Cricket 1895

M a y 2, 1895. CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 103 between the innings ; when a ground, though somewhat soft and difficult early in the day, but not soft enough to cut up badly, is drying rapidly under the influence of a hot sun, there is every chance of a hard and fast wicket in the afternoon. Reference is not here made to a regular nasty caking wicket, which occurs but rarely, but one which has been drying for a day or so. In this case only a very light roller should be used; the heavy roller may bring up moisture and make the wicket quite slow again, and perhaps (on a hot day) difficult. To sum up, grounds play easily for the batsman when they are either quite dry or quite wet; therefore, it is the duty of the captain whose side is going in to bat, to put the heavy roller on when the ground is too saturated to give any chance of a hard and fast wicket, and to keep it off when there is such a chance. The roller has in addition to the power of rolling up water, also the power of rolling it down into the soil. It must therefore be strongly impressed on professionals, or those who look after grounds, never to use the roller immediately after rain. Many a fast wicket is rendered slow by mistaken ideas on this subject. Water cannot quickly get into a ground that is really hard, and the chances are that if it is left alone the water will evaporate; but rolling is very likely to squeeze it into the ground, and make the pitch very much slower than it otherwise would have been. This applies to grounds at all times, whether before or during a match. Another occasionwhen the heavy roller ought not to be used is on a crumbling wicket. No good can be done by its use when a ground is in this state, and it will probably crumble it all the more. When a wicket is inclined to crumble, the broom must not be applied too freely between the innings. I have seen the whole surface-soil of a pitch swept away in clouds of dust by a misguided groundman, and very queerly the wicket played in consequence. CONCERNING CAKED AND DIFFICULT W ICKETS. Once or twice during every season a man who plays cricket regularly will find himself (if a batsman) in the unenviable position of having to go in twice on the same day on a wicket that is “ caked.” That is to say, the surface of the soil will have dried just to that extent at which the greatest possible amount of “ devil” will be imparted to the ball, although the bowler may never in his life have been guilty of trying to put on any break or spin of any sort. The author having on more than one occasion at Lord’s and elsewhere found himself on this sort of wicket bustling for specs.” (a common expression among cricketers, which is best explained on paper by writing down two 0’s, and joining themwith a dash of the pen, so : 0—0), feels himself as well qualified as any man to make a tew observations on caked wickets generally. 51 “ to first place they are found, as a rule, on clay grounds that are well drained, and have very little grass on them, the sort of ground jn fact, which, taking the whole season is the best and fastest. On pitches with a thick covering of grass a caked wicket is seldom seen, for bare clay bakes under the influence of a hot sun and dries ten times as on the surface as those grounds which are protected by a thick herbage. It is not often hat one is called upon to play on a real caked wicket, because this sort of ground—if well ramed—dries so quickly that the difficult • soon passed, while if they are adequately drained they will generally remam slow and easy. On showery days, h* intervals, clay wickets will often e ®Cult at times, though, immediately after the showers, the ground may play easily. If you happen to be captaining a side, and you come down to the ground on a fine summer’s day with the glass steadily rising, and if there has been heavy rain previously, you proceed to make a careful inspection of the pitch. You have now to decide :— 1. Whether the ground is too soft to be difficult (at all events at first). 2. Whether it is hard enough to be fast and true. 3. Whether it is just dry enough to be caked. Being a man of observation (as all good captains are) you will not have much difficulty with the help of previous experience in your decision, especially if you get somebody to bowi a few balls down. In nine cases out of ten you will see at a glance that the state of the ground is either No. 1 or No. 2, and that it is likely to be in favour of the batsman for the first hour or two, whatever may happen after lunch. About twice in a season, if you play regularly, you will find a caking, difficult wicket. In all three cases you will be des­ perately anxious to win the toss in the first and second because you want to go in ; in the third because you don't want to beput in. Let it be imagined that you are lucky enough to win the toss, that it is a cloudless day, and you have every reason to believe the wicket is, or will shortly be, a caked and difficult one. Put the other side in, even though they have far the strongest batting side; for by doing so you will probably win the match. About four o’clock you will go in on a perfect wicket, and will have the satisfaction of reading next day in the sporting papers of the feeble display of your opponents and your owmbrilliant performance with both ball and bat. Should you make a mistake and put the other side in on a difficult wicket, on a day which though bright and fine in the morning turns out cloudy later on, you may find by the time you have got the other side out that the ground is worse than ever. The match may yet be won, if you will put the heaviest roller you can get on to the wicket for the ten minutes interval. This gives an easy slow wicket for at least half an hour, during which time your two first bats­ men (with hitting orders) will have put at least fifty runs on the board ; and it is more than likely, should the sun not come out again, that you will have an easy wicket for the rest of the day. For after rolling, the ground will not dry quickly unless the sun shines. I might go on to enumerate other dodges by which matches are won, and won fairly ; but we will merely conclude with a little advice to those who, without any desire on their part, and with no experience, find themselves in the unenviable position of captaining a side. We would implore all such never to put the other side in, unless they are absolutely sure that the exact con­ ditions of weather and ground render it imperative. As this very rarely happens, we might almost say never, put the other side in under any circumstances, unless you have had plenty of experience. As far as we are aware, there is no remedy for putting a strong batting side in on an easy wicket, and a captain who does it deserves to lose the match. There is an extraordinary belief among a large section of cricketers, that a wet and slippery ground is in favour of the bowlers. If you are captaining an eleven under such conditions, and wrin the toss, go in yourself if you can bat at all; keep your bat straight and you ought never to get out. You can hit every ball within reach, including good length balls, if you like, and if you don’t get a hundred somebody else who follows you, and benefits by your example, will. But what­ ever you do, never put the other side in on a wet wicket, or on a wet day. It may be argued by some of the old school of cricketers that grounds are quite good enough nowadays, and that any attempt to improve them is out of place. A property managed ground, however, will cost no more than a mis-managed one, and it must be clear to most cricketers that the game cannot be played at its best on bad wickets. Cricket on good wickets is a different art to that which is played on a bad wicket. In the one the batsman defends his wicket against the attack of bowlers trained to a high state of excellence by reason of the very existence of good wickets; in the other, any bowler who can send in the ball a good pace is certain sooner or later to hit the sticks, or the batsman. Without confidence no batsman can play correctly, and confidence will never come to those who are accustomed to play on bad grounds, when their own person is the first thing to bo defended, and their wicket merely a secondary consideration. ESSEX v. SIXTEEN COLTS. The trial match can hardly have delighted the Essex executive with the hope of recruits to the eleven from the colts who were tried in this match. Thirty wickets went down for 106 runs, and A. M. Tosetti, and H, Porter alone made the slightest stand against Mead and C. J. Kortright. The latter got 15 wickets for 24 runs, and the former, who was not put on in the second innings, nine at the same cost. Bums played a good innings of 33 for the county, and retired hurt. Score aud analysis:— C o lts . First Innings. Second Innings. Bateman Hope, b Mead H. H. Cobb, c Higgins, Berkley .................. D. Tosetti, lb w, b Mead E. Russell, c and b Mead A. M. Tosetti, c and b Mead 11 Reeves, c Porter, b Berkeley H. W . De Zoete, c Russell. b Mead .......................... H. Porter, b Mead ........... G. Gibson, b Mead .......... W . T. Garrett, b Mead Stone, b Kortright ... ... Hardy, b Mead ................... E. Robinson, c Bums, b Carpenter ........................... Wicks, b Kortright ........... Houchin, b Kortright........... 0 . R. Borradaile.not o u t ... Byes, &c........................ Total ... 2 b Kortrjght 6 5 c and b Kortright 0 2 b Kortright 1 8 b Kortright 9 c Kortright, b Berkley ........... 10 7 b Kortright 0 0 b Kortright 9 1 b Kortright 19 0 b Kortright 0 3 b Kortright 0 5 c and b Berkley... 0 0 c Higgins, b Kort­ right ................... 2 0 b Koitright 0 3 b Koitright « 2 b Berkley ........... 0 1 not out................... 0 4 Byes, &c. ... 3 51 T ota l........... 59 E sse x . Bums, retired hurt ... 83 Carpenter, c Russell, b De Zoete ...................14 Russell, c E. Russell, b De Zoete ................... 1 C. .). Kortright, b De Zoete ... ................... 0 H. Hailey, run out ... 18 G. F. Higgin, b Reeves 24 J. W. Bonner, c Hardy, b De Zoete.................. 6 Porter, c Russell, b De Zoete................... M. Berkley, not out... Mead, c Russell, b Reeves ................... Byes, &c................. Total ...163 BOWLING ANALYSIS. C o lts . First Innings Second Innin O. M. R. W . 0 . M. R. W . Mead ... ... 21 12 24 9 Berkley... ... 20 9 20 2 ........... 14 7 28 3 Carpenter ... 8 6 3 1 ........... 10 6 12 0 Kortright ... 7 5 3 3 ........... 22 16 21 12 E sse x . 0 . M. R. W . 0. M . R. W . jibson ... 14 4 28 0 Hardy ... 6 1 13 0 Reeves ... 10-1 3 17 2 n . Porter 14 4 16 0 Wicks 8 4 13 0 Stone ... 3 0 8 0 De Zoete... 17 4 39 5 Houchin 12 2 20 0