Lives in Cricket No 21 - Walter Read

115 There can be no doubt about his credentials to comment on batting technique. As a match-winner, the county never had a better batsman. He was a wonderful punishing player, with tremendous power in his off drive. More forward in style than most of the great batsmen of the present time, he was seen at his best on true lively wickets, but he came off under all conditions of ground and weather… In his young days Mr Read could be described as an orthodox player, depending as he did on his driving and the perfect straightness of his bat; but as time went on he developed a great fondness for pulling. He carried the pull to a higher pitch than anyone else in his day, but from being a good servant, the stroke became, to some extent, his master and impaired his batting. That at least was the opinion of Mr Shuter than whom he had no warmer admirer. 184 However, his record is distinguished enough to suggest that he was far from being a one-trick pony. The advice on running between the wickets is universally valid – The batsman should always run the first run fast, in case the fieldsman should not pick up the ball cleanly, and he should lose the opportunity of making another. – while that on fielding reflects the contemporary attitude that it was a chore to be endured between innings before players like Abel and Lohmann developed it into more of an art form. It would be well for my reader to pay special attention to this pleasing but much neglected part of the game, and to practise it with a determination that no stone may be upturned to make himself a clean and safe field… To make one’s self a good field is, perhaps, the most irksome part of cricket, for it can only be done by really hard work… Never throw hard unless there is a chance of running a man out as it only tends to tire the wicket keeper , bowler and fieldsman – frequently results in runs for your opponents. One would hope that wicket-keepers, bowlers and fieldsmen tire less easily these days. 184 Surrey Mirror 11 January 1907 Annals of Cricket and Short Hints on Cricket