Page:The Cricket Field (1854).djvu/252

228 accurately, right or left, according to the pitch of the ball, and to take that ball, however fast, unbaulked by the bat or body of the player, is really very difficult. But what if we add—and how few, very few, can accomplish it!—taking the ball in spite of an unexpected bias or turn from the bat. Still, practice will do much where nature has done a little; but with modern bowling you want a man both "rough and ready." Mr. Herbert Jenner was "the ready man;" so also are Messrs. Anson, Nicholson, and W. Ridding, and Box; but Wenman was ready and rough too. He had fine working qualities, and could stand a deal of pounding, day after day: others have had a short life and a merry one, and mere transient popularity; but, for wicket-keeping under difficulties, give me Wenman. At wicket-keeping, the men of labour ought to beat the men of leisure. Hard hands are essential: and, hard hands can only come from hard work. Wenman's calling, that of a wheelwright and carpenter, is in his favour. "I found my hands quite seasoned," writes an amateur, "after a two-month's work at the oar." Chatterton fears no pace in bowling. But Lockyer's name now stands highest of all: the certainty and facility with which he takes Wisden's bowling, both with right and left, can hardly be surpassed. We leave wicket-keepers to emulate Lockyer, especially in his every-day lasting and working