HINTS TO YOUNG PLAYERS.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 14 October 1922, Page 3

HINTS TO YOUNG PLAYERS.

BY AN OLD HAND.

In view; of the departure from England within the next fortnight or so of ' Mr. A. C. MacLaren's English cricket team, the following hints to young players, written by MaeLaren for Mr? I i». F. Warner's magazine at the end of ■June, wiii be read with interest: j Which would you rather have, a duck and win the match, or a hundred and lose the game? . I ask my young, readers this question for the purpose of concentrating their I thoughts on the game, and realising that the gam© to play always is the ' game that will win the match for the side, and that whenever possible it is better to distribute what could have., been a personal triumph amongst other members of the team one represents. • If you, young reader, happen to captain your school eleven, there will be many occasions on which you will find thei game going all one way, and if it hap-•' pens to be your .good fortune to be on top, and you are getting wickets to such an extent that' to ail intents and purposes the match is won, your eleven will think well of you for throwing the ball to Smith, Brown, or Robinson, who I are not so good, and who- have not the j successes that come your way, but, j ( nevertheless, they are, one and all, good ! ] enough to get the remaining wickets, ] and win the game quite easily for the i side. Here, you have distributed what i could have been a personal triumph amongst other members of your side, • and also j brought joy to the hearts of , not only your eleven, but also of the '• parents of those boys whom your gen- j erous and thoughtful action has per-' initted to come into the picture. | In the same way at your school, as ! captain, you will have many oppor- j tunities of putting before those out of , luck or out of form favourable opportunities for scoring, such as going in, lower down yourself when the bowling ' strength of the oppossing: side is seen ' to be weak, or with the match won, but i another hour or so to play the new • choices, or those out of luck, should be ! given preference. UNSELFISH CAPTAINS. By these acts of self-denial many a •. , game is;to be won in the future, since < you have^been correcting weaknesses ■ and building up your team's strength. ' There is just as much scope for a boy captain in coaxing the best possible out , pf each member of his side, and once ,'-* in form keeping that form, as there is \ for a trainer of ,a big string of ! thoroughbreds. If there is one trait in a captain appreciated by his men. above ! all others, it is unselfishness. It must ! not go so far as to be a menace towards '■■ thinning the game, however, by ovat- , sstimating the powers of individual 1 members of the side and under-estimat-ing your own. Above all else, show no. : favouritism unless you yourself are the* sufferer. To give the ball to your chum . match after match when others are as ; good, but who' are denied opportunities \ which justly should be theirs, is. n-rt ;• ■ cricket, nor is it Tight to put your chums into the eleven, at the expense i 3l" another member of the school who is a better player. ■ j -It is very necessary to be able to discriminate from good and poor or | incorrect play, and this can only be ) achieved by learning to defend the! wicket against all types of bowling : successfully by the employment of sound methods as laid down by the i great masters of the past. When you j can tell who is playing correctly or \ otherwise, very much can be gleaned by j patching and observing closely the posi- j tions of the batsman as he sets himself j to deal correctly with the ball. Remem- ; ber the great player who is in the true ! position to make the most of every type i of ball, good or bad length. You will j soon have plenty of opportunities of • noticing other players, not so good, who ! do not make the most of the overtossed I or short ball, because they shave either ; misjudged the length or pace or made j more.than one movement with the feet, i which is wrong, seeing that only one foot should be moved for the actual hitting of the ball. A very serious fault practised to-day is the stepping in front of the wicket j on a true, fast pitch, when both feet i are moved back before the strike is : executed. This position frequently is ! the sole cause of the batsman's in- j ability to score off what was really a j scoring length, since to move both feet j before the execution of the stroke j necessitates the batsman showing his i chest to the bowler. The true back j stroke is made by bringing the right | leg back, with the left shoulder still j pointing to- the bowler, and as the ball ' is played in front of the right knee the j left foot is usually, lifted ever so slightly, by the full weight being on the right leg. ' CRICKET WORLD HAS CHANGED. The world has changed a good deal! since my boyhood, and I am inclined to ; think that the absence of golf and j motor cars was beneficial to schoolboys, ( since the cricketing masters, and they j were all cricketing masters at my j school, were always on the spot to en- • courage and help. To-day it is not | quite the same thing, and there are not so many masters as formerly who play! cricket. 1 Before my father sent me to Elstree j I was always playing cricket, and never ' wanted to play anything else. The I coachman, the gardener, and alt the; indoor servants except the cook, with whom I remember to have been quite out of sympathy, used to be called out in turn to bowl at me, and I have no recollection of ever having bowled io i them. Batting had a wonderful attraction for me, ana when we got to the' seaside, cricketfon the sands monopo- \ Used most of my time. The cor.ivty \ games in the early eighties were a j .source of joy to me, and from a tent, which has grown into the ladies' payi- j lion, every ball was most greedily ■ watched. . | | On my arrival at school, aged nine, : the lowest nets, well away from the \ '. rest of the school, were allotted me, and ! we small boys used to bat until bowled 1 out, in place of the timing system of ' to-day, which is certainly better, in I that each player gets a fair innings, j but I am not at all sure that the '-now- \ *$dge; of being compelled to give up

one's innings for any mistake made by the batsman did not cause the young player to guard his wicket witn greater care than to-day, when there is no'penalty for playing too jolly and carelessly.