Page:Jubilee Book of Cricket (Second edition, 1897).djvu/214

192 bowler is liable to be much annoyed; he often loses first his temper, then his head, and then his control over the ball. Young players ought certainly to use the glance for such balls only as they would otherwise hit to square-leg or long-leg.

Before leaving the subject of on-side strokes something must be said about the pull. Distinguish between the hook-stroke, which will be described later, and a genuine pull, which partakes of the nature of a drive. It is, in fact, a drive with a cross-bat which brings a ball pitched from the off-side of the wicket round to the on-side. It is never used by a good player to deal with the ball pitching on the wicket; at least if it is, the player is for the nonce a bad one. The pull being a drive, may be classed among forward-strokes. The ball suitable for the stroke may be either a half-volley or a good-length ball outside the off-stump; and after being hit, it may travel anywhere between long-on and square-leg. Mr W. W. Read is an excellent exponent of it. He gave me once a perfect idea how the stroke ought to be played. In making it he simply imagines that the wickets do not exist, and plays the ball, which is actually pitched on the off, as if it were pitched on the leg-side—that is to say, he puts out his leg towards the ball, and hits it just as an ordinary player would a ball on or outside his legs. The great difference between Mr Read's execution of the stroke and that of other players is, that he almost invariably picks the right ball, and can when necessary get well over it. Most players pick the wrong ball and make no attempt to keep it down. The whole essence of the stroke is picking the right ball; and it is the difficulty of doing so which makes the stroke dangerous.

Having enumerated most of the forward-strokes in their aggressive aspect, let us see how far back-play can be made a means of getting runs.

When a really short ball is bowled, the batsman ought to be able, standing where he is, to force it with a horizontal bat in some direction or other. The direction varies according to whether a ball is straight, or to the leg, or to the off Mr W. W. Read is particularly good at making forcing-strokes without any forward movement of the body. In fact, the hardest hit he makes is off a short ball outside the off-stump. When he sees the particular ball coming, he moves his right leg back slightly away from the wicket—that is, he moves slightly backwards himself, and as the ball passes him hits it somewhere in the direction of cover-point with extraordinary force. This stroke of his is not a forward-stroke—it is a back-stroke; and as to its being a