Cricket 1894

“ Together joined in cricket’s manly toil.”— Byron , - ■ — ----------------------- - -- . . . , ■ ■_ - ■■ r ~ ■ ■— ■—— u— mrm B. g Btered k 7 ^ in slS S o n ?b ro a a THURSDAY, SEPT. 20, 1894. PR IC E 2d. CRICKET NOTCHES BY THE R e v . B . S . H o l m e s . The closing paper of the season, and I have enough matter for at least half a dozen “ Notches.” What to d o ? Do your best, make a start, and then cram as much as possible into the space allotted to you. Here are eight fresh correspondents turning up iu the course of last week, all of whom ought to receive a courteous notice, for most of them have given me something to think about. They hail respectively from London (at least four do), Harlesden,Brockley, Cais- ton in Lincolnshire, and Melksham in Wilts. One is from a lady, who must certainly not be passed over; she asks my “ opinion upon a point which cropped up in a village match the other day. One of the bowlers resorted to the primitive method of fast grub?, which he delivered round the wicket from the ex­ treme edge of the crease. Now could such a ba’l be held to pitch in a straight line between the wickets; and under the existing law might not batsman have met such a delivery with feet and pads'? ” Well, I hope no batsman would, for itisn ot ciicket. This Law 24, it seems, does not mean what its wording implies; “ pitched in a straight line from wicket to wicket ” means pitched within a rectangle 22 yards long by 8 inches wide. Simple folks like G. T. HIRST (THE YOEKSHIB3 BOWLEB). From a photo by Hawlims- & Co., Brighton. myself thought it meant that the ball must actually describe a straight course between wicket andwicket. Consequently, round-the- wicket bowling, could never result in lbw. Granting that we are wrong, and the popular voice right, then draw the above figure on paper to scale ; place the bowler at the “ extreme edge of crease,” and it can be proved mathematically that a perfectly plain ball may be pitched within that rectangle and still hit the wicket, but not if it have the smallest leg- b ia s: it may have the off-twist and yet not miss the stumps. As most of my readers know, I want this lbw law to be much more sweeping, and to includ) the stoppage by any part of the person covering one or more stumps of any ball, pitched on or off the wicket, b eaking or non-breaking, which would in the umpire’s opinion have hit the wicket unless inter­ cepted. Legging would then become a lost art. Somebody writes that in the Surrey v. Yorkshire match at the Oval last year Wardall was got out by Lockwood “ with th» first ball sent down in each ianings.” I can find no confirmation of this. All that the guides and news- papers say is that the first ball Wardall received was fatal to him in both innings, i should be glad o f official information or* the matter. My reference to “ Weather on WicketsV