Batting order

“ It is suggested that if the batting side has a right to get out or to forego its right of batting, the fielding side has a right to drop catches purposely and to bowl no balls and wides so as to avoid being beaten. ”

“ We hope none will think we are advocating anything at all unfair in the game, or anything that is even on the line between fairness and 'not quite straight.' As a rifle-shooter takes advantage of a lull in the wind to pull his trigger, as a deerstalker of every rock and unevenness of ground to approach his game—in short, just as in every kind of sport natural facilities may be utilised—so in bowling every peculiarity of time and place should be enlisted on the side of the bowler in his (in these days of good wickets and good batting) by no means easy task of getting rid of the batsman. ”

“ In these times of improved batting and perfection in grounds, three whole days have been decided on as the time within which every county or club must win, lose, or draw the match. The game is not to lose or to draw; it is to win ”

“ The players of the side "at bat" must occupy the portion of the field allotted them, but must speedily vacate any portion thereof that may be in the way of the ball, or any Fielder attempting to catch or field it. THE BATTING RULES. RULE 38. A Fair Hit is a ball batted by the Batsman, standing in his position, that first touches any part of the person of a player or umpire or falls within the foul lines, that (whether it first touches Foul or Fair Ground) bounds or rolls within the Foul Lines, between Home and First, or Home and Third Bases, without interference by a player. ”

“ BASE RUNNING. It should be borne in mind by the rulemakers of the League, and especially by the magnates who pass upon the work done by the Rules Committee, that base running has come to be as much of an art in the game as is skilful, strategic pitching or team-work in batting. ”

“ Hitherto far too great stress has been laid upon the alleged skill of the batsman in making extra hits—two and three baggers and home runs—at the cost of giving due credit to the batting which forwards base runners and sends in runs. ”

“ You hear the sound of bat meeting ball, followed by distant clapping. Somebody has scored. But who and what? It may be a four, or it may be a mere single. More important still, it may be the other side batting after all. Some miscreant has possibly lifted your best bowler into the road. The suspense is awful. It ought to be a School rule that the captain of the team should send a message round the form-rooms stating briefly and lucidly the result of the toss. Then one would know where one was. As it is, the entire form is dependent on the man sitting under the window. ”

“ 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 ”

“ There is one thing the season's experience has shown, and that is that field captains of intelligence and judgment, like Anson, Comiskey, Ward, Irwin, et al. have come to realize the fact that team batting is a very important element in bringing about pennant winning, and by team batting is meant the rule which makes everything secondary in the work of the batsman to the important point to forward men around the bases and to bring runs in. ”

“ He has, in addition, to spring about on his feet, unless the balls come very uniformly, and to do much twisting and turning. The batter bats, not from either shoulder, but from one shoulder, to such an extent that those used to his batting know pretty well where he will knock the ball, though, did he bat from the other shoulder, the general direction of the knocking would be quite different. ”

“ In other words, batting is, besides being more difficult in itself than bowling and fielding, far more subject to chance. A bowler may bowl a bad ball or a fielder drop a catch without losing all chance of retrieving himself. One bad stroke, and a batsman is out once and for all. Of course batsmen often have good luck in being missed in the field or being beaten by the ball without being bowled ”

“ 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. ”

“ These figures show how the mighty do sometimes fall, and this certainly ought to console those in the humbler walks of the cricket world. Some players have shot up like rockets, played for a season or so, and then have been heard of no more; but the county that plays a series of county matches will act unwisely if it shunts a player who has shown that he possesses real batting ability. ”

“ The man stood out at a considerable distance from a batter who struck balls high into the air in various directions. Here, as in the infield, the competitors took turn, and returned [74] the ball at once with all their force to a catcher who stood beside the batter.
Meanwhile, on the diamond, Dick Palmer and I held our positions as catcher and pitcher respectively, while all the men came up in groups of four and took turns in batting. This served as practice for Dick and myself, and also enabled us to judge of the batting abilities of the various men. ”

“ The forward block as shown in illustration, must obtain for well pitched balls rising to the bails. The bat must be forwarded to the ball with left shoulder well over it, the bat carried at an angle of about 70°, the eye of the batsman being intently fixed upon it in order to insure against personal accidents. Such action, if prompt, forces the ball forwards towards the bowler. If the ball is met by the bat it strikes the ground at the angle of least resistance, bounds quickly into the field, and a run may result. ”

“ In making up an eleven where the limited area of selection precludes the possibility of getting a first-rater of each class, the aim should be to supply the deficiency in one class or the other by including the best bat who can bowl fairly well in the style that is lacking. By this means the required variety in the attack is secured without weakening the batting of the side too much. ”

“ Bowlers must be chosen and put on, fielders arranged with reference to the batsmen who are in, as well as to other considerations. There is only one way to arrive at a knowledge of batting, and that is by continual observation. The kind of knowledge required relates to how particular batsmen or kinds of batsmen play; what are their strong and weak strokes; how they score most of their runs; how they generally get out, or, what is much the, same, are likely to get out. With regard to batsmen he has seen play frequently, a captain should not have much difficulty. ”

“ We consider it easier to block the same paced ball, at wickets, than to stop it going into goal. Much of the fine science of batting might be introduced into goal-keeping, but it is risky, considering the width and height of the flag poles. Science in goal-keeping is not batting at all balls, but turning some to the right or left of the flags, and retaining others. ”

“ The professionals still held their own with the gentlemen in batting, and had almost a monopoly of the bowling in first-class matches. Brilliant things were done with the bat by nearly all the old players ”

“ The patrons of the game have begun to realize the true inwardness of scientific batting, as shown in the securing of single bases by well-timed place hits, safe taps of swiftly-pitched balls to short outfield, and skilful efforts in sacrifice hitting and bunting, every such hit forwarding a run or sending a run in. ”

“ By all means let fast bowlers lay siege to the leg-stump of inferior batsmen; but good batsmen, getting over this ball, will play it with an almost perfectly straight bat on the outside, and tax it most unmercifully for the total of their side. ”

“ Each man in his turn would step forward, receive the ground ball struck by the batter, return it quickly to the competitor for first base who stood beside the batter, and then give place to the next man. ”

“ In giving a sort of brief summary of batting now, it appears to me that, as may be naturally inferred when so many splendid grounds are provided, batsmen score faster and far more largely than formerly; but not being so accustomed to bad wickets, they do not rise superior to difficulties of pitch so well as our former batsmen. ”

“ All eyes were on the pitcher, and the lad who stood there, lazily swinging his bat forward and back in regular rhythm, as he endeavored to gauge the coming delivery of the ball.
Judgment at such a critical time has to come with the rapidity of lightning. In the flash of an eye the batter has to decide whether it is a drop, an out curve, an inward shoot, a straight, swift one over the rubber, or a teaser that will apparently start out well, only to hold up in mid-air, and leave him to strike long before the ball gets within reaching distance. ”

“ 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. ”

“ From behind the wicket and elsewhere, observe the commonest hits off the commonest balls with this or that break, especially when the batsman shapes thus or thus. Observe how the poking potterer is dismissed by the high full-pitch or by the ball to entice a catch in the slips—for him you will note in your mind, “Two short slips and perhaps two square legs.” Watch the fingers of the nervous batsman grip the bat tight; watch the feet and body shuffle in anxiety; watch the feeble strokes that result; watch the balls that worry him most before he gets confidence. ”

“ But in the case of the first base being occupied by a base runner, when only one man is out, when the third strike is called, in such case the batsman is out on called strikes, whether the ball on the third called strike is held on the fly or not. The batsman is out too,—under the new rule—if, when the thud strike is called, the pitched ball hits him or touches his clothing. ”

“ The objects of arranging fieldsmen at all are, first, that they may help the bowlers to get the batsmen out; and second, that they may save as many runs as possible. Now, in order to realise these two objects the fieldsmen must be so placed that they are as far as may be exactly in the spots to which batsmen hit the ball, either as catches or along the ground. Clearly a field put where the batsman cannot or is extremely unlikely to hit the ball is not only useless where he is, but leaves unoccupied a spot where he might be useful. ”

“ If in running either of the strikers shall fail to ground his bat, in hand, or some part of his person, over the popping crease, the umpire, for every such failure, shall deduct two runs from the number intended to have been run, because such striker, not having run in the first instance, cannot have started in the second from the proper goal. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The fielders scatter themselves over the field, according to the directions of the captain, and try to catch or stop all balls from the bat, or those that are thrown at and miss the runners between corners.
When a man is out he is out until the next inning, and the game proceeds without him. If a striker sends a ball in the air and it is caught before it touches the ground by the giver, the catcher, or any one of the fielders, the batter is out. If the ball touches his bat it is counted a hit, and if it is caught by any one of the opposite side he is out. ”

“ Imagine what it would be if Bonnor, or Forbes, or Game were to be allowed to throw, all of them having thrown in their best days as much as 120 yards— is it likely that a batsman at a distance of only twenty-one yards could be quick enough with his bat to stop such bowling? Even with an ordinary fast bowler a batsman has sometimes difficulty in preventing himself from being struck by the ball, and with an undisguised thrower the danger would be tenfold. ”

“ The chief of one side drops his ball into the pocket of his bat and tosses it toward the center ground between the stakes. Both sides rush toward the place where the ball may fall, each brave hoping he may be the lucky one to catch it; whoever gets the ball tosses it with his bat into the air toward his side of the grounds. Then the screaming, howling mob of players tears across the field to the place where the ball may fall again. The ball is thrown and contended for until one side succeeds in throwing it beyond the bounds of the opposite party. ”