feet for a high catch, and rushing in to a ball and patting it up in the air and catching it the second attempt, are all arts of first-rate practitioners.

SAFE HANDS.--Your hands should be on the rat-trap principle,--taking anything in, and letting nothing out again. Of course a ball has a peculiar feeling and spin off a bat quite different from a throw; so practise accordingly. By habit hand and eye will go together: what the eye sees the right part of the hand will touch by a natural adjustment. There is a way of allowing for the spin of the ball in the air: as to its tendency at Cover, to twist especially to the left, this is too obvious to require notice.

I am ashamed to be obliged to remind players, old as well as young, that there is such a thing as being a good judge of a short run: and I might hold up, as an example, an _Honourable_ gentleman, who, though a first-rate long-stop and fine style of batting, has a distinct reputation for the one run. It is a tale, perhaps, thrice told, but more than thrice forgotten, that the partner should follow up the ball; how many batsmen destroy the very life of the game by standing still like an extra umpire. Now, in a school Eleven, running notches can be practised with security, because with mutual dependence; though I would warn good players that, among strangers in a country match, sharp running is a dangerous game.

SYMPTOMS OF A LOSER OF RUNS.--He never follows up the ball, but leans on his bat, or stands sociably by the umpire; he has 20 yards to run from a state of rest, instead of 16, already on the move; he is addicted to checks and false starts; he destroys the confidence of his partner’s running; he condemns his partner to play his worst, because in a state of disgust; he never runs and turns, but runs and stops, or shoots past his wicket, making ones for twos, and twos for threes; he often runs a man out, and, besides this loss, depresses his own side, and animates the other; he makes slow fieldsmen as good as fast; having no idea of stealing a run for the least miss, he lets the fieldsmen stand where they please, saving both the two and the one; he lets the bowler coolly experiment with the wicket, when one run breaks the dangerous series, and destroys his confidence; he spares the bowler that disturbance of his nerves which results from stolen runs and suspicion of his fieldsmen; he continues the depressing influence of maiden Overs, when a Single would dispel the charm; he deserves the name of the “_Green_ man and _Still_,” and usually commences his innings by saying, “Pray don’t run me out, Sir,”--“We’ll run no risks whatever.” When there is a long hit, the same man will tear away like mad, forgetting that both he and his partner (a heavier man perhaps) want a little wind left for the next ball.--_O Ignavum pecus!_ so-called “steady” players. Steady, indeed! You stand like posts, without the least intuition of a run. The true cricketer runs while another is thinking of it; indeed, he does not think--he sees and feels it is a run. He descries when the fieldsman has a long reach with his left hand, or when he must overbalance and right himself, or turn before he can throw. He watches hopefully the end of a long throw, or a ball backed carelessly up.--Bear witness, bowlers, to the virtue of a single run made sharply and vexatiously. Just as your plot is ripe, the batsmen change, and an ordinary length supersedes the very ball that would have beguiled your man. Is it nothing to break in upon the complete Over to the same man? And, how few the bowlers who repeat the length from which a run is made! To repeat, passionless as the catapult, a likely length, hit or not hit, here it is the professional beats the amateur.--“These indirect influences of making each possible run,” says Mr. R. T. King, “are too little considered. Once I saw, to my full conviction, the whole fortune of a game changed by simply effecting two single runs; one, while a man was threatening to throw, instead of throwing, in the ball; the other, while a ball was dribbling in from about middle wicket. This one run ended thirteen maiden Overs, set the bowlers blaming the fieldsmen at the expense, as usual, of their equanimity and precision, and proved the turning-point in a match till then dead against us. Calculate the effect of ‘stolen runs’ on the powers of a bowler and his tactics as against a batsman, on the places of the fieldsmen, on their insecurity when hurried, and the spirit it puts into the one party and takes away from the other; and add to this the runs evidently lost; and, I am confident that the same Eleven that go out for sixty would, with better running, generally make seventy-five, and not uncommonly a hundred.”

Attend, therefore, to the following rules:--1. Back up every ball as soon as actually delivered, and as far as consistent with safe return. 2. When both men can see the ball, as before wicket, let the decision depend on the batsman, as less prepared to start, or on the elder and heavier man, by special agreement; and let the decision be the partner’s when the ball is behind the hitter. 3. Let men run by some call: mere beckoning with strangers leads to fatal errors, backing up being mistaken for “run.” “Yes,” “no,” or “run,” “stop,” are the words. “Away” sounds like “stay.” 4. Let the hitter also remember that he can often back up a few yards in anticipation of a ball passing the fieldsman. 5. Let the first run be made quickly when there is the least chance of a second. 6. Let the ball be watched and followed up, as for a run, on the chance of a miss from wicket-keeper or fieldsmen. So, never over-run your ground. 7. Always run with judgment and attention, never beyond your strength: good running between wickets does not mean running out of wind, to the suffusion of the eye and the trembling of the hand, though a good batsman must train for good wind. Henry Davis of Leicester was fine as ever in practice, when too heavy to run, and therefore to bat, in a game. The reason of running out and losing runs is, generally, the want of an established rule as to who decides the run. How rarely do we see a man run out but from hesitation! How often does a man lose his chance of safety by stopping to judge what is his partner’s ball! Let cricketers observe some rule for judging the run. There will then be no doubt who is to blame,--though, to censure the batsman because his partner is run out, when that partner is not backing up, is too bad. Let the man who has to decide bear all the responsibility if his partner is out; only, let prompt obedience be the rule. When a man feels he must run because called, he will take more pains to be ready; and, when once it is plain that a batsman has erred in judgment and lost one wicket of his eleven, he will, if worth anything, make a study of running, and avoid so unpleasant a reflection for the future. Fancy such a _mem._ as this:--“Pilch run out because Rash hesitated,” or “Rash run out because when the hitter called he was not backing up.”

These and many other ideas on this most essential, yet most neglected, part of the game, I shall endeavour to illustrate by the following computation of runs which might have been added to an innings of 100.

Suppose, therefore, 100 runs scored; 90 by hits, 4 by wide balls, and 6 by byes and leg byes--the loss is commonly as follows:--