Page:Cricket, by WG Grace.djvu/272

 have now, there is no need for a long-leg, and a man can be better utilised on the off-side; indeed, most bowlers would rather have an extra man there, and take the chance of an occasional one being pulled or hit to leg.

My brother Fred, and J. Smith of Cambridgeshire were the best in that position of all the cricketers I have known. They had the four things required to fill it: a safe pair of hands, dash, speed, and good throwing. Rarely did they fail to bring off a catch they could get to, and I have seen batsman after batsman afraid to hit out when either was in that part of the field. They could tell to a yard whether they had to move forward or go back, and never thought anything out of their reach; but it was in their dash they shone conspicuously over others. They did not expect to save the first run, but they considered it bad fielding if a second were obtained. Immediately the batsman hit they were on move, and they covered the first ten yards at top speed, and had the ball into the wicket-keepers' hands almost as soon as the first run was finished. If they could use both hands, they invariably did it; but if time did not permit, they were equally certain with right or left, and they did not forget to allow for the spin which is more or less on every ball hit to leg. Their throw-in was as straight as an arrow, and invariably fell into the wicketkeeper's hands first-bound a foot above the wicket. They rarely stopped a ball with their foot; for they were strongly of opinion that a good fieldsman in that position could stop anything possible more effectually with his hand, and that upon the quick pick-up and return depended the saving of the second run.

Another good quality of theirs was their judgment in knowing whether to stand fine or square. Very rarely do you meet two batsmen who hit exactly alike to leg. My brother and Smith generally thought of