Page:Out-door Games Cricket and Golf (1901).djvu/116

Rh with a leg-break bowling every variety of length, with no command whatever over the ball—this is another terrible development of the game to which the present easy wickets and consequent high scoring have brought us. There is yet another, and this touches the batting, considered as a science, and a beautiful thing as it ought to be. A premium has been put on reckless and abnormal hitting. This is not altogether bad, because such hitting, though prolific of runs, does not as a rule last very long, and is always pleasant to look at; but it has also put a premium on Noble and W. G. Quaife and players of that class, who have succeeded in making cricket nothing short of a terror. There ought to be room for purely defensive batsmen; they have existed ever since cricket began. Haygarth and Ottaway are two examples of men who may be described as sticks, but who occupied a distinguished position in the world of cricket. These players, however, did not stick so long as to cause matches to be drawn. The wickets helped the bowler in those days, and even the strongest defensive player found himself bowled or caught after a