Cricket 1890

488 CRICKET: A WEEKLY BECORD OP THE GAME; OCT. 80, 1890. FORTY YEARS OF CRICKET. B y W . Gr. G ra c e . [Perm ission has been kindly given to us to reproduce the Chapters on “ B ow lin g” and “ Batting ” from the above work;] N o. 25.— B o w li n g . T he m ajority of crieket writers whose opinions are worth listening to are agreed that a fift’st-class bow ler is born, not made, and m y experience of tw enty-five years has confirm ed the truth of it. I have never met either amateur or professional bowler in the first flight who did not possess the heaven- born gifts of style and delivery without cul­ tivation, or who could tell where he got them from . Some of them have said, “ O h ! I could always chuck a stone pretty straight,1’ and that seems as good an explanation as any. I am not going to cry down perseverance and the ability for taking pains, for I owe too m uch to th em ; but I repeat, a first-class bowler must have the inestimable something which enables him to begin bowling as natur­ ally as a duck takes to water. Afterwards it depends entirely on him self if he is to make a great name. There is only one way of doing that, and it is sheer hard work w ith muscle and brain. Physical strength alone will not do it on the perfect wickets we have nowadays: it must be accompanied with a sound head. H ow often have we heard it said of this and the other bow ler that he has not com e up to the promise of his youth, although he has been a most diligent and exemplary worker ! W e have no need to go far for an explanation: it all lies in the not uncomm on experience that he has the m isfortune to be lacking in brain power, and w ill never be other than a m ember of the ding- dong “ stuff-em -in” type if he were to practise fora hundred years. H e can dow h ath eistold, bowl straight and keep a good length, but has not the power to read the batsman’s thoughts, or the ingenuity to find out his weakness. He w ill always be a good change bowler, but he w ill never reach the first-class. Several things should be impressed on the young bowler when he begins, but the following in particular: B ow l straight. Bow l a good length. V ary your pace. Try to get some break on the ball. Learn something about the nature and condition of the wioket on which you are bowling. Seek for the weak spots in the batsman’s defence. Anybody can bow l straight is another truism ; but how many can do it without tiring quickly ? T he young bowler should be taught to begin at a distance at which he can bowl for half-an- hour without exhausting himself, and not be satisfied until he can hit the stumps three tim es out of six. T he length of run he must find out for h im self; but one great point he must observe—not to stop for a second when he reaches the «rease and delivers the ball. I have seen a gfiafA many bowlers do that, and who could only account for it that they had been taught badly and could not get out of the habit of doing it. W ell, it is a very bad habit, and half the benefit of the run is lost, and the oung bowler should be corrected every time e does it. Three years ago I rather fancied a short run, believing it tired the bowler less; but I have changed m y opinion of late years, and would advise something between six and ten yards. Nearly all the good bowlers we have to-day, no matter their pace, take a longish run, and the giants of the past did the same thing, Mr. S. M . J. W oods, Lohmann, Briggs, Peel and Attew ell are the m ost prom ­ inent of our English bowlers at present, and all take a good ru n ; Messrs. Spofforth, Boyle, Turner and Ferris do the same thing. T he young player cannot do better than watch them carefully, make note of their styles, and mark their points of difference. A nother point that used to be urged strongly was to present a full front to the batsman at the moment the ball left the hand. That has been considerably m odified of late years, and you will now find m ore advocates for a side position. Presenting a full front means that the bowler’s arm can be seen for a little before the ball leaves the hand— a point in favour of the batsman; a side position means that arm and hand are hidden until the last moment— a point in favour of the bowler. I could m en­ tion the names of half-a-dozen bowlers, of whom it has been said that their delivery was a m ost puzzling one, and that it was pretty m uch owing to their being able to keep their arm out of sight. O f others, again, it has been said: “ W e have no difficulty w ith them—we can see them all the way.” I am not advocating the cultivation of a style merely for the purpose of distracting the attention of the batsm an; but I would point out the great success that has attended such bowlers as Messrs. C .A . (“ round the corner ” ) Smith, Spofforth, Giffen and Ferris, who have all peculiar deliveries. W hen Mr. Smith begins his run he is behind the umpire and out of sight of the batsm an; and I can assure you it is rather startling to weak nerves when he suddenly appears at the bow ling crease. Spofforth goes to the other extreme, starting some yards on the off-side of the batsman, and giving the impression that he is aiming at a point nearer short-leg than the wicket. G. Giffen is even more tantalising; for, just before the ball leavss his hand, his arm is completely hidden, and there is more of his back than his face to be seen. Ferris, the left-hander, is another. H e starts his long run with his bowling-hand close to his le g ; when he has got over three or four yards he brings both hands together almost on a level with his chin, and he looks as if he were kissing the tips of his fingers to the crowd. Down goes the hand again for another trot; four yards more and he brings his hands together above his head, and a pair of sparkling eyes and a well-defined nose peep out between th em ; and just as you get a little bit excited and wonder when it is com ing to an end, his bowling-arm disappears behind, to appear with startling rapidity to deliver the ball. J. C. Shaw, the famous left­ hander, was another who puzzled m ost bats­ m en the first over or two, H e brought his arm from behind his back, and caused me a lot of trouble in the early part of m ost innings I played against him . I could name many others who want careful w atching; but those I have given are sufficient to prove what I say —that the bowler who delivers the ball side­ ways is more difficult to watch than the bowler who delivers it w ith a full front. I have been assuming that the young bowler is learning to bowl round-arm ; for there can­ not be two opinions that underhand bowling, whether slow or fast, is not so deadly in the hands of a first-class bowler. The next point to be considered is the height of tfce arm in delivering the ball. It may now be safely accepted that above the shoulder is more effective than under i t ; in fact the higher the better. If the wicket be at all fast, the ball invariably com es quicker off the pitch, and is m ore likely to lead to a catch. H ow­ ever, care must be taken to bowl with a free arm, or there will be very little sting—or “ d evil” as it is called—in the ball. A ll the great fast bowlers of the past had a beautiful arm action, and have not been surpassed in that respect by Lohm ann, Turner or Attewell —three of the most finished bowlers we have at the present time. George Freeman, tho best fast round-arm bowler I ever played against, had a lovely free arm action, though he did not raise his arm so m uch above the shoulder as some. H e did not appear so fast as the other great bowlers of his tim e, but no one could make the ball com e so quickly off the pitch as he did, and he was very effective with ball that kept low. John Jackson was slightly before m y time, but his arm action delighted m e the little I saw of it. Tarrant, with his long run all over the place, was another; then there was Allen H ill, whose free arm delivery was a model for all time. Martin M cIntyre, with- his head- over-heels action, though not in the same bowling class as Freeman and Jackson, got up his pace entirely owing to his freedom of arm ; and Mold and Sharpe, o f the present time, are worthy of being watched. And amongst the amateurs may be mentioned Messrs. Foord-K elcey, Christopherson, A. H. Evans, ft. Lipscom be and S. M. J. W oods. The young bowler must not think because he can bowl straight that he is worthy of taking his place among good bowlers. H e is still in the very elementary stage, and is not out of the alphabet of the game. A good length is the next thing to be studied, and though I have put it second on the list, it is really the key-note to good bowling. Delivery, break, and pace are m uch to be desired, but without length they are utterly useless. There are some bowlers who, by their wonderful accuracy of length, stick up the batsmen and get wickets on the most perfect grounds, and I need only m ention Attewell, of Notts, who is without a superior to-day, as a fine example of what I mean. Good wickets reduce most bowlers to a level, and it is only the good-length bowlers who can do anything with them. W illsher was past his best when I m et h im ; but though he had lost much of his breaking powers and variety of pace, he had still a grand length and kept hammering away with it, and wras successful up to the last day he played. Break and pace m ay go, and very often do go earlier than one could wish, but so long as a bowler preserves his length he can do good work in m ost elevens. A good-length ball may be described as one which very often finds the batsman in two m inds. H e is in doubt whether to play back or forward to it, and while he is trying to think it out, either the ball beats him altogether or he spoons it to a fieldsman close in. It is difficult to say exactly the distance it should be from the batsman’s wicket, but the opinion of very good and experienced players is, that for slow bowling it should pitch about four yards from the w icket; for medium pace, four and a-half yards to five ; for fast, from five to six. Of course the quality of the batsman will always have to be considered; for what may be a good-length ball to a batsman with a short reach, will be almost a half-volley to a tall player possessing an exceptionally long reach. The beginner cannot do better, however, than to put a mark, say a feather or apiece of paper, at either of the distances I have mentioned, according to his pace, and practise diligently. Anything within a foot of it will be a good- length ball, and will test the defence of any batsman. I said that the young bowler should begin at a distance suited to his strength. Let me now press upon him the greater need not to exceed his strength when he is able to bowl the full length. Prom ising bowlers have been ruined by the hundred for want of that caution, especially amongst the amateurs. The temp­ tation to bowl just a little faster ought to be repressed rather than encouraged, for it is fatal to success and not unlikely to lead to a breakdown. Find out exactly what you can do in half-an-hour’s practice without tiring, and stick to it. It is a rule that cannot be too strongly taken to heart in learning; for on our vastly improved wickets to-day the innings are of longer duration, and the physical strain demanded of a first-class bowler is greater than at any time since the game began. I need only allude to the exceptionally hard work which Messrs. Turner and Ferris went through for the Australian Elevens which came to us in 1888 and 1890. T he work they went through in those seasons was a feat of physical endurance, and it would not have surprised anyone if either had broken down. E very player aiming at becom ing a really good bowler for his county must face the fact that he may have to bowl for hours and days at a tim e, and that bowling above his strength will wear him out and lead to short-length balls which the m ost indifferent batsman can play with ease. Vary your pace is m y next bit of advice. That does not mean you are to bowl a lot of NEXT ISSUE, NOVEMBER 27.