Cricket 1884

4^0 CEICKET; A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME, s e p t , 25, ism. P R A C T IC A L H IN T S ON CR ICK E T .* B y W illia m C lar k e , Slow bowler, and Secretary to the All Eng­ land Eleven. D edicated to t h e H on . F red erick P on son by . I. THE SCIENCE OF BOWLING. T he merit of Bowling in my opinion is delivering the ball according to a man’s play, which you must ascertain by strictly watch­ ing the movements of the batter ; that you will be able to do, by giving him what you would call a good length ball, according to the speed; for instance, Clarke 4^ yards, Hillyer 5, Wisden 5£. By giving him a few of those to begin with, as near as you can , you will be able to find out his particular play, and where he is most deficient. In the present day you wi'l find they are most of them inclined to play back. I shorld say this has been caused by bowlers not working sufficiently with mind, but always pitching the ball at the same length. When you see this back play, you must force the ball on­ wards, so as to make the man play out ; and the ball is never tossed far enough, till that object is gained ; that is, the batsman made to play forward. Perhaps before th&t is the case, you will have caused him to retire ; for instance, in 1850 I drove twelve men on their wickets. If your man is particularly fond of playing back, you must keep repeating the dose; for if he plays out once or twice, he is sure to go back to his old play. If he does not, but tries to hit you forward, he will very likely give a chance, not being used to that style of play. In case he should hit you forward, you will be well prepared for him, by having a man or two placed in the long field. The hit will most likely fetch but on e; and if hit up, it may be caught. A short 1all is the worst bali a man delivers; the batsman can hit it almost where he chooses, and is likely to give no chance3.f A ball over tossed on the contrary makes the batsman play ou t; and if the ball is not well covere d with an upright bat, he is al­ most sure to give a chance. Therefore, a ball should sooner be over tossed than short. Many bowlers pay no attention to the most essential, and I should say, the prettiest part of the game; that is, the field. I have seen a man deliver the ball, and never look to the field, or see whether they are all there, even before the long stop has got to his place. A bowler must have a high opinion of his own abilities, to think he can beat his opponents without his field. In laying out your field, you should be careful in selecting good men for your prin­ cipal places, such as wicket keeper, point, stop, short slip ; those posts being well sccured. you will be able to move the others at leisure ; which you will have to do, if your bowling is pretty correct, which it must be if you are to have an efficient field. How can you lay out a field for an uncertain bowler ? How can you tell where the men will hit him ? I mean one of the any-how style, happy-go-lucky, yard on this side, yard on the other, all men alike, one straight in about two overs. How careful the Public Schools ought to be in selecting bowlers of good de­ livery for their instructors, men who go up to the wicket as if they were going to put the ball somewhere about the mark. On them * Cricket Notes by W. Bolland, published in 1851. + There are a fexv exceptions as to bowlers, whose Btyle won’t allow them to over toss the ball; I shall explain this in another part. depends the future style of the learners, who ought not to be taught to throw away all their fine manly strength in empty air. Why, a person who recommends a wild scrambling bowler to teach cricket, ought to be took up under the Cruelty to Animals Act. A Bowler should first try to get a steady style of delivery, easy not distressing, and should be sure nob to bowl at the very top of his strength, for in that case he must be­ come wild and reckless, losing that precision, which is so necessary to defeat a good bats­ man. It frequently happens that when a Bowlor finds he is dropping the ball short, he will stoop forward and try to propel it with greater force, which will cause him to drop it still shorter and get him into greater diffi­ culties ; the very reverse should be the case, when he finds himself that way inclined, he should immediately rear himself as erect as possible, for the more upright a Bowler stands, the greater the ease with whieh he will deliver the ball, and the more difficult will it be to play ; the ball is delivered higher and there is more circle, and the greater the circle the greater the deception to the Bats­ man. This applies to all sorts of bowlers. For instance if a Bowler has been forcing a man on his wicket, till he won’t sub­ mit to it any longer, he may by to:sing the ball a little higher and a little shorter so deceive the Batsman that he will play out, though he has been playing balls back that have been pitched a yard farther, and will very likely lose his wicket by this mistake : at the same time he must be careful to de­ liver with the same action or he will be de­ tected by the Batsman, who will be put on his guard. Tiie greatest proof that it is not speed alone that tells, but the length according to a man’s play, with as much deception as possible, is that you will see a good slow Bowler do as much or more execution on a fine even damp or dead ground than Bowlers of greater speed that have not equal precision. Why is this ? but because many Bowlers never study the state of the ground but deliver at the same speed and at the same place, as near as they can, on a dry as on a wet ground. On a dry hard ground five yards would be a good length and difficult to play, but on soft and spongy ground such a ball would be hit away. Therefore it is necessary in such a case to put a little more speed on as well as pitch the ball a little further. This proves my argument that a man should not always bowl with all his strength, but have a little left for particular occasions. I said it was not speed alone that tells, but I don’t wish it to be supposed that I recom­ mend very slow bowling without alteration ; a ball must have some pace or a man will walk into it and do as he likes, if he has got legs, though of late years those articles have not been so much exercised as of old, while padding has been substituted for their use. Nothing tests the truth of Bowling bo much as a good level ground; it will find out the bad balls soon enough, and will enable the Batsman to hit them, and perhaps leave so few good ones that the Bowler will be obliged to retire, while on rough ground the same bad balls might have escaped and per­ haps even proved effective. Suppose you have what I call a skimming Bowler, for mind you all straight arm Bowlers don’t de­ liver alike. Some sink their body in delivery and turn the elbow in close to the side, which makes the ball more like an underhand one, and causes it to come straight from the hand, so that it is plain, as you can see it all the way, and by placing the bat full at it you will rarely make a mistake. Such a ball has no deception; as it is delivered from the hand so will it rise from the bound. It is no use putting it further up, as there is nothing to deceive the batter, he will drive it forward. This i3 the part I said I would refer you to. Well, such a bowler is seldom any use on level or soft ground. There is no fire in the ball. It won’t get up, and being pitched rather short to keep it from being hit forward, can’t do any execution. But on a hard une ven or glibby ground such bowling often tells well, but I question if under like circumstances a better style would not tell better. Though I recommend you to get the style of delivery that is easy to yourself, I don’t say that you should be careless or lazy, on the contrary, you must put all your body and mind in a determination to get your man out, and be guarded above all things not to lose your temper. At times it’s enough to make you bite your thumbs to see your best balls pulled and sky-rocketed about—all luck —but you must console yourself with, “ Ah, that won’t last long.” Now as for the place of delivering the ball —the bowling crease is three feet on each side the stumps. You will find most men deliver with the foot placed half way betwixt the end of the crease and the wicket, some nearer the wicket. I think this is an error, they ought to deliver at the very end of the crease, for the ball then has to go more across the wicket and is more deceptive to the batter. It is a plan I generally adopt, and if it is advantageous to me that is only half round, how much more must it be to a straight arm bowler. Now a word as to variation in delivery, such as raising the hand higher and lower (I am now speaking of Bowling according to the Rules), variation of speed and height, sometimes higher and sometimes lower, sometimes faster sometimes slower, deceives the batsman. These are all little things, but though appearing trivial may amount to a great deal. But after all that has been said; I have never stated what is the most dangerous ball for a batsman, except the one that gets him out. It is the ball that catches him in two minds, so that he does not know whether to play forward or backward, but plays half-way ; that’s the ball if you can do it. How? By putting the Ball exactly in the right place according to your man’s play. From these hints and observations you must not expect to reap the advantage in a week or fortnight. Some may profit perhaps in years, some never, for— “ One science only will one genius fit, So vast is art, so narrow human wit.” II. ON FIELDING. I n placing the Field the men should be laid out according to the hitting ; all batters have favourite hits. When in the Field you should be particular in watching the move­ ments of the batsman ; you should not take your eye off him when in the act of playing, but always expect to have every bali played to you. That will cause you to be on your legs; and, though the ball should be played on the opposite side to where you are, you will get a good start at it, and actually be on your way almost before the batter has played the ball. In returning the ball, you should be sure and try to throw it in breast high. I think the system of making the ball