“You would think,” said Caldecourt, “that a ball to the right hand may be returned more quickly than a ball to the left.” But ask him, and he will show you how, if at a long reach, he always found it otherwise. The right shoulder may be even in the better position to return (in spite of change of hands), when the left picks up the ball than when the right picks it.
Some good Covers have been quicker with a hard jerk than a throw, for the attitude of fielding is less altered. 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.
Thick-soled shoes save colds in soppy weather, and do not jar when the ground is hard; for the Cantabs say that
Thin soles + hard ground = tender feet,
is an undeniable equation. Bowlers should wear worsted socks to save blisters, and mind the thread is not fastened off in a knot, just under the most sensitive part of the heel.
Much inconvenience arises in a match (for the best player may be out) by spectators standing in the eye of the ball; so, stretch strips of white canvass on poles five feet high; for this, while it keeps the stupid away, provides a white background for each wicket.
This is good also in a park, where the deep shade of trees increases the confessed uncertainty of the game. Some such plan is much wanted on all public grounds where the sixpenny freeholders stand and hug their portly corporations, and, by standing in the line of the wicket, give the ball all the shades of green coat, light waistcoat, and drab smalls. Still, batsmen must try to rise superior to such annoyances; for, if the bowler changes his side of the wicket, the umpire will often be in the light of the ball.
Oh! that ring at Lord’s; for, as in olden time,—