Page:The Crisis in Cricket and the Leg Before Rule (1928).djvu/71

Rh raised high and the head dropped much quicker than might be expected.



Now turn to the two other illustrations. The frontispiece is a snapshot of J. W. Hearne playing backward. In the plate facing p. 64 he is playing forward in a remarkably weird way, and I admit that if Hearne had been living in the era 1860-90 and had played in the style shown in the illustrations he would have been hurt and very likely very seriously. In those days nobody did play in such a way, nor would Hearne have done so. All the same with his straight bat and eye he would have been a great cricketer whatever style he might have adopted, but instead of getting centuries he would have got fifties, to the great advantage of the game.

On the 11th June, 1927, Notts and Middlesex met