Ranjitsinhji Vibhaji II

“ The bowler can do what he likes with the ball. And at times not even the bowler, though a good one, has the slightest idea what the ball will do. It may rise with a huge break over the batsman's head; it may shoot or keep uncommonly low; it may, wonderful to relate, break from leg after receiving an emphatic off-spin from the bowler's hand. In fact, such a wicket is liable to bring about the ignominious downfall of the most powerful batting side imaginable, and that though opposed to bowling which under ordinary conditions would be quite mediocre. ”

“ It has discovered that the waste of time formerly imputed to cricket is really due to frivolity, that cricket is consistent with study, and that the cricketer makes a good schoolmaster. The truth is, that athletics are an integral part and a powerful support of all education: they make it popular. Oxford and Cambridge are like twin stars shedding the light of learning from a distance. The Oxford and Cambridge boat-race and cricket-match are the two anchors of the universities in the heart of the English people. ”

“ The cricketer, if he can be called one, who does not care for fielding, and who only plays for the sake of enjoying batting and bowling, is a very poor sportsman indeed. Fielding is the only branch of the game in which, if one tries hard enough, one can be sure of success. A batsman may get bowled first ball, a bowler may be quilted all over the field without getting a wicket, but both can redeem themselves by good fielding, which is enough by itself to render a man worth his place on a side. A bad field is an eyesore to spectators and a millstone round the neck of his side. ”

“ But you can see what a ground for a hit it must have been in the old days, when David Harris, after infinite care, pitched his wickets on its turf. The view invigorates: but woe to the fieldsman who puts the pageantry of hill and cloud before the zest of cricket. A ball hit with any power—cut, as Beldham used to cut them, with "the speed of thought"—would, once it passed him, travel to the roots of the surrounding mountains. ”

“ There is a certain class of batsmen nowadays who sacrifice effectiveness in order to attain what is called a pretty style. But a style which is not so effective as it might be can hardly claim to be either good or beautiful. Of course a good style is often beautiful—in fact, more often so than not. When a stroke is made with ease and grace, it usually means that the batsman has acquired a complete mastery of the art. But it is a great mistake to get into the habit of putting the bat where there is no ball, simply with a view to making strokes that are pretty. ”

“ There is no more entrancing sport than cricket, and nowhere does cricket present itself in a more entrancing form than at Cambridge, The best of grounds, the snuggest of pavilions, and the most charming sociality are to be found everywhere; and there is cricket of every kind, whether for the crack 'Varsity bat or bowler, whose county is sighing for the Long Vac, or for the fifth-rate cricketer, who never achieved any greater distinction than getting his "house" cap at school: every class and kind is amply catered for. ”

“ All good things done well are beautiful. There is much more in a fine off-drive or a well-bowled ball than the resulting fourer or wicket. I am far from regarding cricket as the most important thing in life; but it is the best game, and games are a very valuable part of life. If a boy were taken to a match in which Mr Lionel Palairet was making runs, and were shown the difference between his strokes and those of the more ordinary performers, he would, I think, go home with something in his mind that would tend to improve his cricket and increase his love of it. ”

“ Nervousness usually comes either from lack of confidence or from a desire to do oneself justice in some particular match. Few batsmen have been lucky enough to feel quite comfortable the first time they played in school or university matches, to say nothing of county matches and Gentlemen v. Players. A player feels as if the eyes of the whole world are upon him, and that he owes his side a certain amount of runs. In addition, he is keen to do himself justice. It is not difficult to see that the terrors of bowling increase with the batsman's desire not to get out. ”

“ No game except cricket combines a great amount of science with the advantage of bodily exercise. In fact, the mental and physical qualities required for one who would excel as a cricketer are about equally in demand. When one is at the wickets batting the brain is never at rest—eye and hand must work together. The bowler is your enemy for the time being, to say nothing of the wicket-keeper and fielders; your enemy is doing all he can to overcome you, and you must bring all your mental and physical qualities into play to prevent him. ”

“ But there is this to be noted: success in batting or bowling cannot fail to combine the advantage of the whole eleven with the pleasure of the individual. A batsman or a bowler feels he is doing something by his own efforts and to his own credit. A fieldsman, on the contrary, has in a certain sense no individual existence; he is a subordinate part of a whole. He is point or slip or mid-off, not Smith or Jones or Robinson. The conditions of the game practically make selfish fielding an impossibility. A man cannot field "on his own" as he can bat or bowl. ”

“ Any one who has ever stood behind the wicket will readily understand the vast advantage of knowing what kind of ball the bowler is going to send down. And when one realises that the wicket-keeper is, in virtue of his position, far better able than any one else to see how a batsman is playing, where he is weak and how he can best be got out, it is easy to understand the help a bowler can get from a wicket-keeper who tacitly informs him how things stand and what ought to be done. ”

“ Football is, in my opinion, by far and away the finest game ever known, with the one exception of cricket.
Cricket has also this great advantage over many games—by having eleven men on each side. This must always make a game more interesting than where there are only one or two on a side. When we have eleven-a-side contests we know that a match is never lost till it is won, and a seeming defeat is often turned into a victory by the tail-end at the eleventh hour Cricket is the king of games for players, as it is for spectators who understand the game. ”

“ In batting there is no such disparity; in fact, the amateurs can quite if not more than hold their own, and for this reason: both at the public schools and at the universities far more time and attention are devoted to batting than to bowling. Nor is this surprising, since the process of learning to bat is far more attractive than that of learning to bowl. There is drudgery in both for those who mean to succeed, but moments of pleasure cannot fail to relieve the batsman's early labours, whereas the bowler must be content "to scorn delights and live laborious days." ”

“ Most amateurs take no trouble whatever with their bowling, except in matches. It would be far better if bowling were zealously cultivated during ordinary net-practice. The usual thing is to take up the ball in a lazy, careless fashion, without any attention to the length of run, or indeed to any of the requisites of bowling save sending the ball somehow towards the striker's wicket. Sometimes the bowler takes upon himself to demonstrate the peculiarities in the styles of various great bowlers in a manner which does infinite credit to his imagination but none at all to his power of imitation. ”

“ There is no doubt that a cricketer, man or boy, if he wishes to qualify himself for this onerous duty, must have a love for the game and a proper feeling towards it. It is not easy to be a good umpire, and consequently it is well worth trying to become one.
No one should be chosen as an umpire who is not gifted with perfect eyesight and an accurate sense of hearing. My experience of people is, that they hear and see extraordinary things sometimes. It is to be hoped that all umpires are of a class who see and hear that which is, rather than that which is not. ”

“ The ball must be watched very carefully, but every ball that can be punished should be punished manfully. I do not think that batsmen run out enough at slow bowling or at lobs. For some undiscovered reason, there is a floating idea that running out and rashness are synonymous. As a matter of fact, to run out is often the safest thing one can do. It makes a difficult ball into an easy one, and often enables the batsman to make a forcing-stroke along the ground instead of a risky high-drive. The man who plays cautiously is invariably regarded with reverence and favour by those who know. ”

“ Like every other thing worth doing, cricket entails a certain amount of drudgery during the earlier stages of learning the game. But the pleasures inseparable from the use of bat and ball are surely a good enough set-off against this drudgery, especially as the reward of hard work is so apparent in the fine performances of those who have had patience to go through with the preliminary toils and troubles. One can sympathise with the man who has had no opportunity of learning cricket, and with the man who has done his best to become a cricketer but has failed ”

“ A good captain tries to identify himself so completely with his side, as a whole and in all its parts, that he fields with every fieldsman and bowls every ball with his bowlers. He is, in truth, the soul of his side. ”

“ It is sound advice to fielders, so to watch every ball bowled as if it were to be hit to them. The value of a quick start cannot be overestimated. Often an apparently impossible catch is easily secured because the fielder was ready to start. Surely it is not much to ask of a fieldsman always to be ready. Yet how few really are! The difference in the behaviour of a side during the first innings of their opponents, and during the second when matters are approaching a crisis, is a study in human nature. ”

“ What of the many men who take up cricket as their profession, and fail to get inside the sacred pale of first-class cricket? Well, an honest hard-working man can always make a living at the game. Nor are the failures relatively more numerous in this profession than in any other. It must not be supposed that these remarks are meant to encourage young fellows to adopt cricket as a profession. For it is to be remembered that the competition is very keen, and that success is impossible without certain natural gifts. ”

“ The Oxford and Cambridge match was at first, perhaps, too much of the former: it is now tending in the direction of the latter.
No human institution is perfect: it will always tend to excess or defect. But how nearly perfect in its own way is cricket, and especially Oxford and Cambridge cricket! It is a game which keeps boys out of mischief. It is a training of youth for a manly life. It lays up a store of strength and health against old age. It makes individual men lifelong friends. It unites whole schools and universities. ”

“ A little common-sense and discretion will usually lead an umpire to a fair decision. In cricket, as in everything else, in the absence of distinct rules all points are decided by equity, and by equity we mean the dictates of common-sense and fairness.
The little I have said about umpires and umpiring is sufficient to show that an intimate knowledge of the rules is absolutely necessary. The sooner a boy who hopes to become a cricketer makes himself familiar with the rules of the game, the better it will be for him and his prospects at the game. ”

“ Without a certain natural talent no one can be made into a bowler. Not that those who lack great capacity need despair of learning to bowl with ordinary skill and average success; but they will never reach a high standard, never become great bowlers. Everybody by perseverance and energy can obtain a certain command over the ball, and up to a certain point become a bowler. An experienced eye can detect in a very short time whether or not a young cricketer has the innate "something" that will enable him to make a name for himself as a bowler. ”

“ If the umpires cannot be got to act on the laws, the only way to eradicate the evil, such as it is, is for every influential cricketer to tell boys and young players directly he sees anything suspicious in their actions, and to discourage generally all doubtful deliveries. If once the right opinion could be widely established, captains would be careful not to use any bowler whose delivery could raise any doubts of any kind whatever. For some reason the Australian conscience is more tender than ours upon this question of cricket morality. ”

“ To "no-ball" a professional for throwing is to take his bread from his mouth. As to amateurs, for the sake of consistency, or perhaps for fear of seeming to impugn their honour, no umpire cares to "no-ball" them. As they do not understand the rule, umpires imagine that in "no-balling" a man on account of his action they are doing tantamount to saying, "You are bowling unfairly, and you know it." As a matter of fact, to "no-ball" a man for his action merely means, "Your action raises doubt in my mind, though no doubt you are quite sure yourself that you are bowling fairly. ”

“ In cricket, as in other phases of life, the true tests of merit are difficulties and adversity. It is in his leadership of a weak side or of a side whose fortunes are down for the time being that a captain's worth is proved. A captain who by pure good management succeeds in struggling through a season with fair results must find a melancholy pleasure in watching the efforts of strong elevens neutralised by the incompetency of their leaders. The duties of a captain vary somewhat according to the kind of match in which his side is engaged, and to the kind of club which has elected him. ”

“ Dr E. M. Grace has often caught a man out from point literally off his bat, within a couple of feet of it. He could see by the way the batsman shaped that he was going to let the ball hit and drop off his bat. Quick starting is half the secret of covering a lot of ground. Even without much pace an attentive fielder can be here, there, and everywhere if he watches bowler and batsman with all his might. Whenever a fielder seems surprised that a ball has been hit near him, it may be inferred that he is thinking of something else—race-horses, stocks and shares, or lunch. ”