‘How do you think I shape?’ said Edgar.
‘Very well,’ replied his father, ‘but your style is rather faulty. I think I can give you a hint as to what I mean when we reach home.’
‘Now then, Will, it’s your turn,’ said Edgar, and Will Murch went to the nets with his bat under his arm.
‘You have seen him play before?’ said Edgar.
‘Many times,’ said his father. ‘He is a splendid bat, and I should think he will make a good captain. Is he popular with the team?’
‘Very,’ said Edgar. ‘I believe every one of us thinks he is the best man that could have been selected.’
‘That is the proper feeling to start with,’ said Robert Foster. ‘If you have no confidence in your captain, defeat is almost certain.’
When Robert Foster had seen the Australians at practice on several occasions, he came to the conclusion it was the strongest team that had yet come to England.
‘The test matches will be a treat,’ he said. ‘If honours are divided in the first two matches, what tremendous excitement there will be over the final!’
‘Which I hope we shall win,’ said Edgar.