A FEW MEMORANDA RESPECTING THE
PROGRESS OF CRICKET
Mr. Ward obligingly furnished me with a small MS., written some years since by an old cricketer, containing a few hasty recollections and rough hints to players, thrown together without regard to method or order. From the mass I have been able to select a few portions, thinking that they might possess some interest with those of my readers who take a pride in the game.
From the authority before me, it appears that about 150 years since, it was the custom, as at present, to pitch the wickets at the same distance asunder, viz. twenty-two yards. That the stumps (only one foot high, and two feet[1] wide) were surmounted with a bail. At that period, however, another peculiarity in the game was in practice, and which it is worth while to record. Between the stumps a hole was cut in the ground, large enough to contain the ball and the butt-end of the bat. In running a notch, the striker was required to put his bat into this hole, instead of the modern practice of touching over the popping-crease. The wicketkeeper, in putting out the striker when running, was
- ↑ There must be a mistake in this account of the width of the wicket. J. N.
