Cricket 1899

28 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. F e b . 23, 1899. A B O W L E R ON B O W L IN G . BUGII TRUMBLE’S IMPRESSIONS. (From the Melbourne Argus.) Many people have talked and wiitten of the difference between English and Australian wickets from a bowler’s point of view, but there are few, perhaps*, whose opinions on the point are of more intf rest ju st now than H ugh Trumble. He admits that when he first visited Eogland he had everything to learn—and that the lsssons were taken to heart is told by his I ucc»ss on the last tour. “ In the first place,” Trumble remark*, when speaking of the wicket, “ they do not give it the same preparation as in Australia. On the afternoon before one c f our test matches on the las1, tour there was no sign of a wicket on the ground. Oat here they pick out t ie spot a week beforehand, put it into training, cover it up, and cofldle it so that even the f parrow s cau’t get a look at it. In England there is no parched-looking white patch in the centre of the ground to indicate the wicket—it is green all ever. The turf is always tu rf—soft, springy, and velvety underfoot — not loam, like ours, which, under water, roller, and suushine, stiffens into some­ thing like concrete. The English wicket i 1 always lively, and the bow ler who can 1urn the ball the least bit in Australia can always get a good work on it. On first goin g to Eogland m y earliest impression was that I knew nothing about bow ling at all—my latest impression, perhaps, is, that if a tour through England with an Australian team fails to bring the bow ling out of a man, the reason, probably, is 1hat he hasn’ t got it in him. The gocd bowler in England is not to be made in a day. He has to go through his training, and learn a lot.” “ Broadly, what is the great difference between bow ling in the two countries P” “ In Australia, a man to be successful must bow l a good length, turn the ball a bit, vary his pace, and, perhaps, his eleva­ tion. With a new man I very often try the plan of altering the elevation—that is to say, I bow l with the arm as high as possible, and drop more suddenly. It makes a couple of feet difference in the length, which he fails to notice. In E n g­ land a good length, and fast enough break to beat the bat, but not the wicket, are sufficient. If a bowler can pitch the ball in England a couple of inches out­ side the off stump, and hit the leg stump, or leg and middle, it is all he requires. Now , an Australian who, during all his cricket experience has had to try hard for what break he can get, makes the mistake at the outset of doing too much on E n g­ lish wickets. H e has a bigger break than English bowlers ever seek to cultivate, and the batsmen simply step into the wicket and pull him to the on, a trick in which their great batsmen excel, and nearly all are proficient. Men like Jack- son—who is particularly good of it— Gunn, Ranji, or Shrewsbury, when they are sure of their umpire, step deliberately into the wicket and puli a ball obviously outside the off stump, and it is quite hopeless to expect an ‘ lbw .’ decision against them. Therefore, our new bowlers not only miss the wicket, but give them runs where they are most sure of getting them, v'z., to the on. I suppose 50 runs are scored there in England to every 20 to the off, though out here the figures are quite reversed. The only great E ig- lish batsman I know who is an exception to the rule is Abel, who never uses bis legs to guard his wicket, yet our fellows on the 1896 tour regarded him as the best batsman in England on all wickets, and Ranj i was batting exceptionally well then. Abel has such a wonderful eye.” “ Then you don’t get many Ibw deci­ sions in England ? ” “ N ot so many as in Australia, though I bag one ocosion ally by sending down a plain straight one, after a succession of break-backs. I bow l a bit fister in E igland, keep more rigidly to the off without bow ling ‘ off theory,’ but other­ wise make no alteration in style. I know of no bowler who better illustrates success in England and failure in Australia than Hearne. There is really no finer bowler in England. H e has an excellent length, all the break he needs there, and, when the wicket is helping him a bit, there is no better bowler. A man always goes in against Hearne in England with the knowledge that he is liable to be bowled ‘ neck and c r o p ’— in fact that is the feeling against any good bowler, and on the best of wickets—but no one had that feeling about Hearne on our wickets. In fact our fellows liked him, because at the height he bow ls a ball rarely rises abruptly from the pitch— except when there is a lot of spin on—but comes at a nice height to h it.” “ Heame seems to bow l better at L ord’s than elsewhere ? ” “ Yes, and we have had some awful breakdowns against him there. The light is bad to begin with, and no batting screens are allowed. There is generally a big crowd, 90 per cent, of them in bell- toppers and frock coats, and the batsman sees nothing behind the bow ler’s arm but this black m o v iD g mass. To add to the trouble there is a very big pavilion, with dark windows. The ground slopes a bit one way, and Hearne generally bowls wi h the slope to help his break. Apart from this, L ord’s is a good wicket, and generally plays well.” “ What of the other grounds where test matches w ill be played next trip ? ” “ A t Kennington Oval there is a better light and a first-class wicket. In fine weather it is one of the best run-getting grounds in England. The Manchester wicket is, I fancy, a little bit better than eilher. Our fellows like Old Trafford, and invariably do well there in fine-weather matches. Leeds is the largest playing- ground of the five, and has a good wicket. There will be a tremendous crowd there for the first test match in Yorkshire. The cricket ground is a bit out of the town, and the light fairly good, but at Sheffield, where the ground is right in the centre of the town, the smoke from the factories is horrible, and they say the b ig factories always bank their fires when the visiting side goes in to bat at Sheffield. I f you lie down on the grass you will notice the black smut on your flmnels when you get up. The idea of having a test match at Nottingham is, I fancy, to revive the interest in NottR cricket, which, through flow play a id want of success, has been rather on the decline. They have a first-rate wicket there.” “ Which of the well-known English grounds do you, as a bowler, prefer ? ” “ Oh, Sheffield, with a fiery wicket, by all means. On the last trip Jor.rs was flying about the ears of the Yorkshire batsmen, and they were m ightily pleased when he was taken off and E tdy put on. Eddy’s first hit the batsman an awful crack. ‘ Whoy, he’s worrse than toother man,” said the batsman, who was not inclined to face the music agair). ‘ Whoy don’t ’e goa on ? ’ yelled a man from the crowd. ‘ Oim thinkin’ o ’ moi woife an’ ta chillren,’ said the batsman.” “ H ow is it that fiery wickets are so prevalent in a mellow moist climate like England’s ? ” ■ “ In a warm summer fiery wickets may always be looked for. In the first placa, there is not a water-pipe on any of the grounds, and I never saw a hose in E n g­ land.* That always surprises an Austra* liaii on his first visit. There is a good deal of rain and heavy dews at night., so that water is rarely used, and when it is the watering-can serves the purpose. As a result the wicket rarely lasts beyond second day, and invariably helps the bowler on the third. That is one of the reasons which makes me think we shall find three days sufficient for at least three out of the five test matches. Tney begin at half-past eleven and play until half­ past six o’clock, and the three days are as good as four in Australia.” “ Does the disposition of the field vary much in the tw o countries ? ” “ We have to play a much-stronger on­ field in Eagland than Australia, and the disposition to force it gives the wicket­ keeper more opportunities of stumping. As a rule, though, we know the pet strokes of nearly all the crack batsmen now, and we place the field to suit the play of the man in. One thing they never lose sight of in Eogland is the man who shows a disposition to force the runs, and it is difficult to make an Australian understand that it is far better to make 50 runs in England promptly than to scratch about all day in making three times the number when the matches are not absolutely first-class. A batsman might make a very good aggregate during the tour by getting big scores whenever the wicket was bad and the bow ling weak, and getting his fingers smashed in trying to play difficult bow liug on dan­ gerous wickets when he should be hitting. There was a little disappointment for that reason with our batting on the last trip. The side that wants to win in England must force it, and it is a great merit in a batsman to score quickly.’ * This will be news to a great m an y grounds­ men in England.—Ei>. Cricket.