Page:The Cricket Field (1854).djvu/256

232 Twelve of the principal wicket-keepers of the lost fifty years were all efficient Batsmen; namely, Hammond, Searle, Box, Wenman, Dorrington, C. Brown, Chatterton, Lockyer, with Messrs. Jenner, Anson, Nicholson, and Ridding.

"How would you explain, sir," said Cobbett, "that the player's batting keeps pace with the gentleman's, when we never take a bat except in a game?"—"Because you are constantly following the ball with hand and eye together, which forms a valuable practice for judging pace, and time, and distance: not enough certainly to teach batting, but enough to keep it up. Besides, if you practise too little, most gentlemen practise too much, ending in a kind of experimental and speculative play, which proves—like gentleman's farming—more scientific than profitable. Amateurs often try at too much, mix different styles, and, worse than all, form conflicting habits. The game, for an average, is the player's game; because, less ambitious, with less excitement about favourite hits, of a simple style, with fewer things to think of, and a game in which, though limited, they are better grounded.

Amateurs are apt to try a bigger game than they could safely play with twice their practice. Many a man, for instance, whose talent lies in defence, tries free hitting, and, between the two, proves good for nothing. Others, perhaps, can