that he may, by a short and quick step, stump out the batter, should he move from his ground. My reason for recommending that he should remove a little backward from the wicket is because by his doing so the catches will be much more easy, and he may stump as well. Many wicket-keepers will frequently put down the wicket when the striker has not moved from his ground; but this practice is doubly objectionable in the eyes of a good cricketer, and is after all but a piece of stage effect, and to make a show. The more serious wrong, however, in the action, is, that it puts the striker on his guard, and prevents his getting off his ground.
The young wicket-keeper must aim to acquire the power of deciding at a glance the exact situation of every fieldsman—of those whom he wishes to stand in, for the purpose of saving one run, or out, for that of saving two.
There is only one hit the wicket-keeper should ever have to move after from the wicket: that is, when the long field to the hip is out to save the two runs, and the batsman blocks a ball between his leg and the wicket. There is no other person can save this run but the wicket-keeper, and if he wish to save it he must start before the ball is struck, or he will be too late. In this case the slip should take his place at the wicket.
If the batsmen are running, the ball should be thrown straight to the wicket, about as high as the top of the stump. The wicket-keeper should leave the wicket between himself and the ball; take the ball before the wicket, and, as he receives it, his hands should be drawn back, putting the wicket down with one motion. This should be done steadily; if it be done in a hurry it can seldom be well done.
Sueter, of the Hambledon Club, and Hammond, a Sussex man, were the two best wicket-keepers I ever
