Comedy Bowlers In Cricket

Taranaki Daily News, 14 January 1935, Page 12

Comedy Bowlers In Cricket

mailey describes some freaks

Fyou watch bowlers carefully, you will notice, that they have more peculiar mannerisms than batsmen (says Arthur Mailey, in an article, iir the Sydney “Sun,” on “comedy bowlers” he has seen in cricket). A chap named Hill-Wood, of Cambridge University, used -to approach the wicket with his head bent very low, deliver the ball, and reel up the pitch to within a few yards Of the batsman, with his head in the same position. We could never understand why this energetic but indiscreet fellow was never killed. \ The batsman very often drove the ball past the bowler’s head like lightning, while at other times Hill-Wood pulled himself together and made miraculous catches. We wondered, too; how, with head down, he found his way to the wicket.

A Cambridge wit. R. C. RobertsonGlasgow, said Hill-Wood usually set a trail of aniseed or moth balls, or something, and took up the scene, like a bloodhound. Whatever he did must have been very effective because, so far, he has never crashed into the umpire, nor has he fallen over the stumps. We met a bowler in Chicago whose action seemed to be influenced by local happenings. He began his run with his hand apparently in his hip pocket, then suddenly whipped it out and held the ball in line with his eye as though taking aim. He held this position until he had actually delivered the ball. His bowling fortunately lacked that devil and frightfulness that is expected from one with a sinister action. Coming nearer home, we have Austin Punch, whose action-while not particularly awkward or ungraceful, was rather amusing. Austin ran like a man trying to catch a tram with a basket of eggs or something balanced on his head. He took short, high steps, and held his head on one side like a horse shying at a steam roller.

Speaking of shying, reminds me of Rockley Wilson, who came out with ■ that great sportsman, Johnny Douglas, in 1921. Wilson began by shying at the urn-, pire, after which he emitted an apolo- ' getic cough. He then touched the peak of his cap, tugged impatiently at the back of his pants, and ambled up to the wicket sideways like a sandwich-man in a gale. . . . After bowling the ball, he completed the performance by adjusting an imaginary tie. Many bowlers deliver off the wrong foot, the worst offender to my mind-

being a player named F. B. R. Brown, who played for Cambridge and 'Sussex. This fast bowler pounded the right foot down as he bowled the ball, an almost impossible feat for a righthander. It is a wonder he did - not break his back, but the only damage was to the wicket. It is recorded that on one occasion, when the wicket was damp and soft, the force with which he brought his foot down shifted the white line and made the pitch about six inches shorter. -