Page:The Cricket Field (1854).djvu/213

Rh and made a feint of coming out, meaning, as I guessed, to stand back for a long hop; so I pitched right up to him; and he was so bent upon cutting me away, that he hit his own wicket down!"

Look at diagrams page 179. Clarke is there represented as bowling two balls of different lengths; but the increased height of the shorter pitched ball, by a natural ocular delusion, makes it appear as far pitched as the other. If the batsman is deceived in playing at both balls by the same forward play, he endangers his wicket. "See, there," continues Clarke, "that gentleman's is a dodge certainly, but not a new one either. He does step in, it is true; but while hitting at the ball, he is so anxious about getting back again, that his position has all the danger of stepping in, and none of its advantages."

"Then there is Mr. ," naming a great man struggling with adversity. "He gives a jump up off his feet, and thinks he is stepping in, but comes flump down just where he was before."

"Pilch plays me better than any one. But he knows better than to step in to every ball, or to stand fast every ball He plays steadily, and discriminates, waiting till I give him a chance, and then makes the most of it"

Bowling consists of two parts: there is the