25. Club-Ball.—XIII. Century.
XIX.—CRICKET.
From the club-ball originated, I doubt not, that pleasant and manly exercise, distinguished in modern times by the name of cricket; I say in modern times, because I cannot trace the appellation beyond the commencement of the last century, where it occurs in one of the songs published by D'Urfey. [436] The first four lines, "Of a noble race was Shenkin," run thus:
Her was the prettiest fellow
At foot-ball or at cricket,
At hunting chase, or nimble race,
How featly her could prick it.
Cricket of late years is become exceedingly fashionable, being much countenanced by the nobility and gentlemen of fortune, who frequently join in the diversion. This game, which is played with the bat and the ball, consists of single and double wicket. The wicket was formerly two straight thin battons called stumps, twenty-two inches high, which were fixed into the ground perpendicularly six inches apart, and over the top of both was laid a small round piece of wood called the bail, but so situated as to fall off readily if the stumps were touched by the ball. Of late years the wicket consists of three stumps and two bails; the middle stump is added to prevent the ball from passing through the wicket without beating it down. The external stumps are now seven inches apart, and all of them three feet two inches high. Single wicket requires five players on each side, and double wicket eleven; but the number in both instances may be varied at the pleasure of the two parties. At single wicket the striker with his bat is the protector of the wicket, the opponent party stand 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 batton or stump set up for that purpose two-and-twenty 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 proves successful the batsman retires from the play, and another of his party succeeds; if, on the contrary, the ball is struck by the bat and driven into the field beyond the reach of those who stand out to stop it, the striker runs to the stump at the bowler's station, which he touches with his bat and then returns to his wicket. If this be performed before the ball is thrown back, it is called a run, and one notch or score is made upon the tally towards his game; if, on the contrary, the ball be thrown up and the wicket beaten down with it by the opponent party before the striker is at home, or can ground his bat within three feet ten inches of the wicket, at which distance a mark made in the ground is called the popping-crease, he is declared to be out of the play, and the run is not reckoned: he is also out if he strikes the ball into the air, and it be caught by any of his antagonists before it reaches the ground, and retained long enough to be thrown up again. When double wicket is played, two batsmen go in at the same time, one at each wicket; there are also two bowlers, who usually bowl four balls in succession alternately. The batsmen are said to be in as long as they remain at their wickets, and their party is called the in-party; on the contrary, those who stand in the field with the bowlers are called the out-party. Both parties have two innings, and the side that obtains the most runs in the double contest claims the victory. These are the general outlines of this noble pastime, but there are many other particular rules and regulations by which it is governed; and those rules are subject to frequent variations, according to the joint determination of the players.