Page:A "Bawl" for American Cricket.djvu/78

 when the catastrophycatastrophe [sic] has happened to our side; while excessive buoyancy seems to have taken posessionpossession [sic] of and intoxicated our opponents. The American audience is so completely bent upon victory that good cricket is momentarily lost sight of. If cricketers will remember that superior play ought to be the object, and will forget the result, these exhibitions of inferior cricket will be fewer. The courage and nerve which are sure to follow careful training and good discipline, can and will prepare each batter to depend upon himself, rather than follow a bad example.

Fielding is too much neglected for the more pleasant occupation of batting. The net is a useful invention, a tremendous time saver, thoroughly in accord with other economic devices of the age, but it has not improved fielding. Fielders should practice their art when the game is not in progress if they expect success while the eyes of spectators are concentrated upon a hard hit ball. The silence which follows faulty fielding is quite as emphatic as the cry of "muff" or "butter-fingers." The fielder is always on exhibition in the proportion of eleven to one batter, so that his opportunities for the display of either good or bad play are many. If cricketers will bring to their game the excellent qualities displayed upon the diamond, theirs will soon be recognized as the popular game. Greater interest is felt in fine fielding than in brilliant batting by the spectator, though from a cricketers standpoint a finished batsman will always be the favorite. There seems no excuse for poor fielding unless to permit the second-rate bat to score double figures. It is with much regret that we feel the necessity of dwelling upon this subject at length, but these hints would be