Cricket 1914

J a n u a r y , 1914. THE WORLD OF CRICKET. 11 "N o , not e x a ctly ; I was fast with an occasional slow or medium ball. I always tried to vary my pace, and bowl one or perhaps two slow balls each over. This I was able to do without any change of action, and my slow ball proved very successful. I was played for my bowling alone in those days. My batting gradually developed as time went on.” “ Next season you had a regular place in the Eleven ? ” “ Yes, I took 8 wickets for 78 against the Australians at Bradford, and was never left out afterwards. That reminds me, it has often been said that the strain of county cricket proved too great for me in my first season and I had to be left out of the team in the last two matches. This is not the case. I strained my leg towards the end of the season, and that was the explanation of my standing down. I got W. G .’s wicket the first time I ever played against him. It happened like this : I meant to bowl him a yorker, but I slipped and sent a full pitch straight at his head. He held up his bat to guard himself, and Hunter caught him. It just goes to show how a bowler can get wickets at times. A bad ball may some­ times do the trick, and then again you may bowl well all day and not get a wicket. You never can tell." “ Had W. G. anything to say about the matter ? ” “ No. He made no remark. He just stooped down and patted the ground with his bat before he went out, as was his habit. George Hirst had something to say about it though. He came up to me and said, ‘ You lucky beggar ! Here have I been trying to get him out all these years, and then you come blundering along and get his wicket first time with a thing like that ! ’ However, I cleaned bowled the Doctor two or three times after that. George has never once got his wicket. I was one of the Players' Eleven in the Champion’s Jubilee Match at Lord’s. It was one of the most exciting matches ever played. We won the match three minutes before time. I caught the last man, Mr. Kortright, and pocketed the ball. It’s an historic ball, and I ’ve kept it." The ball was then produced from a cabinet, where it reposes in state, amongst a goodly number of others which in their time have helped to make cricket history. There lie gathered together balls which have performed hat tricks, and sundry others which had accomplished various doughty deeds in their brief career. Each had a history of its own, and each was inspected with becoming reverence. There was the ball with which Haigh took 8 for 78, against the Australians in 1896, the first of many notable achievements, and one which at once brought him to the forefront of English bowlers. That with which he captured 9 for 25 against Gloucestershire in 1912 was there also, and others of equal celebrity. In 1909, his benefit year, he gave away a good many as keepsakes to his particular friends, but sufficient still remain to start a retail business in a small way. On the wall amongst framed portraits of the different teams in which Haigh has played, hangs a neatly framed card of the famous Thirteen Runs Match at Nottingham. “ Do you possess the ball used in that game ? " he was asked. “ No. Lord Hawke kept it. The score really should have been 12 and not 13 ; for the last man spooned up a catch which Wainwright and myself each left to the other ; the ball fell harmlessly to the ground, and the batsmen scampered safely across. Had either of us taken that catch, my record would have been 5 for 7. How do you account for Notts’ slump ? ” “ One can’t account for it. The wicket was a bad one, but not so bad as all that. It was just one of those funny things that will happen at cricket.” When did you alter your pace and action ? ” “ It was about the middle of the season of 1899. I only decided to do so after long consideration, and with the approval of my captain. One reason was that for slow bowling with an occasional fast one you can set your field better than for fast bowling with an occasional slow. But I have always gone for the wicket, and not for catches. Then again, there's no doubt that the long stride I used to take entailed a big strain. The secrets of my success have been— variation of pace, the off- break, and “ flighting " the ball. I never tried to bowl leg breaks. I can’t explain how I used to “ flight ” the ball or make it “ dip " in the air. It is due either to atmospheric conditions or to some peculiarity of action, causing the ball to hang back, so to speak, at the moment of delivery. I think myself that it’s in the action. Rhodes, who always watches the cricket very closely, would sometimes say to me at the end of an over, “ You've started dipping ’em again." On a sticky wicket I used to have only three men on the off-side. No short-slip, just a third man, extra-cover, and mid-off. The batsman would often try to force me away through the gap thus left, but the consequences were usually disastrous. B y the way, a lot of people seem to imagine that a soft wicket after rain is a difficult one, but such is not the case. The ball “ cuts through " on such a pitch ; that is to say, it goes straight on without turning. It’s when the sun comes out that the leather begins to do things. I've said that I always went for the wicket and not for catches, but this applies to right-handed batsmen only. To a left-hander, you see, my off-break naturally came with a reverse action. It became a “ going away " ball, and served up judiciously it brought me many wickets through mis-hits being caught in the slips.” ” You don’t swerve the ball, I think ? ” “ No. You see, to swerve the ball you must hold it differently from when you spin it. In spinning the ball I hold it by the seam between the thumb and the first finger. Towards the end of the season, the top joint of the finger would often become quite sore with spinning the ball, and ‘ hoofs ' would form. Then you’ve to bowl as best as you can. Ted Wainwright used to be S c h o f ie l d H a ig h . (Photo by Messrs. E. Hawkins & Co., Brighton.) just the same. People would say that he wore a finger-stall, but that was all nonsense. You couldn’t spin the ball with a stall on your finger. There is one point I should like to touch upon here, because a lot of people have not understood it, and that is, the reason I never used to open the bowling. The truth is that I never did like bowling with a new ball. His lordship knew this, and that was the real reason why I wasn't put on first. A new ball is glazy and shiny, and I couldn’t get my spin until the glazi- ness had worn off. I could always make the ball turn a little on any wicket, even the hardest, and always bowled the off-break.” “ Which are your favourite grounds ? ” " T hat’s rather an invidious question, isn't it ? If you say you like some grounds, people might think you didn't care for others. But I always liked bowling on the Leeds ground,