Page:Cricket (Lyttelton, 1898).djvu/22

18 commonest way of getting out is to be caught behind the wicket either by the wicket-keep standing back, or in the slips; and the reason is, that to one sort of bowler it is very easy to hit under the balls you are trying to cut; and to another sort (when the ball comes across at all from leg) batsmen are very apt to play inside it, just turning it thereby into short slip's hands. It is well when you first go in, therefore, to sacrifice some strength at off balls, refraining from making a clean hit, and, instead, to hit on the top of the ball to keep it down.

To score on difficult bowlers' wickets is an art that stands by itself. The men who can do this are the chosen few. Where one man can show scientific cricket on soft, caking grounds, ten at least can be found who can play and hit bowling when the wicket is hard and fast. There are two sorts of players whose methods are entirely different and entirely opposite. The really scientific batsman who plays correct and orthodox cricket, watching every ball with the eye of a