GREAT CRICKETERS

Mount Ida Chronicle, 22 June 1900, Page 4

GREAT CRICKETERS

LITTLE THINGS Til AT WORRY THEM. That cricket is uncertain lias become a hoary old prov rb. It's a hutidy pluM.su for the ep ctator when his favourite aid.' sufL'rs defeat, though in all probability he would be puzzled to explain why cricli'it should be more uncertain than billiards or lawn tennis. In many cuses he himself is the cause of the uncertainty t'.at he so glibly refers to as 1 one of the most glorious elements of the gunie.' There is nothing so irritating to the average fieldsman as the familiar sound—a cross between a sigh and a groan—that goes up from the spectators whenever a batsinan gives u chance. It's a soun 1 heard nowhere else but at a cricket mutch. Hnd ig probably responsible for 90 pr cent, of missed catches. One of the best oulfleldsmen in England declares that hi would much rather hear a 100-ton gun fired behind him, while waiiing for a ' skyer,' than the long drawn-out ' Uh !' of 5,000 spectators. This is intelligible enough ; but cricketers are curiously sensitive to the smallest trifles in other respects. Everyone remembers the case a few years ago of a batstnau objecting to asmall glii teriug stud which one of the Australian bowlers used to wear, on the ground that it so attracted his eye that he couldn't fo >w the ball when it left the bowler's hand ; and at one time Humglmy's extraordinary success as a bowler was ascribed to his flipping shirtsleeves. Instead of tucking his sleeves over his elbows, the Sussex bowler used to let them hang down over his hands, to the intense annoyance and discomfiture of the various batsmen he bowled to. Perhaps, though, the most curious instance of extreme sensibility of some cricketers is W.Gr, Grace's beard. According to Mr. A. G. Sti-el, the true explanation of the deadliness of W. G.'s innocent-looking slow bowling is the face that when the batesman sees the burly form of the champion com : ngupto the wicket,with his huge black beard waving in the breeze, lie pr. pares for a swift ball. His surprise at finding the ball tossed up to him in ihe most leisurely fashion, instead of the lightning delivery he expected, generally causes him to lose his wicket. The contrast between the formidable-looking beard and the baby-like bowling is too much for him. Whethar this is the true explanation cr not, the fact remains that no bowler in the world is so fatal to even the best batsmen, meeting him for the first time, as ' W.G. ' ' If he would only shave off that beastly beard of his,' said a young Yarsity player after the champion had clean bowled him for the third time last season, ' he wouldn't have got me out in a year.'

Everyone knows that there are many cricket grounds in the country were high scoring is a matter of difficulty owing to the rough and bumpy nature of the pitc >, but it isn't so generally known that there are also certain other grounds which bear the worst reputation among fieldsmen. Surprising as it seems, Lord's is among the worst of these, ' When you are fielding opposite the pavilion,' said Maurice Read to a reporter last year, ' it's always odds against your holding a high catch. Instead of looking at the ball, your eye somehow seems irresistibly attrac ed to the gigantic structure in front of you ; it look so enormous, and the ball so small.' But 110 ground in the country has been the scene of so many d-oppjd catches, and consequent 'twear words,' as the Reigate ground. No on>) knows why, but eve y cricketer is aware of the fact. A few years a»o, in the annual match between W. W. Read's and W. G. Grace's elevens, George Brann had been missed about ten times, when at last ' W.W.,' in sheer disgust, changed places with Sharpe, who had missed Brann some half-dozen times. 'W. W.'s' feeling may be imagined when in his new position he got the easiest of catches, which lie not only missed but mulled so badly that it dislocated his finger!