The Ladies' Guide to Cricket

CHArTlCTl TWO LATHES MKKT AIU. EXPLORING Til STANLEY AND 1! I)A1( It CONTINENT OF CRICKET CATECIIISU HIM HE HOES II IS BEST. L et us begin by assuming that the reader knows that cricket is played with bills, wickets, and a ball, and that there are usually eleven players on each side, with two umpires to de* cide all disputes, and to act generally as masters of the cere­ monies. Equipped with this slender slock of knowledge, Mrs Chester and her niece, Miss Marion Liston, are entering Green Acre Cricket Ground. What a confusion of wickets, hats, balls, and players arrayed in all the colours of the rainbow. It is Saturday afternoon, and no less than a dozen matches are in full swing. A very chaos of cricket! Quite true—and so it will seem until we fix our attention on one match alone. 4 Which shall it be? Here comes Mr Stanley, tbc captain o f the Shooting Star Cricket Club ; he will tell us. S t a n l e y : “ The best match to watch ? Why, Paragons against Shooting Stars, of course; they are not only the best clubs, but keen rivals also.” M bs . C hester : “ But which is which, please ? ” S tanley : “ Look over there at that set of wickets, and never mind any of the others. Now, count the players whose attention is directed to those wickets, and you will find that they number 15. Well, eleven of those are Paragons, two are Shooting Stars, and two are umpires.” M iss L iston : “ But why are there eleven Paragons and only two Shooting Stars ? ” S tanley : “ Oh ! you see, wre Shooting Stars are having our innings. Before a game is begun, the captains of the opposing teams toss for choice of innings. To-day 1 luckily won the toss with Crumper, the Paragon skipper, and elected to go in first to bat. When we are all out, the Paragons will have tlieir inning6, after which we take our second innings, to be followed, if time permit, by the Paragons taking theirs.” Miss L iston : “ But how do you decide as to who has won tlie match ? ” When the four innings— that is, two apiece— are completed, the side whose two innings, added together, make the larger total of runs is declared the victor. In a one day’s match, however, there is rarely time to play two innings, so the game is decided by the number of runs scored in the first innings o f each side.” fi Mas. CiUitiTK “ 1 have heard of a match being won in one innings ; how does that happen ? ” d jA ' iE V : “ i f the side which goes in second, in a one-day mat h, mukes 00 runs Jess than the side which went in Urst, it i put in at once for it > second inning , instead of the usual