Page:Cricket, by WG Grace.djvu/274

 are very good in that position. I have seen them bring off catch after catch at all conceivable altitudes sometimes with one hand, sometimes with both. Now it would be at a foot from the ground, then breastliigh, and occasionally with hand fully extended over the head. Messrs. W. J. Ford and A. N. Hornby used to be difficult men to field to in that position, their hitting being exceptionally hard and low. The ball came like a flash of lightning sometimes actually humming and required a very quick eye and hand to stop it. More than once the fieldsman has been seen to draw away from it altogether. Against good batsmen who play hard from the wicket and place the ball, mid-off has plenty of work to save the run. He must be constantly on the watch, and dash in immediately the ball leaves the bat; in fact, he should be able to tell from the nature of the ball bowled whether it is likely to come his way, and should be on the move as soon as it is hit. If the bowling is round the wicket, he should not go quite so far out as he would when it is over; for the bowler cannot cover so much ground on his side when bowling that way.

No one who is not accustomed to the position of long-field should be placed there, whether it be on the on-side, the off-side, or over the bowler's head. Close in, remarkable catches are brought off, but no one is surprised when one is missed now and then. In the long-field the fieldsman has plenty of time to see the ball coming; but a lofty catch, and one that has to be waited for, is more difficult to bring off than one that comes quickly and is all over in a second or two. While the ball is travelling to long-field there is time for many thoughts to flash through his mind: chief of which are, that the players and spectators have all turned their