Page:Cricket, by WG Grace.djvu/260



T has been said that any one can field well if he looks out for every ball and tries his hardest. I do not altogether agree with that, for I have seen more than one cricketer do his very best and yet fall short of what is considered firstclass form; but I am strongly of opinion that perseverance and attention are the essential points which every young fieldsman must keep in mind. In fielding, as in batting and bowling, success can only be achieved after long practice and experience. I sometimes think that our representative teams are chosen without sufficient consideration of the fitness of some of the players for the positions in the field where they are almost sure to be placed; for more than once I have noticed a man who was known to be good close in compelled to go out to the long-field, because there was no one else who could do better. Not being accustomed to that position, he could not do himself justice.

It may be safely taken for granted, then, that for one player who can go anywhere in the field with credit to himself there are a dozen, if not more, who are only fit for one position. Messrs. V. E. Walker, A. N. Hornby, Geo. Strachan, and Ulyett in their best days, and Messrs. A. E. Stoddart, S. M. J. Woods, and Peel and Maurice Read at the present time, may be quoted as fine illustrations of first-class all-round fieldsmen. Activity, dash and throwing-in are the qualities which are indispensable to enable a fieldsman to go anywhere.