Page:The Hambledon Men (1907).djvu/74

38 If a ball be hit very hard in the direction of the long field, the safe way to play it is by dropping on one knee with both hands before him: should these miss it, the body will act as a rampart to prevent its farther progress.

To the young cricketer I cannot too frequently repeat that activity, observation, and steadiness are the most valuable qualities in a fieldsman, and allow me to add, as an old ''—in any other man.

The parties in a match at single wicket vary in number from one to six on a side. The distance between the wickets is twenty-two yards. At the bowler's wicket, two stumps are placed with a bail upon them; and this the striker, when running, must come to, and strike off, and return to his own wicket. This is counted one run. If the bail should be off, the batter must strike the stump out of the ground. When the party consists of fewer than four on each side, if the striker leave his ground to hit the ball, he will not be permitted to reckon a notch.

When the parties consist of fewer than five on each side, the custom of the game is, to make bounds on each side of the wicket; which bounds are to be laid down parallel with it, as well as with each other: they must likewise extend twenty-two yards from the wicket. The man who is in, must strike the ball before these limits, or boundary lines; and it must be returned in the same direction by those who are seeking out. It must also be thrown back in such a manner, that it may cross the play between