Page:Cricket (Steel, Lyttelton).djvu/278

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
256
CRICKET.

of any save those whose knowledge of the game makes their approbation valuable.

A player with no aptitude for wicket-keeping on first going to that position will undergo moments of unspeakable agony. Spectators do not thoroughly realise the position of the wicket- Wicket-keeper—Another position.

keeper, indeed nobody can who has not attempted the art. In the first place, we will suppose a very fast bowler; in the second, a fast and possibly a rather bumpy wicket; in the third place, a batsman with perhaps the bulk of W. G. Grace or Roger Iddison, wielding a bat of the orthodox proportions; and in the fourth place, three stumps with two bails placed on the top. The body of the batsman in many cases completely obstructs the view the wicket-keeper ought to have of the ball. Even if he can get a good sight of the ball there is that abominable bat