CRICKET

Southland Times, Issue 19389, 1 November 1924, Page 15 (Supplement)

CRICKET

BRILLIANT INSPIRATIONS. QUESTION OF THE CLOSURE. (By J. W. Hearne, the English All Rounder) Many a captain has wished that he could put his opponents in to bat when the light was on the wane and the pitch beginning to show signs of wear. Whether he can declare or not must depend on the conditions of the game, possibilities of a' change in the weather, and the strength of the opposition. But occasions do arise when a declaration is hardly necessary, and yet a captain may be anxious to get his opponents in. There was such a case in the Gloucester-shire-Worcestershire match. Gloucester were desperately anxious to have Worcester in at the end of the second day in the hope that in the fading light on a tricky pitch one or two of their opponents’ best wickets might be cheaply obtained. According to the newspaper reports, Preece was intentionally bowling well off the wicket, so that his side stood a chance of escaping batting until the following morning. Parker, Gloucester’s last man in, was alive to it, and hit his wicket down, so that Worcester, after all, had to bat for twenty minutes under unfavourable conditions, and they lost three wickets during that time for only 10 runs. Two or three seasons ago Hampshire beat Yorkshire at Bradford as the result of a daring bit of captaincy shown by the Hon. Lionel Tennyson. It seemed certain that the game would be drawn, but Mr Tennyson decided to revise the order of going in. Putting himself in first to set an example in the matter of forcing runs, he gave the southern county a great start, and the required runs were obtained a few minutes ahead of time, leaving Hampshire winners of a great match by five wickets. Every captain who uses his wits will find opportunities of displaying tactical skill. He must, however, thoroughly know his men and their capabilities ,and they must play up to him for all they are worth. An example of shrewd judgment in captaincy is recorded in the case of Mr Jack Shuter, Surrey’s great leader of some years ago. The Oval team went to Leeds to meet Yorkshire when the latter had won five games off the reel. At the end of the first innings Surrey led by 151 runs to 87. On batting a second time Surrey had only made 81 when Shuter decided to declare, leaving Yorkshire over two hours in which to make 145.

That was a very risky declaration, but the Surrey captain fully appreciated what George Lohmann was capable of doing with the ball. His confidence was justified, and five minutes from time Surrey won a dramatic victory by 17 runs. HARRY TROTTS EXPERIMENT.

That bad bowling will often take wickets is agreed, but surely there can have been only one occasion when a captain in an England-Australia test match put himself on to bowl first because he was only a poor bowler. It was in the test match at Manchester, in 1898, and Harry Trott was the captain concerned.

He went to Ernest Jones, the big Australian, who took so many wickets that season, and told him to bowl at one end and he would take the other, adding that, “with a good bowler at one end and myself at the other, I might be able to diddle two or three of them out.”

That daring decision was the secret of a splendid three-wicket victory. W. G. Grace was stumped for 2, and A. E. Stoddart was got rid of at 15. What might have happened if this pair had been allowed to get set is a matter for conjecture only, seeing that England only lost by three wickets, and Ranji contributed a memorable not out innings of 145. I have mentioned these various incidents, taken quite at random, to show that captaincy will help materially in the winning of cricket matches. This leader of a side will not regard it as part of his duty to see how many runs his side can get; his job is to know when he has collected enough to avert defeat, and then to set about the task of getting the other men ou as cheaply as possible. Happy indeed is the captain who has a good supply of bowlers in his team. But whether he has few or many he should aim at having men of dissimilar types bowling at the same time if possible. Two men sending down the same sort of stuff are helping the batsmen. At home to one at one end, he is equally comfortable at the other. A fast man and a slow in combination, or a right and left-handed bowler together will provide plenty of trouble for batsmen, even if the bowlers are not absolutely at the top of their class. They compel them to be careful.

A captain should never tire his bowlers by keeping them -on too long at a time. Of course, if they are getting wickets fairly iwgularly it would be folly to move them too often, but a bowler is not a mechanical apparatus capable of going on for hours without tiring.

Nurse the bowler you intend to put on next; see that he gets a quiet position in the field for a time, so that when he takes the ball in hand he starts fresh. CAPTAIN’S PLACE.

Seek when making a change to make it as wide a change as possible. A fast bowler should not be succeeded by a fast bowler unless absolutely necessary. The batsmen are more likely to be worried by a slow delivery. With each change of bowling, some modification must be made in the disposition of the field, and it is well on this matter to consider the requirements of your new bowler. As a rule, the latter will know at once exactly what modifications are desirable.

The captain should always field close in, so that nothing that happens at the wicket can possibly miss his scrutinising glance. Many things are likely to escape his observation if he is spending the afternoon counting the daisies in the long field. To sum up, captaincy is a post of honour, demanding unremitting attention, and. the expenditure of an immense amount of enthusiasm. As the captain is so will the side tend to be; if he is slack, slackness will almost surely pervade the whole team. Alternatively if the captain is keen both on and off the field, he will find colleagues ready to play up to him and conspire to make his work as pleasant as possible. Above all, the captain must see that his mental abilities are utilised to the best purpose.