statistics. In the Australian tour of 1886 thirty-nine matches were begun, and no less than twenty-two left unfinished. During the same season Notts played fourteen matches, and no fewer than seven—or exactly one-half—were drawn.
The same rule which provides ten minutes between each innings allows two minutes for the incoming batsman to succeed the outgoing. It is unfortunate that no mention is made of any penalty for the infringement of this; there should be one, and it ought to be rigidly exacted if the rule be not observed. The strict enforcement of this law would go far to stop the existing evil of drawn games.
We will now discuss what we consider to be a hardship to bowlers and field, and an undue favouring of the batsman—a point about which there is no rule. Twenty years ago, England was not so densely crowded, the average number of spectators was not nearly so large as it is now, and it was not the custom to have an all-round boundary. Every hit was run out, and the fieldsman in pursuit of the ball plunged right into the middle of carriages, spectators, and horses' legs, and picked it up, the batsman in the meanwhile running out the full value of the hit. Now the case is altogether altered. There is a strong cord running all round the ground, every decently hard hit is certain to reach the ropes if the ball once passes the fieldsman, and the batsman stands coolly in his ground, being altogether spared the trouble of running and the loss of breath which naturally follows the exertion. There is another reason why the batsman is favoured by this system of boundaries, and that is, the chance of a run-out is materially diminished. The position we take up in all these matters is, that in these days runs are too easily accumulated, that the perfection of modern wickets has so affected the bowling that the reform of the ftiture ought to be in the direction of favouring the bowlers and fieldsmen, and not the batsman. Those who were spectators of cricket matches in former days can call to mind many a run-out owing to a batsman attempting a fourth or fifth run. The fieldsman had hold of the ball at a distance say of 100 yards from the
