Cricket 1890

NOV. 27, 1890, CRICKET j A WEEKLY EECORD OF THE GAME. 461 First let m e urge upon him to praotise in earnest as soon as he begins, and if possible to get his first lesson from an experienced player. H e need not have it from one who in his time made his hundreds against the finest bowling in England, and who prates about the glories of the p a st; a humbler individual, who has a real love for the game, will often be of more use, and will not be averse to showing how it is done. H e has, in all likelihood, been through the m ill him self, and knows that nothing short of patient practice will lead to success. That is the teacher worth listening to ; but the pupil should not be content with his help alone. H e should seek for every opportunity to witness the great players of the day, and watch their styles attentively, so that he m ay have both example and precept. One of the first essentials to the making of a good batsman is a good wicket. There are very few schools of any importance now with­ out a cricket-ground, and the pitch is generally well looked after; but there are hundreds of beginners living in the country who are not so favoured, and who have to look after the pitch themselves. L et me impress on them the great need to do it. I have said elsewhere that I cannot remember when we had not a good pitch at h om e; but let me say alsc that it was entirely owing to our individual efforts that we had it. Many an hour we spent in turn rolling i t ; and we had our reward. F or years I have done the same thing with m y own boys. It only requires a beginning, and once you have played on a good wicket you will never be satisfied with an indifferent one. Y ou will be singularly fortunate if you have a piece of ground of any size at hom e; but it is not absolutely necessary that it should be full size. Thirty to forty yards long, by fifteen to twenty broad, with stop-nets, will serve your purpose beautifully; and it will not be a disadvantage at that stage of your progress to be told that, for other than cricket reasons, you must keep the ball low when you hit. And you need not worry if the whole of it is not turfed over. As long as you have ten yards in good condition, and carefully rolled in front of the wicket you are batting at, you have all that is needful for satisfactory pro­ gress. Always play w ith a bat suited to your strength and height. E very boy longs for a full-size b at; and thinks it a reproach to practise with anything else. I can assure you that you are going the wrong way to acquire a correct style if your wish be gratified, and m ay get into faulty habits that will stick to you all your life. Youth is the impressionable tim e for both mental and physical training, and in the m ajority of cases it is more difficult to unlearn than learn. Y ou m ay not always be able to get a bat the weight you desire, and very little m ischief may result from playing with one two or three ounces too heavy, for weight does not affect your playing straight; but a full-sized bat in the hands of a boy who is something between four and five feet in height is an unwieldy weapon, a great blunder, and destructive of a free, sound style. It is impossible for you to play straight with i t ; for the top of the handle will about reach your chin, and you will have no alternative but to play with a cross bat. Is there any need for me to say that playing with a straight bat is more likely to protect your wicket than playing with a cross bat ? If you have any doubt about it, get someone to hold a bat both ways in front of a wicket, and see for yourself which style protects it most. As a rule you will find that a bat is about the proper length for your height when the end of the handle reaches your belt. That will enable you to ground it properly and play perfectly straight while holding it with the right hand about the m iddle of the handle, which is the best place to grip it for defensive and offensive purposes. Some stone-wall players play with the right hand close to the shoulder; but that, while admittedly good for defence, will undoubtedly cramp your hitting owers. Going to the other extreme end of olding it at the top of the handle will admit of loftier and more vigorous hitting, but it will weaken your defence. I believe in h old ­ ing it about half-w ay up, and with the hands in that position have always been able to defend m y wicket against all kinds of bowling and still hit as freely as I desired to. W bile you are waiting for the ball grip the handle firm ly; and make sure that the hands are in the right position. The left hand should be uppermost, with the back of the hand to the bow ler; while the right hand should have the back to your wioket, with the fingers and thumb opposite the bowler. But try to get some one to show you how to hold the bat and place the hands, and you will in five minutes get a better idea of the right and wrong ways of doing it than you would get in an hour from the m ost elaborate treatise ever written on batting. Indeed, that advice m ight be applied to many other details, as it is so difficult to give a clear idea without drawing. The next point is a very important one— where and how to stand at the wicket. It makes very little difference whether you take guard to cover middle stump or m iddle and leg ; but the position of the feet cannot be too carefully studied and practised. Place the right foot just inside the crease, and make sure that the toes are clear of the wicket. The left foot should be outside the crease, at a distance to enable you to stand easily and com ­ fortably, with the toes clear of the wicket also. Some players, and good players too, place the left foot in front of the w icket; but that, I am certain, is a mistake, and with a weak umpire at the bowler’s end may cause mischief. The players themselves will be the first to tell you it is a bad h a b it; but it was one they got into in their boyhood, and it has stuck to them since. Y ou must not go to the other extreme of standing with the feet too wide of the wicket, or you will give the bowler an opening to bowl you off your pads, which he will be quick to seize. A good length ball between the bat and the pads is known as the blind spot to most batsmen, and you are affording the bowler an additional chance in allowing the ball to cannon off your pads on to the wicket. I have always studied and I believe succeeded in keeping m y feet clear of the wicket, but so close that it was impossible for a ball to get between the pads and the wicket. It has never cramped m y hitting or defence, and very rarely has m y wicket been captured in that way. Sometimes I have drawn a line from the leg stump to the crease, so that I might see at a glance if m y feet were clear of the wicket, and it is not a bad habit for a young player to cultivate. Once he has got into the habit of standing correctly, he may drop doing it in a match, although I believe in taking every precaution whether I am practising or playing in a match. Take your block a little more than a length of the bat from the wicket, and be sure to make a good mark so that you will not lose sight of it. And if after playing for a little while it gets worn and dim, do not hesitate to ask the umpire to give it you afresh. You are now ready to play the ball, and w ill ground your bat in the block hole when the bowler begins his run. One or two writers sa y: “ Stand with your weight equally balanced on both legs.” That I believe to be a great mistake. The weight should be chiefly on the right leg, and kept there when you raise your bat to play the ball. F or want of that being constantly drilled into the learner’s bead, he too often moves the right foot when he plays at the ball, which is subversive of all good play. Anything that will cause you to m ove the right foot when you are defending your wicket is bad advice indeed, and I am inclined to think that standing with your weight equally balanced on both legs has a tendency that way. In fact, I believe it to be good advice that the beginner’s right foot should be pegged down for some time, until he acquires ease and confidence in playing back and forward. Another mistake comm itted is twirling or flourishing the bat after you have raised it from the block hole, preparatory to hitting or playing the ball. It serves no earthly purpose, unless it be to cover your nervousness, and it is decidedly bad form . Y ou have all your work cut out to keep your eye on the bowler’ s arm, and florishing the bat does not help th a t; besides, I very m uch question if you can come down so quickly or correctly on a shooter with the bat m oving up and down as you can holding it quietly a few inches from the ground. A nd now we com e to the first and im - ortant stage in the art of batting—how to eep up your wicket. That must be the aim of the beginner; for no one will ever score largely and consistently who cannot do it. It is better a thousand times to be able to keep your wicket up for an hour, even if you only score ten, than to make the same number of runs in the first over and be bowled the next. I admit that the addition to the total score is the sam e; but ten runs in an hour, if made by the first or fifth man of your side, are worth double that number made in a couple of overs; for in all probability you will have taken the sting out of the bowling, and paved the way for the batsmen who follow. The art of defence may be summed up thus : the power to play backward and for­ ward. It was not an uncommon thing years ago to hear it said of this player and the other player, “ Oh, he plays everything back, and is wonderfully strong and patient in his defence.” If you had asked, “ Cannot he play forward a lso ?” you would very likely have been told that he did not trouble about that, and that the w icket was too rough and bumpy to attempt i t ; besides he had such a long reach that the balls he could not play back to he could invariably hit. Now if anyone were to make that statement to-day, he m ight escape ridicule, but believe me he would be very quickly classed as a half­ equipped batsman. The wickets are now too good to bo used as an excuse, while eo accurate has becom e the bowling, that a batsman who could only play back would very quickly get stuck up, and be caught at point or short slip. B oth styles of play must be cultivated, and until the beginner has acquired proficiency in both his defence is very im perfect. In both the grand essential is to keep the right foot firm and play with a straight bat. If you are compelled to play back, you will have to draw back the left fo o t ; but on no account must you m ove the right. That you must keep as firm as if it were riveted to the ground, or you w ill very likely be driven on to your wicket. A nd do not forget to keep your left shoulder well forward and come down on the ball with firmness. The great secret of good back play is a quick eye and watching the bowler. Per­ haps the bowler is bowling over the wicket, and you have takeu guard for m iddle and off stumps. He may bow l on the off stump with sufficient break to hit the leg stump, and you will then have to change quickly to protect it. Or the ball m ay have break enough to hit the pads and cannon on to the wicket, if you are not quick enough with eye and wrist to meet it. Be sure to grip the bat firmly, and have the handle sloping slightly forward, and be on the look out for an occasional shooter. They do not com e so frequently as they used to, but that makes them all the more dangerous when they do come. A nd whatever you do, do not get in front of the wicket when you play the ball. There is no need to give that bit of advice as long as you keep the right foot firm and in the position I have already advised you to place it when taking gu ard; but unfortunately there are one or tw o of our very finest batsmen to-day who step right in front to most balls and whose example you m ight be tempted to follow . You cannot be too much on your guard against i t ; for sooner or later, a bowler with a thinking head on his shoulders will favour you with a fast yorker, and you will have to pay the penally for m issing it. There are others who do it when NEXT ISSUE, DECEMBER 27.