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30 he is apt to pooh-pooh the idea of lobs being anything but contemptible, and slog and play recklessly at them, either flying out at a short ball and getting stumped, or else getting caught at deep field by a judiciously placed man. But more important still is the effect that lob bowlers have on nervous batsmen, and, as I have said before, all batsmen are nervous when they first go in. If I had a good lob bowler on my side, I should put him on to every new batsman on his first going in; and this procedure was, I believe, adopted by Murdoch in the case of Humphreys with the greatest success.

Lob bowlers cannot break both ways. This, I think, is quite true, and, roughly speaking, they may be divided into two classes—those who, like Ridley, bowl chiefly on the off stump, and break away, and have seven or eight fields on the off side; and those who, like Humphreys, keep on the on side. It may be asked. Why not combine the two styles? The answer is. You can, but if you do you want more than eleven fields: