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188 another, who is practising stepping in. "There, sir, is 'practising to play Clarke,' that is very plain; and a nice mess, you will see, he will make of it. Ah! my friend, if you do go in at all, you must go in further than that, or my twist will beat you; and, going in to swipe round, eh! Learn to run me down with a straight bat, and I will say something to you. But that wouldn't score quite fast enough for your notions. Going in to hit round is a tempting of Providence."

"There, that man is purely stupid: alter the pace and height with a dropping ball, and I shall have no trouble with him. They think, sir, it is nothing but 'Clarke's vexatious pace:' they know nothing about the curves. With fast bowling, you cannot have half my variety; and when you have found out the weak point, where's the fast bowler that can give the exact ball to hit it? There is often no more head-work in fast bowling than there is in the catapult: without head-work I should be hit out of the field."

"A man is never more taken aback than when he prepares for one ball, and I bowl him the contrary one: there was Mr. Nameless, the first time he came to Nottingham, full of fancies about playing me. The first ball, he walked some yards out to meet me, and I pitched over his head, so near his wicket, that, thought I, that bird won't fight again. Next ball, he was a little cunning,