James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual 1878

ing may enable yon to outlive the attack. Only be careful, whilst necking to acquire the art of straight play, to follow the rules given, with the bat held firmly in the hands; to avoid shrinking, or any but decisive movements, as with strict practice perfection will sooner be attained, and an uncertain and vacilla­ ting style will inevitably cause the bat to deviate from the perpendicular line, to the probable discomfiture of its owner. I have just spoken of the benefits of meeting the ball with the full face of the bat. It was advisedly that f used the word meeting, and to make myself more intelligible, I may explain my­ self to mean meeting in the most active sense, as opposed to allowing the bat passively to await the impact of the ball. Some batsmen consider themselves fully recompensed if they can dispose of a good ball by the simple process of allowing the bat to protect the stumps. This may possibly 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 de­ fence in cricket is sufficiently valued. In some instances, of course, there arc balls which require every effort of the batsman to meet at 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. When you hit, hit hard; when you block, do not be deterred from using vigour even in this movement. So much for what I may call the first rudiments of scien­ tific batting. There are other points whicn may affect 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 him to experimentalise on his own behoof. I am not going to enter into a description of the three kinds in­ to 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 more useful lesson can be de­ rived in the study of batting than the sight of a skilful batsman at work. The willing scholar will learn much to do, and more still 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 comprehension. He will if he love the game, take up readily the position, be quick to comprehend the exi­ gency of each movement, and, with increasing perception, gain increased knowledge as well as the confidence incidental thereto. He will see for him­ self the practical good of the theoretical instruction he has received, the prac­ tical demerits of the defects against which he has been cautioned. He will find that there is something more needed to gain distinction than a display of wild hitting; and that in hitting there is a certain skill that requires more than the possession of great physical force. He will, if the lesson proves 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 amount of 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. He 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 two last points that the bowler has the greatest advantage. rl here is a ball of a certain length that baffles every player, or at least one that requires the undivided attention of the best batsman. “ It is a length,” says Mr. Felix, “ that brings over a man most indescribable emotions.” Perhaps 1 may not be inclined to go so far as Mr. Felix in the extent of his expres­ 6