Cricketer

“ 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. ”

“ This sketch, necessarily brief, will give some idea of a cricketer's life at Cambridge and its possibilities. Every one has his chance of distinguishing himself in his own particular sphere: if that sphere be the highest, if he "attains Sparta and adorns her," he is marked for life in the cricketing world as a batsman or bowler who has won his spurs in the most exciting yet most. ”

“ There is always hope for the struggling cricketer. In no other pursuit are energy and perseverance so absolutely sure of bearing fruit, if we only stick to it long enough.
The fact is that cricket, like many other things, is but the image and prototype of life in general. And the same qualities that, earnestly cultivated in spite of repeated failure and disappointment, make good cricketers lead ultimately to success in all the walks of life. ”

“ Fellowes bowl on any but the smoothest ground—why then, we will not say that any thing which that hardest of hitters and thorough cricketer does, is not cricket, but certainly it is anything but play. ”

“ The first-class professional cricketer is usually a well-made, strong-looking man, ranging from two or three and twenty to thirty-five, with agreeable, quiet manners with his superiors on the cricket field, the result, no doubt, of being so constantly in their society. ”

“ I have declared that Cricket is a genteel game. It is. Our British Cricketer, having finished his day's labor at noon, may don his negligee shirt, his white trousers, his gorgeous hosiery and his canvas shoes, and sally forth to the field of sport, with his sweetheart on one arm and his Cricket bat under the other, knowing that he may engage in his national pastime without soiling his linen or neglecting his lady. ”

“ It is quite hopeless to expect that every boy can be made into a cricketer. Countless are the excuses we hear to cover the feebleness and incapacity of would-be players, made sometimes by their parents, sometimes by themselves. ”

“ Those, too only who have known some celebrated cricketer from childhood, and have watched his career and promotion from the little boys' to the big boys' eleven, and eventually to the parish eleven, and have seen his cricket talent developed from year to year until he appears in his county team, can imagine how painful is the excitement to those who are interested in his success. ”

“ All one can say is that the charm of the game consists in an aggregate of pleasant feelings which is greater than that given by any other. And I think the reason must be that cricket calls into play more faculties, and gives them freer play and wider scope, than any other game. This is what a cricketer means when he says there is so much in the game. People who have not played or been closely concerned with cricket have not the faintest conception what there is in it. ”

“ But it is difficult for anybody to explain, except on the ground of gross carelessness, how a man who is a good bat or bowler can be so utterly useless as a field as some have turned out to be. The cricketer who never appears to have grasped the rudiments of the laws concerning twist, who is lazy and will not run after the ball, and who hardly by accident holds a catch, is an eyesore in cricket. ”

“ In England the superiority of the professional cricketer is quite as marked as that of the professional base ball player, but his skill is employed in his regular business, which consists in teaching the amateurs, who abound in countless numbers. They are called “gentlemen” cricketers, as distinguished from their preceptors, the professionals, and play their National game as well, or perhaps better. ”

“ In addition to this every house has its own nets, and as all these are in one long row, patrolled by those who delight in supervising the school cricket, it is almost impossible for any cricketer, however young, who shows promise, to escape the observation of the powers that be. ”

“ The very best players, however, cannot ensure anything like a certainty, as they know there will come a time, and that not far distant, when their limbs will grow stiff and their eyes less keen. Cricket is a game which requires quickness of eye and of limb, and, as a rule, after thirty-four or thirty-five, either one of the two—the former or the latter, and perhaps both—must begin to fail. Then the professional cricketer is going downhill, and shortly will have to retire and see his place filled by younger and more active men. ”

“ After having played in public, and perhaps tasted the pleasures of success, the father finds that his son is restless and disturbed in his trade, and wishes to give it up and become a professional cricketer. So it happens that his name is sent up to the county secretary as wanting a situation, and the young fellow finds himself launched into the world on his own account as a cricket professional. ”

“ Willes, being a most enthusiastic cricketer, and not content with the summer months for his favourite sport, used in the winter daily to repair to his barn, and there measure out the proper distance, pitch the stumps, and, with his sister (also an enthusiast) as bowler, enjoy a good practice. Now everyone who has seen ladies attempting to throw a stone or cricket ball will remember that they invariably have a half-round, half-under sort of delivery, and this Miss Willes, in common with the majority of ladies, seems to have possessed. ”

“ It teaches one to bend quickly, to extend quickly; it cultivates pluck and patience and observation, since the wicket-keeper must stand firm and wait and watch each ball if he hopes not to be hurt.
Every cricketer—I would go so far as to say every ordinary human being—should learn and practise throwing-in. Dr. Grace says that the player “should practise picking-up and throwing-in underhand.” ”

“ Although power of pace, straightness, and command over the ball are the really essential qualities of good fast bowling—as, indeed, of all sorts—there are many occasions when fortune smiles upon bowling which possesses none of these good attributes. And it is for this reason, we think, that every cricketer should be able to bowl when called upon to do so by his captain. Every man who has played cricket has bowled at a net, and he certainly has an action which is different from everybody else's. ”

“ He may even have courageously learnt to pin his right foot firmly to the ground; but, notwithstanding this, the result of his efforts will be that, though all proper and necessary postures may be assumed, he will be bowled out, for the bat, except by a lucky chance, will always be in the wrong place, though held quite straight. If cricket could be played with no ball, the careful eyeless cricketer would shine ”

“ Thanks to the abundant supply of cricket literature generally, the young cricketer who has made his mark at school, whether a big school or a little school, will find that his fame has preceded him, and that not only will his chances of a "blue" be freely discussed, but he will be given reasonable opportunities of showing what he is good for. ”

“ The force and accuracy with which a practised cricketer can throw the ball are familiar to all Englishmen, and it was really wonderful to see a man, with no clothes but a skin-tight elastic dress, with a piece of wood five inches wide in his left hand, and a club in his right, quietly stand against a positive rain of cricket-balls as long as any one liked to throw at him, and come out of the ordeal unscathed. ”

“ Nobody objects to slow scoring so long as the batsmen are playing good correct cricket, playing the straight ones with a straight bat and cutting or hitting the crooked ones; but every cricketer objects to seeing ball after ball simply stopped without the slightest attempt to make a run. ”

“ The outcome of this system resulted in every cricketer becoming more or less of a bowler, and many boys from constant practice grew fairly proficient who otherwise would never have been heard of, and consequently would never have been able to take part in the most fascinating part of the game. ”

“ Giving the young cricketer a good driving and well-balanced bat, see that he puts on two pads, and at any rate one, if not two batting gloves. Thus equipped, he will be ready to take his place at the wicket, and the first thing our imaginary coach will have to teach him will be his POSITION AT THE WICKET. No fixed rules can be laid down as to the position a batsman should take up at the wicket, but undoubtedly the best advice that can be given is to take up the position most natural to him. ”

“ As the Eleven grew in strength and popularity, the desire to be considered, worthy of a place in it became the aim of evry young and rising cricketer, and on more, than one occasion some of the celebrated amateurs were to be found playing in its ranks for the honour alone. Of course the difficulty was to find clubs of any strength to compete against. Usually the number of their opponents was twenty-two; but very often that was found inadequate to make a fight against so strong a combination of talent, and recourse was had to players outside of the club. ”

“ MR. PUNCH'S BOOK OF SPORTS
"The British "Sphere of Influence."—The cricket ball.
Cricketers who ought to be Good Hands at Playing a Tie.—"The Eleven of Notts."
Nomenclature.—The professional cricketer who makes a "duck's egg" ought surely to be dubbed a "quack."
A Model Cricket Match.—One that begins with a "draw," but does not end with one.
Epitaph on a Cricketer.—"Over!"
A Cricketing Paradox.—Any eleven can make a score.
[Pg 8]
LORD'S!
There's a glorious sanctum of cricket,
Away in the Wood of St. John;
No spot in creation can lick it
For the game at which Grace is the "don." ”

“ There are two answers to this question: first, that the Gentlemen every year play the Players, and are naturally always anxious to beat them; and, secondly, that the more cricket gets into the hands of professional players, the worse it will be for the game and its reputation. Now we wish most positively to state that, while laying down this second proposition, we do not wish or intend to say one word against the personal character of the English professional cricketer; on the contrary, our opinion is that the great majority of this class are honest, hard-working, and sober men. ”

“ The fielders would occasionally hold a catch, anything may happen. On the other hand there was this to be said for my style of batting, that the most experienced Cricketer could not tell where or in what direction I would hit any given ball. If it was on the off, that was no reason why I should not bang it to square-leg, a stroke which has become fashionable since my time, but in those old days, you did not often see it in first-class Cricket. ”

“ There are also the infinite possibilities of the future,—the prospect of playing for one's county or for the Gentlemen, to say nothing of what is even more precious nowadays, an early admission into the M.C.C. "as a cricketer." ”

“ The next step is to take a lively interest in the boys' eleven, which consists of boys under fourteen or fifteen, to promote their matches in every way, and to inculcate the value of fair play. It does them a great deal of good if an old cricketer will spare half an hour, when the boys are practising, to criticise their play, pointing out any faults, such as running over the crease, bowling no balls, not backing up for a run, explaining to them the principles of running, and calling their partner (secrets which some really good batsmen never have learned and never will learn) , and so on. ”

“ 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. ”

“ However, no one who knows anything of the game can fail to see what a fine physical training cricket affords. It exercises every muscle of the body, encouraging not only strength and speed but agility and quickness. It also gives grace and ease of movement. Few good cricketers are clumsy or ponderous, at any rate in their prime; and even when years bring a superfluity of flesh, cricketers seem to retain enough of their youthful qualities to make them far more active than those of their coevals who have never taken part in the game. ”

“ The common itself is the prettiest part of the prospect, half covered with low furze, whose golden blossoms reflect so intensely the last beams of the setting sun, and alive with cows and sheep, and two sets of cricketers: one of young men, surrounded with spectators—some standing, some stretched on the grass, all taking a delightful interest in the game: the other a group of little boys at an humble distance, for whom even cricket is scarcely lively enough, shouting, leaping, and enjoying themselves to their hearts’ content. ”

“ BATTING. An expert batsman experiences unspeakable pleasure during his innings. Cricketers glory in him, his friends delight in him, and the sweetest smile of his best girl emphasizes his triumph.
Nearly every young American learns base ball before cricket. When he first stands before a wicket, he is almost paralysed by the fear of losing it. Nothing corresponding to it appears upon the diamond. When his wicket has been successfully attacked a few times he is disheartened, and is likely to abandon cricket and return to his first love. This is a critical period in the history of the beginner. ”