James Lillywhiite's Cricketers' Annual 1874

8 5 gible , I may explain myself to mean meeting in the most active sense , as opposed to allowing the bat passively to await the impact of the ball . Some batsmenconsider themselves fully recompensed if they can dispose of a good ball by the simple process of allowing the bat to protect the stumps . This maypossibly be a happy result for the rank and file of the game, but I am desirous of appealing at the same time to the superior officers , and I do not think that this policy of offensive defence in cricket is sufficiently valued . In someinstances , of course , there are balls which require every effort of the bats- m a nto meetat all , but there are beyond doubt hundreds of others that this passive style of defensive batting allows to escape unpunished . To block a shooter or stop a bailer can as easily be accomplished in a resolute as in a hesitating manner, while in the one case runs will accrue , and in the other runs may never come. Play vigorously then , and when you " play " a ball , play it confidently and with a resolute movement, with both arms and wrists acting in concert , as if you had some other idea than a mere passive occupation of a beleaguered fortress . Whenyou hit , hit hard ; whenyou block, do not be deterred from infusing vigour even into this movement. So muchfor what I m a ycall the first rudiments of scientific batting . There are other points which m a yaffect the student who has mastered the early lessons , and succeeded in gaining a knowledge of batting as well as a sufficiency of confidence to enable himto experimentalise on his ownbehoof . I a m not going to enter into a description of the three kinds into which , I have read , straight balls are divided , as I cannot but think that this is a line of instruction of but little practical value . It is practice , and, as I have previously remarked , the aid of a good example for imitation , that will do most to form a successful batsman. Indeed, no moreuseful lesson can be derived in the study of batting than the sight of a skilful batsman at work. The willing scholar will learn muchto do, and morestill to leave undone, from the example of a good master. He will be, as it were, initiated into mysteries that were previously beyond the pale of his com- prehension . H e will , if he love the game, take up readily the position , be quick to comprehend the exigency of each movement , and, with increasing perception , gain increased knowledge as well as the confidence incidental thereto . H e will see for himself the practical good of the theoretical instruc- tion he has received , the practical demerits of the defects against which he has beencautioned . He will find that there is something more needed to gain distinction than a display of wild hitting ; and that in hitting there is acertain skill that requires more than the possession of great physical force . H e will , if the lesson prove fruitful , find that to hit well necessitates a combination of eye and hand, the former to time and the latter to strike ; as well as a large amountof wrist play which will alone tend to produce a freedom of hitting and a power inconceivable to one who has not discovered the secret of this peculiar gift . H e will see too with what confidence every ball is played , with what decision every artifice of the bowler is met, and how skilfully the line is drawn between the delicate distinctions of forward and back play. It is obviously in the uncertainty of deciding on these last two points that the bowler has the greatest advantage . There is a ball of a certain length that baffles every player , or at least one that requires the undivided attention of the best batsmen. " It is a length ," says Mr. Felix , "that brings over a man most indescribable emotions ." Perhaps I maynot be inclined to go so far as Mr. Felix in the extent of his expression , though I have realised fully the force of his statement at times . It requires much patience and decision indeed to 2