Inning

“ We're in the long field most of the time, and when we get an innings, Fate goes and bowls us a curly one. I've never had an innings in my life, and I've been fielding for fifteen years—since I was seventeen—and my poor old father played on in Mark Lane and lost his house the 'ashes.' That's my story, and I don't tell it to everyone. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Suppose the pitcher, at the instant the ball leaves his hand, should impart to it a rotation whose axis would lie in the zenith and nadir like a spinning top, such a ball, because the friction is greater against the compressed than the rarified air, will 'curve' either to the right or left, depending in which direction it rotates. ”

“ The nuisance of the day is the long scoring; we wonder how many innings of 100 are played where you do not read the well-known remark, 'the batsman gave a chance at 24, another at 62, and a third just before he was out, but none the less he played a fine innings.' The following brief epigram is undoubtedly true—'Good fielding makes weak bowling strong and strong batsmen weak.' An eleven that is really A1 in fielding very rarely has to field out for 300 runs. ”

“ The next three innings saw goose eggs in the squares of both teams, the only hitting that was done being foul tips.
"It's a pitchers' battle," began to be whispered from seat to seat, and so it seemed. ”

“ I have tried many of these new inventions, and have no doubt some of them will answer very well when the makers have succeeded in producing handles with the proper amount of spring and yet strong enough to withstand the strain put upon them. It is very annoying to have the handle of your bat breaking in the middle of along innings, for you do not feel at home with a new one for an over or two. ”

“ CAT-TRAP, BAT, AND BALL. [L]
With the form of the trap our readers are, doubtless, acquainted; it will only be necessary for us to give the laws of the game. Two boundaries are equally placed at some distance from the trap, between which it is necessary for the ball to pass when struck by the batsman; if it fall outside either of them he loses his innings. Innings are drawn for, and the player who wins places the ball in the spoon of the trap, touches the trigger with the bat, and, as the ball ascends from the trap, strikes it as far as he can. ”

“ If the score be a tie at the end of nine innings, play shall be continued until one side has scored more runs than the other in an equal number of innings, provided that if the side last at bat scores the winning run before the third man is out the game shall terminate. ”

“ The professionals not only maintained their superiority with the ball, but challenged the supremacy of the amateurs with the bat. For twenty completed innings in first-class matches, thirteen professionals had an average of over twenty-three runs per innings ”

“ When the ball has to be a fast one, the power necessary to propel the ball at the required pace prevents so much of the power of fingers, &c, being expended on spin. A slow ball always takes the spin, after leaving the ground, to a greater extent than a fast one, because it is longer on the ground when it pitches, and the spinning has more time to take effect on the turf. ”

“ My style, I should observe, blends happily the dash of a Joseph Vine with the patience of a Kenneth Hutchings; and after a long innings I find a glass of—— I've forgotten the name of it now, but I know I find it very refreshing.
Being the hero (you will admit that—after my hat trick) of this true story, I feel I must describe my innings carefully. Though it only totalled seventeen, there was this to be said for it: it is the only innings of less than a hundred ever made by a hero. ”

“ The object of the game is to get the greatest number of runs, and this is to be done by the strikers. Each side having been in once and out once, the first innings is concluded, and, we might say, a complete game has been played, but in most matches another innings is played. ”

“ If he do so before it reaches the ground, or hops more than once, or if the striker miss the ball when he aims at it, or hits the trigger more than once without striking the ball, he loses his innings, and the next in order, which must previously be agreed on, takes his place. ”

“ Things never turn out at cricket as one expects, however, and the second innings of the Sixth was no exception to the rule. ”

“ When the ground is hard, a captain has no alternative but to take first innings; for whether hard and true, rough, fiery, or crumbled, a dry wicket will almost certainly not improve, and is very nearly sure to deteriorate. ”

“ In the other innings of a match all the batsmen have had some bowling and fielding work to take the edge off their efficiency—that is, unless the first innings exactly coincide with the day's play, which it rarely does. Moreover, it not unfrequently happens that the side which bats second has to go in when the light is bad in the late afternoon of the first day, loses several good wickets, and is all out by lunch-time on the second. The fact is, that in most cases the side that bats first has the best of the bargain in every way. ”

“ It is worth knowing respecting a twist from a bat, that if the ground is hard and the cut clean, the ball will not twist till it has lost some of its impetus. Consequently stand straight in the line of a hard cut on a smooth ground, as the ball, though it is spinning all the time, will not curl till it is some way past third man. But if the turf is soft the ball bites and curls on the second or third bound, seldom on the first unless the stroke is a very slow one. ”

“ All the time it is doing this, however, the ball, as we know, is spinning backwards, which means that the lower portion of the ball is spinning towards the hole, and that it is on the lower portion of the ball that the motions of progression and revolution conspire. ”

“ The fielders retire to the shade of the tent, and two of them soon come forth to take their places with the bat, while the remainder enjoy their well-earned rest. Those who have had their innings take up their positions in the field, and the first innings of the other side begins. ”

“ If a side declare its innings closed in the morning before play commences, it must do so in sufficient time to enable the other side to choose the roller it prefers, otherwise an extra ten minutes will be allowed for rolling. ”

“ In that short space of time a spinning motion is put upon the ball, and a curious impulse which appears to have something in common with that given to a boomerang is imparted, which sooner or later take effect. In other respects, when a distant slice is wanted, the same principles of striking the ball and finishing the swing as governed the ordinary drive are to be observed. ”

“ 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. ”

“ He strikes and misses. The umpire calls “one strike.” You relax. Again the pitcher delivers the ball. Again the muscles become tense. The umpire says “one ball” and again you sink back in your seat in perfect repose. By this time the pitcher is again ready. The third time the ball is sent toward the batter like a white streak. Somehow you feel he is going to hit it this time. As before, your muscles become tense. You hear a crack of wood against leather. You raise yourself up in your seat. It’s a foul fly back of the plate. You see the catcher throw off his mask and run up for the ball. ”

“ FEIGNING TO THROW TO A BASE. When the pitcher feigns to throw to a base prior to delivering the ball to the bat, in every such instance after making the feint to throw, he must resume his original position, "facing the batsman," and "holding the ball fairly in front of his body," and "momentarily pause before delivering the ball to the bat." If he makes a feint to throw and then delivers the ball with one apparent motion, without pausing to stand, he commits a balk. ”

“ Whenever a Block occurs the Umpire shall declare it, and Base Runners may run the bases without being put out until the ball has been returned to and held by the pitcher standing in his position. SECTION. 3. In the case of a Block, if the person not engaged in the game should retain possession of the ball, or throw or kick it beyond the reach of the Fielders, the Umpire should call "Time," and require each Base Runner to stop at the last base touched by him until the ball be returned to the pitcher standing in his position, and the Umpire shall have called play. ”

“ Begin your work by pitching a straight ball. You cannot gain control in a better way. As you are young in pitching experience, so also are your opponents young in their knowledge of batting. If you watch them closely you will perceive very quickly that nearly every one of them swings his bat at about the same height every time. For instance, you will notice that the first batter will swing his bat just in front of his waistband. In order to fool him, pitch the ball a little higher or a little lower than that point. ”

“ Just consider for a moment, and realise the fact that a tolerably fast ball, well up and quite straight, has been delivered. Such a ball is just the ball that ought to be driven. The batsman lunges forward and meets it with very nearly the centre of his bat, just after the ball has landed on the ground, at the time, therefore, when, if there is any spin on it, it is going at its fastest pace. Obviously, therefore, when the pace and weight of the ball are taken into consideration, there is great resistance given to the lunge forward of the bat. ”

“ It consists of running a net, two feet high, round the ground along the same circumference that the boundary ropes now go, and unless the ball goes over this net, let the hit be run out. The batsman will frequently get three runs for a hit of equal value to that for which he now gets four, he will be compelled to run them out, and the fine thrower will have opportunities of distinguishing himself. The net must be like a common rabbit net, and fixed down so as to prevent the ball going under. ”

“ The grip of the ball for the drop is very similar to the out-curve, but in delivery the hand is brought almost directly over the shoulder. In all curves the pitcher must have extremely sensitive fingers and be able to control them with almost as much skill as one requires in playing a piano. We must keep in mind which way we desire the ball to spin to produce the required curve and then to give it just as much of this spin as we can without interfering with our accuracy. ”

“ All baseball players like to bat, and nothing pleases them so much as base hits; on the other hand, nothing is quite so painful as to send out hard liners only to see them caught. And it seemed as if every man on our team connected with that lanky twirler's fast high ball and hit with the force that made the bat spring only to have one of these rubes get his big hands upon it. ”

“ The whole weight of the body should be brought to bear on the stroke, and the batsman must make the most of his reach, and the whole thing should be one action and in one motion. Tom Emmett, the famous old Yorkshire cricketer, who was our coach at Rugby during the five years I was there, was never tired of teaching us this stroke. In playing forward the bat must be quite straight, and at the moment of actual contact with the ball the bat should be just behind the left leg. ”

“ VI. A ball, after it has run all the bridges, may hit the starting post either by a blow from its owner’s mallet, by roquet, roquet-croquet, croquet or concussion, and is then a dead ball, and must be immediately removed from the field.
1. A player who having run all the bridges strikes the starting post, is out of the game, his turn is omitted, and the play goes on as before. If, instead of striking the post, he continues to play, he is called a rover. ”

“ First.—The slowly delivered ball describes a curved line in the air both before it pitches, and afterwards to the bat; and balls coming in a curved line are far more difficult to play accurately than those which come quick and straight from the pitch. If the batsman properly judged the fast ball, by simply putting his bat straight forward he would always meet and stop it. It is not quite so with the slower ball. The ball, coming on to the ground in a curve, will leave it in a curve, and may consequently go over the shoulder of the bat. ”

“ The natural spin on every ball which is bowled is from left to right—i.e. the off break. Even when a fielder throws in a ball from a distance it almost invariably has this spin on it. If you watch the smallest boy in the street throwing a stone, you will find, nine times out of ten, the stone has acquired this spin. It is then no wonder that almost every right-handed bowler relies upon this twist as his principal artifice. ”