Page:The Crisis in Cricket and the Leg Before Rule (1928).djvu/33



HE effect of the l.b.w. law as interpreted at present is that a batsman is given out if he misses the ball with his bat and stops it with any part of his person, which for all practical purposes means the legs, but the ball must have pitched in the bowler's territory, i.e. between wicket and wicket, and would, in the opinion of the umpire, have hit the wicket but for the interception of the batsman's legs. The change which in the opinion of many should be made; is to strike out the words which make it obligatory that the ball should pitch in the bowler's territory, i.e. the space of ground eight inches wide between wicket and wicket. The ball may pitch anywhere, but that part of the leg which the ball hits must be between wicket and wicket, so that a bats­ man never can be out if he stands clear of the wicket.

The first point to be noticed is that some sort of principle was laid down in 1774 when the first l.b.w. law was made that a batsman should not save his wicket with his legs. It is impossible to say precisely what the framers of all the dozen or so l.b.w. laws from 1774 to the present day meant as to where the ball should pitch, it is sufficient that the 1774 law answered its purpose for about a century, for batsmen did not use their legs to defend their wicket; they