Lives in Cricket No 37 - William Clarke

127 Practical Hints on Cricket off, cover point, long slip, and long stop should all save one run. Those are places that give a man a fine chance of showing off to advantage; for, by being a good judge and a good gatherer, he may frequently run a man out. The distance of those places depends much on the state of the ground. If it is soft, you can stand much nearer than when very hard; because the ball loses half its speed the moment it touches the ground. When you have the office for moving in the long field from the general , move a good distance. It is unpleasant to both parties to keep saying ‘further yet;’ besides, he can sign to you to stop when you have got far enough. This point is difficult to give advice about. It depends on the quality of the bowling. Now, with respect to point, if you have that any-how stuff, that you can’t tell where it is coming to a yard or so, I should say it is better to fall back, and make yourself useful in the field. However fond a man may be of Cricket, he does not like to stand in a place where he has no chance of defending himself. If the bowling is nearly correct, I am an advocate for standing well up to the batter. There are some whose style of play won’t allow them to be dangerous, and to these you may stand very close. The long stop should place himself at such a distance that he can save the run, and not any nearer. If he could stop the ball close to the wicket, what’s the use? He loses the advantage of covering a great space of ground on each side, and saving the tips or touches that frequently occur. The great merit of a long stop is getting to balls that are put a little out of their course, so as to save the run. If you see the batsman trying to get the best of you by stealing a run, gather in a little closer. It is better to prevent him attempting, than to give him the chance of getting it; which he will do, if the ball is not well handled in every way. If a Batsman has only one good hit, and is weak at all the others, it ought to be very difficult for him to get runs; for if your field is good, and well laid out, and the bowler bowling at points, you can afford to make your field doubly strong in his favourite place. In altering your field, the bowler may have only one more ball to deliver in the over. Some one will be sure to say ‘Oh, never mind till next over.’ I don’t believe in that doctrine. I would have the field altered then and there, as the thing may come off that very ball. Delays are dangerous; and, as a great general said, ‘There is a moment to decide a victory.’ Though you should have a captain in the field, (as you ought to have, for what is every one’s business is never well done), it is proper for him to say to the bowler, ‘Don’t you think it would be better to do so and so?’ It makes it appear as if somebody knew something as well as himself, and there is always a way of speaking to a fielder, so that it will be pleasant for him to receive it, unless it be one of those shake-yourself sort of men that seem to do everything reluctantly; with him you must do as well as you can. These little things all create a good feeling. I have one more remark: I like to see every man steady at work, I am sure that every one has enough to do when at play in minding his own business, without gossiping or being careless. I used to admire a certain Gentleman, that has left off playing this last two or three years, at the change of the over, walking across the wicket as steady as old Time, and when I was