Page:Jubilee Book of Cricket (Second edition, 1897).djvu/158

136 extra long-on—that is, about half-way between long-on and where square-leg would be. For Altmann long-on and long-off were in their normal positions. For the rest of the side long-on was brought in again to extra-cover. For Stockwell, Strawyard, Rush, and Altmann, cover-point, mid-off, and mid-on were a yard or two deeper than for the steadier batsmen.

The leg-break bowler had his field placed as in Plate G. For the hitting batsmen, Rush, Stockwell, and Altmann, point was moved behind the wicket, and third-man put at mid-off, and mid-off moved back to long-off. For the steadier but still fairly free bats, Strawyard, Netherland, Lock, and Keywood, long-off was not used, and the man thus released put at third-man. For the snickers and stickers, point was again moved behind the wicket, and third-man placed at short-leg beside the umpire.

The medium right-hander followed the plan suggested in Plate C, except that for Rush long-off was moved to long-on and long-on to extra-long-on.

But apart from more obvious alterations, the bowlers were continually slightly changing the fieldsmen to suit each batsman, and several times fieldsmen who unwittingly failed to resume the exact position the bowlers thought requisite were moved a yard this way or that. The general impression left on the observer was, that the fielding system was a pliable machine made to fit in as far as possible with the batsmen's strokes and the bowlers' requirements. There was nothing fixed or mechanical about the arrangements. Every move seemed to meet a need, and every change to be suggested by careful thought.

There is one more point that must be touched upon. No chapter on bowling would be complete without some discussion of the vexed question of "Throwing." It is a question about which it is exceedingly difficult to arrive at any satisfactory conclusion—partly because the precise point at issue is often entirely missed, partly because even those who understand it are in the habit of talking wildly and vaguely on the subject.

Quite apart from anything to do with cricket, there are two distinct ways of propelling to some distance an object grasped in the hand and lifted from the ground. One is bowling; the other throwing. Any method of thus propelling an object that is not bowling is throwing. Together the two methods cover every possible modification of such propulsion; but the distinction between them is absolute; there is, in reality, no such