Batsman

“ We do not believe, though with bated breath let it be said, that the fine rider on a fine horse in a good position and over a grass country with a burning scent can feel so supremely content with the world and its glorious surroundings while galloping and jumping close to hounds, as does a batsman who feels himself master of the bowling on a good wicket in a first-class match, with a fine day and a large crowd keenly anxious for his well-doing. ”

“ And then a captain's eyes must be sharp to detect any slovenliness in the dress of a batsman. What a sorry sight it is to see a man going to the wickets with his pad-straps hanging two or three inches down his legs, his trousers unfolded and sticking out from behind his pads, his shirtsleeves hanging loose, and altogether having a general air of being a slovenly fellow! ”

“ A batsman is perfectly right in refusing to hit or play at wide balls on the off side, but when he remains passive to balls a few inches only outside the off-stump, he not only acknowledges his want of confidence in himself, but also degrades the dignity of a cricket bat by substituting in its place his own usually nervous legs. ”

“ A spectator picks the ball up, chucks it to the expectant field, who dribbles it along the ground to the bowler, while the batsman, having had his smack, saunters about in the most unconcerned way and prepares for the next ball. Cricketers well understand that this saving of breath to a batsman is an enormous advantage; he is enabled to stand quite cool and collected in his ground, and hit away without, as a rule, having to run more than two runs, while the bowlers and field are perspiring away in their efforts to get the side out. ”

“ No doubt the batsman feels pride and pleasure in the getting of runs; but if he is much of a hitter he must be in wondrous training if, after having had to run 80 runs in 45 minutes or thereabouts, he does not feel just a bit fagged; and everybody knows that a real fine ball is likely to get out a man in this condition. What we complain of now is that a batsman may be four hours at the wicket and never once feel even out of breath. ”

“ On the fall of a wicket the bowler should always remember that the new batsman is entirely unaccustomed to the light and not yet warm to his work, and that consequently the pet devices which may have been clearly seen through and mercilessly punished by the retiring batsman are for the present quite fresh for the new one. ”

“ Westwood, as he shook hands with the other man. “If the weather continues like this it will be a batsman's day.”
He waved his hand as the solicitor went out into the crowd. The crowd that had been almost clamorous a minute before were now breathless with astonishment. They stared at the man who, when ruin was in the air, was talking of cricket. A batsman's day! A batsman's day! What did it mean? What manner of man was this who could talk quietly of a batsman's day when over his head the sword of Damocles was hanging? ”

“ Then there is the man who might look at a batsman for two hours and yet never discover where his favourite stroke is likely to go, who obeys orders strictly, and when he has taken up the position assigned to him, stands there like a tree, despite the fact that every ball hit in his direction is a little too much on his right or on his left hand. ”

“ The body of the batsman in many cases completely obstructs the view the wicket-keeper ought to have of the ball. Even if he can get a good sight of the ball there is that abominable bat being fiddled about, baulking the eyesight in the most tantalising manner, and there are some batsmen who have a provoking habit of waving their bats directly the bowler begins his run, and continuing their antics till the ball is right up to them; while others seem to be built like windmills, and have a limb always at hand to throw out between the unhappy wicket-keeper and the rapidly-advancing ball. ”

“ A batsman can generally tell what the wicket is going to do even before he begins batting, the state of the weather for a week previous and the reputation of the ground will be enough; and he will go in with a light heart and look forward to a pleasant hour. There are many sorts of players. There is the batsman whose temperament, if he is not sure about the length of a ball, will lead him to try a smack, while another will play at the same ball carefully. ”

“ Any time that is lost between the receipt of the ball and the return of it to the wicket is so much in favour of the batsman. The amount of runs that can be saved or given away during two long inningses by a fieldsman in the country, or indeed anywhere, is astonishing. Every one agrees on this point, though few act upon it. ”

“ If there is any chance of wearing out such a batsman's patience, very slow twisters, repeatedly bowled, may tempt him to desperation and suicide. There is a class of batsmen who consider their honour seriously at stake unless they hit a lob-bowler over the ropes once every over. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Every hit was run out, and the fieldsman in pursuit of the ball plunged right into the middle of carriages, spectators, and horses' legs, and picked it up, the batsman in the meanwhile running out the full value of the hit. Now the case is altogether altered. There is a strong cord running all round the ground, every decently hard hit is certain to reach the ropes if the ball once passes the fieldsman, and the batsman stands coolly in his ground, being altogether spared the trouble of running and the loss of breath which naturally follows the exertion. ”

“ We would infinitely sooner have a wicket-keeper on our side who was safe on the off side and did not take one leg-ball in a hundred, limiting leg-balls to those outside the legs of the batsman. Let your first thoughts be concentrated mainly on straight and off-side balls, and pay no regard to the applause of any save those whose knowledge of the game makes their approbation valuable. ”

“ Having now given the example of the above eminent men, some playing one way and some another, I shall venture to ofter to the young batsman my own opinion. I have frequently played in both styles, and I consider the holding of the bat upright the safer, and horizontally the more brilliant playing. At the same time, whichever way it be played, I still recommend the movement of the left foot across the wicket. The power that this action gives the striker over the ball, must always be felt and acknowledged. ”

“ Of course those effects have been mutual; the bowling has educated the batting, and in his turn, again, the batsman has been the instructor of the bowler. No sooner has the one changed his tactics at all than the other has changed front a little in order to meet this new attack. Naturally, perhaps, it seems that the bowler has the oftener taught the batsman, than vice versa; the aggressor, by a new form of attack, forcing on the defendant a new line of defence. ”

“ First, then, it may be safely asserted that a concentrated attention on every ball is a sine quâ non of even decent fielding. Men often think that if they are simply looking at the batsman they are doing all that is required. But this is not so. There is a difference of opinion as to whether the eyes should be fixed on the batsman, or should follow the ball as it leaves the bowler's arm ”

“ The height of his ambition is to bowl a ball or two to the village champion, batsman, and when the opportunity arises to gratify his wish you will see him, hardly higher than the stumps, bowling with an action exactly similar to the crack village bowler, and scorning to encroach so much as an inch over the line of the bowling ”

“ In batting the amateurs are still fairly strong, but in bowling—let us draw a veil.
A survey of the whole series of matches points to the fact that, as is natural, the Gentlemen have been, and probably will be, beaten as a general rule. Every cricketer knows what it is to play in an eleven with a comrade, either a batsman or bowler, of commanding superiority. Such a man makes an eleven. ”

“ Not so the wicket keeper, for the opaque batsman increased in size by pads, gloves, and bat, moves in uncertain areas between him and the bowler. Every passed ball has been momentarily obscured—practically lost for perhaps the one-twentieth of a second, to the man who is expected to receive it. We think it will be cheerfully acknowledged by all, that the man who ignoring personal danger, finds a succession of passed balls through a long match, anyone of which were it to strike his face would finish his day’s career, is a leader to be proud of. ”

“ The next batsman was one of the bronzed brigade who could not grace the old ground every season. This one had been in the Eleven two years in his time, and had since made prodigious scores in regimental cricket in India. ”

“ The truth is, there is always a plethora of batting at the Universities, and there are generally some half-dozen men to whom the last place as a batsman might be given, if only the captain could know whose day it would be when the 'Varsity match comes off. ”

“ Consequently our best bowlers—and these consist almost exclusively of the professional class—seem to aim not so much at getting rid of a batsman as at keeping down the runs by bowling a good even straight length, and trusting to chance or the impatience of the batsman for his dismissal. ”

“ And again, waving the arms behind the ball after it has been delivered, or any other trick adopted in order to worry or harass the batsman, is manifestly unfair. Some batsmen are extremely fastidious, and are distracted by the merest trifle. The writer remembers on one occasion taking part in a match when a batsman objected to a bowler on the ground that he was wearing a stud made of some bright material or stone, which glistened so in the sun that it diverted his attention from the ball. ”

“ A bowler can without doubt be much surer of bowling a good ball, a fielder of catching a catch, than can a batsman of keeping a ball out of his wicket or scoring a run off it. Now the disproportionate value of a run in hand and a run to be made is greater in the fourth innings than in any other, for the simple reason that batsmen on the one hand, and bowlers and fielders on the other, have a definite undertaking before them. ”

“ But with the year 1780 we come to a new era in the art of batting, associated more particularly with the name and art of a famous bowler, David Harris, the association being again an illustration of the truth, which has several times already been in evidence, that it is the bowling that is the efficient cause in educating the batsman—that it is the bowling that "makes the batting." ”

“ Obviously the best chance of making runs is to hit the ball where there are no fields. Nearly the whole of the on side is open, and if one of the off balls is suitable, either by being bowled a little short or too far up, the batsman will sweep it round without a moment's hesitation. Unorthodox this may be, but he will have accomplished five great and useful feats—he will have delighted himself, added to his score, disconcerted the fields, enraged the bowler, and set the opposite captain thinking. ”

“ Next day the ground had got firmer and more solid, and the side that won the toss was again dismissed for two insignificant totals.
With regard to the order in which a captain should send in his men, a good deal depends on the strength of the batting he has at command. With a weakish batting team it is, in our opinion, always better to send in the best batsman first, assuming of course he has no objection to the place. It is of great importance to give the best batsman every possible advantage, and the men who go first to the wickets have a great advantage over the others. ”

“ If the batsman assumes a poky style of play, it is often advantageous, both for saving runs and getting wickets, to have a short-leg a little nearer the stumps than the umpire, and the mid-on as near to the batsman as he can venture consistently with safety. ”

“ With the best batsman should go some steady correct bat, one who plays the game thoroughly and does not take liberties with the bowling. In these days of perfect grounds it is a vast mistake to send in first a regular 'sticker,' one who scores at the rate of eight or ten an hour. The stonewallers of our cricket-fields have a great deal to answer for in the heavy indictment against modern players of leaving so many unfinished matches. ”

“ Both bowlers try all their devices in vain. They feed the pull, and the food is thankfully received. The batsman takes no notice of the long-fields; he seems to say to himself every time he hits, "Let 'em catch that, and welcome if they can." ”

“ Good batting consists in a defence that is proof against all the bowler’s craft, combined with the skill to seize every opportunity for making runs that the latter may inadvertently offer. If the batsman’s whole task consisted in keeping the ball out of his wicket, the accomplishment of his art would be comparatively simple ”