“And quite right, too,” said Mr. Arnold.
“But, why?” Roland answered him. “The pull’s perfectly safe; it’s a four every time and you can’t get more than a single if you play back to it with a straight bat.”
“I daresay, I daresay, but cricket’s cricket, and you have got to play it with a straight bat. You’ve got to play according to rules.”
“But there’s no rule that says you mayn’t hit a long hop with a crooked bat.”
Mr. Arnold fidgeted angrily.
“My dear boy, it’s no good arguing. I’ve been playing cricket and watching cricket for forty years, and the good batsmen always played a straight ball with a straight bat.”
“There are a good many who don’t.”
“That means nothing. A big man’s a rule to himself. The pull’s a dangerous stroke; it’s all right in village cricket perhaps, but no one who doesn’t play with a straight bat would get into a county side.”
“But isn’t it the object of the game to make runs?”
“Not altogether—even if you do get four runs from it instead of one, which I am prepared to doubt. We wear our clothes to keep our bodies warm, but you wouldn’t be pleased if your tailor made your coat button up to the throat, and said: ‘It covers more of you, sir; you’ll be warmer that way, and the object of clothes is to keep you warm.’ ”