John and James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Companion 1882

Iii teaching hoys, great patience is required : it is very trying, I own, to see a boy whom you want to play hack insist on playing forward, or vice versa . In such cases I find it best to leave that boy for a little time, provided that he is trying to do his best. You will find when next he comes to you he will play much better. It is a bad plan to be cross with boys when they are first taking to cricket; they are apt to be discon­ tented with their own play and take a dislike to the game, and unless a boy loves the game he can never play well. When a young boy is just taking to batting, and is showing an im­ provement in his play, it is not proper to have too good a bowler to bowl at him at first, or he may be bowled out so often that he loses what little confidence he has got. Let him practise against a straight but easy bowler : be will then improve in confidence and in play. A good bowler may do much harm to young beginners by howling them out too often, and more so i f lie cannot tell them how to play properly. In coaching young bowlers, great care should he taken that they are bowling the proper distance at practice. The ground should be properly measured, and the bowler should not on any account go over the crease. By doing so he is deceiving himself in the length he is bowling. I f he goes over the crease at practice he will find when bowling in a match his balls are all too short pitched ; he will also find, in watching the crease for fear of going over it, he will lose sight of the place where he ought to pitch the ball. Another great fault in young bowlers is that they will try and bowl too fast, without the slightest knowledge as to where the ball is going to pitch. Bowlers ought always to have some idea in their head about every ball they howl, i.e.y have some place to pitch the hall on, and some object for pitching it there. Bowlers in practising should take particular notice to what })art of the field their bad balls are generally hit, also where their good balls are put up ; by so doing they will be able to place their Held to a much better advantage when playing in a match. There are many other subjects in the game of cricket that might be mentioned, and, if taken in the proper light, ought to he of benefit to young beginners, hut those 1 have touched upon must suffice for the present.