Page:The Hambledon Men (1907).djvu/53

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THE YOUNG CRICKETER'S TUTOR
17

party beat the other in one innings, the runs in the first innings shall determine the bet.

But if the other party go in a second time, then the bet must be determined by the number on the score.


INSTRUCTIONS

Having provided the young cricketer with the requisite preliminaries to prepare him for playing the game, also with a code of the laws, the next step will be to give him the result of more than fifty years 1 experience and actual practice among the finest players the country ever saw. Without farther preamble, therefore, I shall commence with


THE BOWLER

The three best qualities in this important person in the game are, a high delivery, an upright body, and for his balls to be pitched a proper length. Without these requisites no man can be an effective bowler.


RUNNING IN TO DELIVER THE BALL

By a little practice the proper distance to run will easily be discovered. The bowler should make a mark in the ground from which he intends to start. This mark will facilitate his treading uniformly in the same steps each time he runs to deliver his ball; he should commence at a gentle pace, and increase his speed till the ball is delivered.

The following verse of the old cricketing song, written for the Hambledon Club in the year 1776,[1] and which will be found in another department of this little work, expresses in few words the chief excellence to be required in a bowler:—

  1. See footnote on page 50.