or four runs without his having anything to do with it. Such a man with a slow bowler is probably a certainty.
In choosing your side don't choose all batters. In the first place make sure of your bowlers (that's the principal matter), your wicket-keeper, your long-stop. Then come the batters: five or six there will be no question about. Now as to the one or two last; if you have a middling bat and no fielder; if he gets ten and loses fifteen in the field, he is five worse than nothing: a bad bat and a good field saves fifteen in the match, his side have that fifteen less to get, so give me the good field.
Umpiring is a very arduous and often unthankful office, especially in country places, where a jealousy exists on each side, and a doubt of his doing his duty fairly and impartially. That is sure to be the case, when he belongs to one of the parties, and is not sufficiently acquainted with the game. It is better to choose men connected with neither party. If you have anything against a man, object to him at once, but not on suspicion; with some players Umpires never can be right. Don't let a man take his place and then be dissatisfied with his decisions, and in lieu of making the game a pleasure and creating a good feeling among all, make it quite the reverse. It is difficult for an Umpire to please both parties; but let each give him credit for good intentions. It is impossible for an Umpire to be always right; but I would always take his decision (if he understands the game) before the opinion of a spectator or one of the players, for he stands in the best position to judge correctly. It is on those nice points, which create a difference of opinion amongst spectators and the field, that the decision of the Umpire is required. How unjust it is to an Umpire, when he has given his best opinion on some nice point (such as the ball grazing a man's bat or glove), for the batsman to go away and say he was not out, and so create a bad feeling. I said before, there are some
