Page:Jubilee Book of Cricket (Second edition, 1897).djvu/156

134 of the eleven! But he ought not to have been taken in by that change of pace: he knew the trick was being tried. Still, he did not let that slow curly chap diddle him this time.

L. J. Lock now joins Hareless. The new-comer is captain of his side, and looks the part. He is deliberate solidity incarnate—a magnificent bat in his time. Nowadays he does not time the ball quite so well as he used, nor are his movements quite as quick and sure as of old. But he still has the clearest of eyes and the strongest of wrists. The very sight of him forbids the thought of champagne or cigars. He is a splendid man at a pinch, a very Viking. When matters are going well he does not seem to care much for his own success. Both bowlers know his weak stroke—a half chop, half push, that is meant to be a late cut,—an attempt to guide the ball through the slips. Each bowler at once sets about getting him caught at slip. Ball after ball is bowled outside the off-stump. The leg-break bowler gives him plenty of rather wide balls on the off. The fast bowler tries to send down a ball that swings away with his arm among others that break, however little, from the off. It is not long before Hareless scrapes forward to a slow ball from the fast bowler. He misjudges the flight, and is caught easily by mid-off".

Keywood now joins his captain. Keywood is a fine bat out of form. He begins by glancing the first bowler to leg—a beautiful stroke. He then drives him for two fours to the off and on boundaries. The fast bowler is trying to clean bowl him, and nearly does so with a yorker that just misses the offstump. The leg-break bowler is too much for Keywood. He swipes wildly at the first ball, and it beats both bat and wicket. The next one, which pitches on the leg-stump and breaks an inch or two, he feels for weakly, lifts his foot, and is promptly stumped.

His place is taken by George Altmann, a really good bat when he wants to be so, but one who, as a rule, goes in for a firework display. The leg-break bowler has got him caught in the long-field several times, and tries to do so now. The result is three successive fours, and then a fine catch by long-on.

Next comes Forrest, a tricky little bat with no particular strokes, and a marvellous power of snicking the ball. He needs clean bowling with a fast straight ball. The leg-break bowler actually tries to do this—a thing quite out of his line. He bowls a straight fast-medium ball, and is promptly snicked for four between the wicket and the batsman's legs. Forrest