Page:The Cricket Field (1854).djvu/63

Rh they were again finishing 'that rattling good match.' People talk of the excitement of a good run with the Quorn or Belvoir hunt. I have now and then tumbled in for these good things; and, as far as my own feelings go, I can safely say that a fine run is not to be compared to a good match; and the excitement of the keenest sportsman is nothing either in intensity or duration to that caused by a 'near thing' at cricket. The next good run takes the place of the other; whereas hard matches, like the snow-ball, gather as they go. This is my decided opinion; and that after watching and weighing the subject for some years. I have seen men tremble and turn pale at a near match,

while, through the field, the deepest and most awful silence reigns, unbroken but by some nervous fieldsman humming a tune or snapping his fingers to hide his agitation."

"What a glorious sensation it is," writes Miss Mitford, in 'Our Village,' "to be winning, winning, winning! Who would think that a little bit of leather and two pieces of wood had such a delightful and delighting power?"