166 XXX. The Striker shall not retire from his wicket and return to it to complete his innings after another has been in, without the consent of the opposite party. As a matter of courtesy it i« nannl to (rive consent: always excepting the concession have Wen sought to gne r.n unfair advantage to cither 6ide. XXXI. avo substitute shall in any cane lie allowed to stand out or run between the wickets for another person without the consent of the opposite party ; and in case any person shall be allowed to run for another, the Striker ( t shall be out if either he or his substitute he oft the ground in manner mentioned in Laws 17 and 21, while the ball is in play. Reading this law stri- tly, and supposing the batsman, for whom a substitute was running, to be standing beside the Umpite (his proper place when not at the batting wicket), and inadvertently to leave Lis ground, lie would be out. It would, however, in mv opinion, be exceedingly sharp practice to take advantage of this, except the batsman were attempting a run. XXXII. In all cases where a substitute shall be allowed, the consent of the opposite party shall also be obtained as to the person to act as substitute, and the place in the field which he shall take. This law should be read in a liberal spirit, and consent to persons to act as substitutes should rarely be withheld, unless tho proposal be very unreasonable. XXXIII. If any Fieldsman stop the ball with his hat, the ball shall bo considered dead, and the opposite party shall add five to their score. If any be run they shall have five in all. This should be strictly enforced. My experience shows that it is specially applicable to some of our public schools. XXXIV. The ball having been hit, the Striker may guard his wicket with his bat, or with any part of his body except his hands; that the 23rd Law majrnot be disobeyed. He must take care, however, to comply with Law 20, which declares that he must not w ilfu lly , with intent to score o f f it , strike the ball a second time. XXXV. The Wicket-keeper shall not take the ball for stumping until it have passed the wicket; he shall not move until the ball be out of the Bowler’s hand; lie shall not by any noise incommode the Striker; and if any part of his person be over or before the wicket, although the ball hit it, the Striker shall not be out. Umpires are frequently lax on this point. Wicket-keepers often, especially with slow bowl­ ing, take tho ball in front of the wickets ; and Umpires should recollect that an activo batsman can sometimes get Lack into his ground as soon as the ball can pass the wicket. Therefore, wicket-keepers should be watched. XXXVI. The Umpires are the sole judges of fair and unfair play; and all disputes shall be determined by them, each at his own wicket; but in case of a catch which the Umpire at the wicket bowled from cannot see suffi­ ciently to decide upon, he may apply to the other Umpire’, whose opinion shall be conclusive. And in my opinion he should always so apply in case of doubt. XXXVII. The Umpires in all matches shall pitch fair wickets; and the parties shall toss up for choice of innings. The Umpires shall change wickets after each party has had one innings. In thi s law tho word “ wickets ” is used in two different senses. Tf on the second occasion of its use it read “ ends ” it would perhaps be clearer. XXXVIH. They shall allow two minutes for each Striker to come in and ten minutes between each innings. When tho Umpire shall call “ Play ’ the party refusing to play shall lose the match. This is to guard against either side taking an unfair advantage of the other in cases whcio time iy of importance, and Umpires should jealously watch any atferop tat unfairness. /