Wicketkeeper

“ 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. ”

“ The wicket-keeper's duties inevitably entail that condition of martyrdom as their allotted burden; while as to long-stop, the degree in which he is called on to bear the buffets of fortune and of the ball very much depends upon the precise circumstances in which he is placed. Nor, in this connection, must we omit to notice the possible case of some stout gentleman standing at 'long-field,' whom the energy of the batsman constantly despatches in pursuit of the ball. ”

“ Let the cricket fielder constantly bear in mind that the time allotted to him to pick up and return the ball to the wicket is less than that required for a fast runner to traverse 18 yards at speed. If he is just as fast as the runner his exertions are lost to his side, for the batsman has reached his crease. The fielder must therefore be mentally and physically active while the ball is in play. It is not enough for him to take the ball and return it to the wicket keeper. Thousands of wickets have been held by a failure on the part of the fielder to return to the right wicket. ”

“ At single wicket the striker with his bat is the protector of the wicket; the opponent party stands in the field to catch or stop the ball; and the bowler, who is one of them, takes his place by the side of a small baton or stump, set up for that purpose, twenty-two yards from the wicket, and thence delivers the ball with the intention of beating it down. It is now usual to set up two stumps with a bail across, which the batsman, when he runs, must beat off before he returns home. If the bowler prove successful, the batsman retires from the play and another of his party succeeds ”

“ It is not every bowler who knows his own weak spots.
As a wicket-keeper one might learn still more about batting than one could as a bowler. It is amazing to me that so few wicket-keepers can bat even with moderate success. They seem to degenerate, like the idle watchers, with too much watching and too much “knowledge!” The wicket-keeper sees most of the game, and especially the batsman’s faults and the bowler’s merits of break, spin, change of pace, and so on. He has to watch the bowler’s wrist and fingers. He should know precisely what balls should be left alone. ”

“ The wicket-keeper should not take the ball for the purpose of stumping, until it have passed the wicket. He shall stand at a proper distance behind the wicket, and shall not move till the ball be out of the bowler's hand. He shall not by any noise, incommode the striker, and if any part of his person be over or before the wicket, although the ball hit it, he shall not be out. ”

“ In the case of a hit-wicket, some part of the batsman's body or his bat must knock down the wicket while he is in the act of playing the stroke. If the batsman slips backwards in starting to run and breaks the wicket, he is no more out than if he had not done so.
An umpire should be on his guard against all kinds of tricks. There are stories of smart wicket-keepers taking the ball so close to the stumps, and at the same time unshipping one of the bails so cleverly, that apparently the man is bowled out. ”

“ C. B. Dicky!
'Tis there you'll have the pull that wickets sticky
Or cut up, through the influence of weather,
Can't neutralise. They're never all together.
Some run like hares, some throw in like a Krupp;
But what they fail in is in "backing up."
L. B. Thanks be! I see my chance then. If they're loose
In fielding I can slog 'em to the doose.
C. B. But don't take liberties, my lad. No jumps
In for a drive; they're always on the stumps.
And then their wicket-keeper's like a cat. ”

“ When the ball has been lodged in the wicket-keeper's or bowler's hands, it is considered dead, that is, no longer in play, and the striker need not keep within ground, till the umpire has called "play;" but if the player goes off his ground, with intent to run, the bowler may put him out.
Should the striker be hurt, he may retire from his wicket and return to it any time during that innings. Some other person may stand out for him, but not go in.
If any person stop the ball with his bat, the ball is to be considered as DEAD, and the opposite party to add five notches to their score. ”

“ The wicket-keeper dares not sleep: it would be as much as his face or fingers are worth.
The habit of watching each ball carefully, of being ever ready beforehand, is a habit that every batsman, every fielder and, we may add, every watcher requires. A personal interest is attached habitually to absolutely the whole performance and to each of the performers. The wicket-keeper, whether he be captain or not, takes a more than fatherly interest in every part of the play, for the sake of himself if not of his team. ”

“ But to throw hard at the wicket when there is no chance of running a man out is strongly to be condemned; it may produce an overthrow, and it is certain to inflict useless concussion on the hands of bowlers and wicket-keepers. No fieldsman is so apt to disregard this advice as the bowler; at least, it is a fact that many bowlers are particularly fond of returning the ball hard to the wicket after they have fielded it. It does not succeed in running a man out once in a thousand times, it often enables a run to be got by an overthrow, and it uselessly troubles the wicket-keeper. ”

“ But the change of tactics in not having a long-stop has had one effect that we regard as pernicious, and that is, that it has spoilt one part of the skill of wicket-keeping, and on the whole worked an enormous change for the worse in the fielding of short-slips generally. The longstop is not there, both wicket-keeper and short-slip are conscious of this, and they are aware that his place must be filled up by themselves. If a ball goes in the least to leg, even if it only just misses leg-stump, short-slip is usually to be seen backing up the wicket-keeper ”

“ When bowled from over the wicket the legbreak ball, being delivered in a direct line with the batsman's wicket, will naturally, if pitched on the leg-stump or between the legs and the wicket, not twist so much, thus making it more likely to hit the wicket if missed by the batsman. There is also a diiect advantage to be gained by bowling over the wicket if the batsman is inclined to get in front of his stumps, as there is always a better chance for the bowler to get an appeal for leg before wicket answered in his favour than when bowling from the other side. ”

“ A crumbly wicket—that is, one more or less broken on the surface—enables the bowler to make the ball break prodigiously. To make runs on such a wicket the batsman must have an exceedingly quick eye, and an almost quicker wrist, if he is to show to advantage. The ball takes a break very rapidly after pitching: in order to extricate himself from a difficulty, a batsman must rely upon an instantaneous co-operation of eye and wrist. The ball breaks so much that it is impossible to play forward-strokes at the rising ball with any success; the ball is nearly sure to beat the bat. ”

“ Single wicket may be played with any number of players, and is better than double wicket for any number of players under seven. At double wicket, a small number of players would get so fatigued with running after the ball, that when it came to the last player's turn, he would find himself too tired, without resting a while. The first innings in single wicket must be determined by chance. The bowler should pitch the wickets, and the striker measure the distance for the bowling-stump. ”

“ The wicket-keeper is also in more danger of being hurt, and as his position is necessarily one attended by extreme responsibility and considerable pain, this further danger ought to be spared him if possible. The risks he runs are from fast balls outside the batsman's legs. He cannot see the ball accurately so that he may judge where to put his hands without moving his feet; in order, then, to prevent the ball going to the ropes, he has to rush right in front of it, at the risk, if the ball should bump or do anything odd, of getting hit on the face or elsewhere. ”

“ Hence a run is worth more on such a wicket than on a hard one. But the ball is very easy for a good batsman to control and keep from the wicket under these conditions. There is no doubt that they favour batsmen, though sometimes sides collapse when a wet wicket suddenly occurs after a series of dry ones. It is not the wicket that causes this, but the change.
A wicket that dries slowly and equally may be described as neutral. It does not favour either batting or bowling. ”

“ In 1887 Cambridge only gave Oxford 14 extras in a combined total of 461, and Oxford lost but three wickets in the second innings. In the same year Oxford gave Cambridge only 20 extras in a grand total of 459. Though bowling is generally slower now than forty years ago, still in former days they used to have long-stops to bowling that even amateur wicket-keepers would now stop. The long-stopping wicket-keeper—that is, the wicket-keeper that lets nothing pass him—is a marvellous testimony to the excellence of modern grounds, the accuracy of modern bowling, and the skill of the men themselves. ”

“ There is far more elasticity in the whole arrangement; if an off-hitter like Palairet is batting, third man is put back against the ropes to save the fours. One often sees two different men fielding cover-point, one to each bowler; but most marvellous of all is the sight of the modern wicket-keep standing up to fast bowling with no long-stop, a very striking instance of the excellence of the wickets and the accuracy of the bowling. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The duties of the wicket-keeper are to stop the balls when missed by the striker, to stump him when off his ground, and to catch the ball, and knock the wickets down before the striker, when running, can ground his bat over the popping-crease. Since the introduction of fast bowling this position has become the most dangerous in the field, and a wicket-keeper seldom gets through a match without receiving some bruises. He should always wear pads and gloves. ”

“ Another wicket which is in the batsman's favour is a hard wicket wet on the surface. He can play forward on it as much as he likes with perfect safety, provided he looks out for balls that shoot or keep low. When the surface of a pitch is greasy with rain that has not made it in the very least soft, the ball is liable to skid along with extraordinary rapidity. It is rather amusing to hear what people say when, after a break of a few minutes owing to a shower, a player on resuming his batting is unfortunate enough to get out. ”

“ Lob-bowling is always likely to get any batsman out; but it is bound to be expensive, which is a great disadvantage. When runs are of no consequence, and getting wickets is all-important, a lob-bowler is a treasure. At the worst of times he is sure to be very useful as a change bowler, to be put on for an over or two. He depends for getting his wickets chiefly on his fieldsmen, especially the wicket-keeper and the men in the country. He therefore needs to be backed up by good fielding, and also to know exactly how to arrange his field. ”

“ A time may come when it is imperative to [123] aim at the stumps, for the time occupied in the keeper breaking the wickets may just suffice to give the batsman the benefit of the doubt in a close race; but as a general rule it is one’s duty to rely on the keeper. The bowler at times has to fulfil the duties of a wicket-keeper in receiving the return balls, and as he does not possess the protection of gloves, one has to consider the question of damaging his fingers. ”

“ Now it is no doubt an excellent thing to let no byes during a long innings, but it is far more excellent not to miss chances of getting men out. Unfortunately, under the influence of a widespread misconception as to the true criterion of good wicket-keeping, many wicket-keepers put before themselves as almost their sole object the preventing of all byes. They sacrifice all else to this, and consequently are always jumping about to stop balls to leg or on the off. instead of concentrating their attention upon taking the ball cleanly and surely near the wicket. ”

“ Still a jerk is less easy to the wicket-keeper. A long-slip with good head and heels may assist long-stop; his triumph is to run a man out by anticipating the balls that bump off long-stop's wrists and shins.
A third man up, or a middle-slip, is at times very killing: this allows long-slip to stand back for hard hits, and no catch escapes. A forward Point, or middle wicket close in, often snaps up a catch or two, particularly when the ground is dangerous for forward play, or the batsman plays hesitatingly. ”