Page:Out-door Games Cricket and Golf (1901).djvu/29

14 probable indeed that this is one of the causes that makes him at heart a soldier. If you have watched football in League matches at Birmingham and West Bromwich, you will always notice that, however great may be the enthusiasm created by a fine tricky run, there is always a yell of joy when a player of the visiting eleven is sent flying on his back, and then, indeed, the spectator may be said fully to realise the pleasures of life. But such things do not occur in cricket: this is quite a different game: it is long drawn out, in a great many cases it is painfully slow, there are long delays, the niceties of the game are observed only by the intelligent, a batsman is only applauded by specialists in the pavilion when he plays a maiden over successfully on a difficult wicket, the public only applaud him when he hits a fourer, and the higher and harder it is, the more lustily will they shout.

It must not be supposed, however, that there is no excitement in cricket; there may be, and frequently ought to be a long drawn out and painfully exciting phase of the match that may last for some hours. A fourth innings of a match, when the quantity of runs necessary to