Page:The Cricket Field (1854).djvu/141

Rh his name, has so often provoked the pun of "the falls of the Clyde."

3dly. As full a bat as the case admits: you cannot present a full bat to any but a straight ball. A bat brought forward from the centre stump to a ball Off or to leg, must be minutely oblique and form an angle sufficient to make Off or On hits.

Herein then consists the great excellence of batting, in presenting the largest possible face of the bat to the ball. While the bat is descending on the ball, the ball may rise or turn, to say nothing of the liability of the hand to miss, and then the good player has always half the width of his bat, besides its height, to cover the deviation; whereas, the cross player is far more likely to miss, from the least inaccuracy of hand and eye, or twist of the ball.

And, would you bring a full bat even to a toss? Would you not cut it to the Off or hit across to the On?

This question tries my rule very hard certainly; but though nothing less than a hit from a toss can satisfy a good player, still I have seen the most brilliant hitters, when a little out of practice, lose their wicket, or hit a catch from the edge of the bat, by this common custom of hitting across even to a toss or long hop.