THE GAME OF CRICKET.

Press, Volume VI, Issue 673, 26 December 1864, Page 3

THE GAME OF CRICKET.

The following interesting article on the above subject is taken from the Daily Telegraph; — " A manly race contrives to have sport for every month in the year, and is able to amuse itself, no matter what may be the state of the barometer. * A southerly wind and a cloudy sky,' are dear to all who don the pigskin. The angler hates a day which is nothing but a monotonous blaze and glare of sunlight; loves to hear the merry patter of rain amongst the leaves ; and, so that the spate be not too angry and the waters not too dark, salutes the rain as the promise of a well-filled creel. When the frost prevents hunting, the irrepressible Briton takes down his skates; when the turf is burnt and bare,- he marches over the crackling stubble, intent upon the slaughter of brown birds which, with bread sauce, are not bad; when he has taken off the edge of September and growß tired of partridges, October, sacred to pheasants, invites him. On a bad winter's night he can crouch in a boat, with gigantic waterproof integuments around his body, and listen for the multitudinous clamour of the wild-fowl flocking up some muddy creek. Quiet English wood, with tho ruddy autumnal colour deepening about the trees— wild Scottish moorland, with mysterious springs and lonely little locks sombre in their solitude—rocky river-course, whose banks are bright with tho red berries of the mountain ash^—weirs and lashers on an English stream—a clear,, straight, stretch of water aloug which the eight-oar rushes it its glory of speed—all these have their charm. But to those who are to the manner born, to those who know tho spirit and charm of the game, there is no lovelier sight than a broad expanse of .turf, which has been as cleanly clipped as if a thousand Southdowns had trooped over it, nibbling the day before. In the centre of the place let there be erected half a dozen sticks , perpendicular, and four other smaller sticks horizontal; let 22 good fellows, with flannel shirts and trowsers, be upon the ground waiting for the match to begin; and from these simple elements shall your true cricketer derive an enjoyment which he would find it difficult to express except in the established formula, 'By Jove !' The great matches are superb in thenway ; there you find the ' science' of the game displayed in its full grandeur; but of all contests, the pleasantest beyond comparison are those when ono eleven drives merrily away for a dozen miles.or so to meet a neighboring club. There is all the fun of a race-day without any of its coarseness j the lads laugh, and 'lark/ and sing ; the steadier of thenenter into grave discourse concerning the hitting of Slogger, how killing it is, and the left-hand bowling of Pacer, how it twists irresistibly into the leg-stump from the ' off. * A bright sunshiny day is vouchsafed them ; under the pleasant trees delicate little blue coils of fragrant smoke curl up from meerschaum or regalia as the party ride along; there is a hearty welcome on the 'tented field,' a manly match, and aa jolly a drive home as man can wish for—oil the jollier if, when the game seemed desperate, tho captain' has 'pulled it out of the fire' by patience and pluck. , "Of cricketers the name is legion; and we have a good many thousands of readers who, whilst the sweet season lasts, turn every morning, before they scan Parliamentary debates or American telegrams, to that corner of our paper which, in lettera and figures cabalistical to the uninitiated, records the performances of Lockyer, Willsher, Hayward, and their mates, lhe good old game progresses. For many years past it has been played in Canada and in India ; nay there are sturdy batsmen up amongst the diggings of i Australia, and capital cover-pointe withm hail of the tattooed Maoris. This present 1864, indeed, has seen cricket played in still stranger places r scormg-sheets have been filled up near the Bois do Boulogne, and the cry of«over' has been heard under the shadow of Mont Blanc. Geneva itself has don** ned gauntlets and pads; has played according to our Paris correspondent, against eleven of Lyons : and has even been beaten by the agile Gaul to the tune of four-and-forty runs. Yes, cricket is in the ascendant; it is one of the few things which in one sense are, and in another are not, 'played out/ The number of its votaries mcreases ; and a convert, once made, never re lapses into A man may grow/middle-aged, of breath ; he may fly to Banting; whoso aid, hadhecontmued toplay.he would neverhave required-