CAPTAINCY.
(BY A. G. STEEL.)
[Illustration: Going in.]
It is a strange fact connected with cricket that a good captain is
but seldom met with. The game has made such progress in popularity
during the last thirty years, and the numbers of those who are
proficient in its different branches have increased so enormously, that
we should certainly expect to find in our county and other important
matches captains who thoroughly understand the duties they are called
upon to fulfil. But on looking round we are disappointed to find that
the really good captains in first-class (including of course county)
cricket are extremely few, and these few are amateurs. The cause of
this may be that few men are able to take part in first-class cricket
after they have served such an apprenticeship as would give them the
experience, calmness, and judgment necessary for the difficult post of
captain; or it may be that the qualifications for a good leader in the
cricket-field are, from their very nature, seldom met with--in other
words, that a captain is born not made, and very seldom born, too. Few
professional cricketers (it is a well-known fact) make good captains;
we have hardly ever seen a match played, where a professional cricketer
was captain of either side, in which he was not guilty of some very
palpable blunders. Take the Gentlemen _v._ Players matches, at Lord’s
and the Oval, for the last twenty years; the Players have always been
seriously handicapped by the want of a good captain, though Shrewsbury
and Gunn may be exceptions. Bowlers are kept on maiden after maiden
without the faintest chance of a wicket, no originality of attack
is ever attempted, and altogether the captaincy is usually bad. It
must, however, be admitted that ‘professional’ captains are in a more
difficult position than amateurs, inasmuch as they are often exposed
to the but thinly concealed murmurings of their fellows, who consider
that they have not been treated with the amount of consideration they
deserve. Amateurs always have made, and always will make, the best
captains; and this is only natural. An educated mind, with a logical
power of reasoning, will always treat every subject better than one
comparatively untaught. There are exceptions to every rule, and Alfred
Shaw, the best professional captain we ever came across, is the
exception here. The disastrous effects of bad captaincy on the success
of a side were never more clearly manifested than by the Australian
team that visited England in 1878. This team contained several good
bowlers who, helped by the sticky state of the ground, were very deadly
to our best batsmen. Their batting was rough and rather untutored,
but still at times dangerous. They met with great success until the
grounds got hard and firm, when their bowlers were collared. It is in
adversity at cricket, as in the more serious walks of life, that the
best qualities come to the fore; and whenever the Australian bowlers
were collared, the whole team seemed to go to pieces. Either the
captain or the bowlers placed the fielders in the most extraordinary
and unheard-of positions, where they had but little chance of saving
runs or getting catches. Spofforth during one match at Lord’s in that
season bowled the greater part of the day to a batsman--the Hon. Edward
Lyttelton--who was not dismissed till he had topped his hundred. Ball
after ball was neatly cut on the hard true ground to the boundary,
past the spot where third man ought to have been but was not. Fancy a
fast bowler bowling on a hard ground, while a batsman made a hundred
without a third man; then think that this batsman was one of the
finest amateur cutters of his day, and you will wonder what had become
of the management of the side! This was, however, the first year the
Australians visited us; on many subsequent occasions we found out to
our cost that they had made good use of their time and experience in
England, and had improved, in every branch of the game, to what was to
an Englishman’s eye an alarming extent. Their captaincy, however, has
never been good, till Trott, a thoroughly good captain, took command in
1896; Murdoch, of course, had a thoroughly sound knowledge of the game;
but his better judgment was too frequently hampered by the ceaseless
chattering and advice of one or two men who never could grasp the fact
that in the cricket-field there can only be one captain.
The chief qualifications for a good captain are a sound knowledge of
the game, a calm judgment, and the ability to inspire others with
confidence.
Bad captains may be split up into three classes:--
1. Nervous and excitable men.
2. Dull apathetic men.
3. Bowling captains, with an aversion to seeing anybody bowl but
themselves.
1. The nervous and excitable class is perhaps the worst of all, and
sides which have the misfortune to be led by one of this division are
indeed heavily handicapped. The chief peculiarity of a captain of this
sort is that he seems never to be able to keep still for a moment in
the field. He is continually rushing about, altering the field every
over without any reason, shouting excitedly at the top of his voice
whenever a fielder has to stop or throw up the ball, and generally
creating a feeling of uneasiness and excitement among players and
spectators. He is at one moment tearing his hair distractedly because
some unfortunate fielder has let a ball through his legs, and the next
shouting and dancing with excitement and joy when some exceptionally
good catch or bit of fielding has got rid of a dangerous batsman.
2. A member of the second class may be easily recognised. He walks
slowly to his place at the end of each over with his eyes fixed on the
ground, as if in deep thought. In reality he is thinking of nothing,
or, at any rate, nothing connected with the game. He has put his two
best bowlers on, and so long as a wicket falls every thirty or forty
runs, what does it matter whether or not time is being wasted by a
series of profitless short-pitched maiden overs? It is the bowler’s
duty, not his, to get the batsmen out, and if the latter put on forty
runs without a wicket falling, why it will be time enough then to try
someone else, and perhaps later on he himself might have a turn with
lobs if things get into a very bad state. It does not take long, with a
captain like this, for a side to get thoroughly demoralised and slack.
3. The bowling captains suffer from the very opposite of the
feebleness which affects the last class; over-keenness is their bane.
They are generally moderate bowlers, who at times enjoy a fair amount
of success, and who are often very valuable to their side as changes.
But the power of bowling wherever and for as long as they please is too
much for them. Over after over hit to all parts of the field, without
the slightest suspicion of a chance of a wicket, only convinces the
self-confident captain that something must happen sooner or later--and
something generally does after the match has been bowled away. The
fascination that bowling has for captains and the danger it often leads
to is a good reason for pausing before selecting as captain anyone
who has any pretensions in this branch of the game. It is sometimes,
however, impossible for a side to recognise anyone as captain except
a bowler. He may be the oldest and most experienced member of the
team, or perhaps from his position as a cricketer it may be out of
the question to pass him over, and then, of course, the best of a bad
job must be made. But a captain who is also a bowler has much heavier
responsibilities in the field than one who is not. Even if he happens
not to be over-anxious about trundling all day himself, he is apt from
shyness and diffidence of his own merits not to put himself on at
all--another extreme into which some captains before now have fallen.
The duties of a captain are of two kinds: those out of the field and
those in it, and it is proposed to discuss them in the order named.
The first duty of a captain is the choice of his team; but as it so
frequently happens, nowadays, that the team is chosen for him by the
committee of his county or his club, this topic may be passed over till
we discuss the duties of the captains at the Universities and Public
Schools.
When the team is chosen, the captain’s first duty is to win the toss;
and assuming that by the aid of his lucky sixpence he has succeeded
in so doing, he should at once decide whether he or his opponent is
to begin the batting. It is a very old saying that the side that wins
the toss should go in, and it is a very true one. No captain who wins
the toss and puts the other side in deserves to win the match, unless
there are some very exceptional circumstances to be taken into his
consideration. There is, perhaps, only one reason to justify a captain
putting the other side in first. _If the ground, previously hard, has
been softened by a night’s rain, and if at the time of beginning it is
drying under a hot baking sun, and if the captain is tolerably sure
that it is going to be a fine day_, then he will do well to put the
other side in. There must be present these three conditions of ground
and weather before he _is_ justified in refusing to bat. The ground
will then for the first hour and a half or two hours make a bowling
wicket; the top soft in the early morning, and gradually getting caked
under the hot sun, will in the afternoon, if the weather keeps fine
and it has been _hard_ before the rain, assume its former hardness and
become easy for batting for the last few hours of the day’s play. If
the ground has been soft before the rain and has been made still softer
by the rain, it is madness to put the other side in. The first two or
three hours will then be easy for batting, as a very slow soft wicket
is always against the bowlers, and it will not be till after several
hours of hot sun have been on it that it will begin to get caked and
difficult for the batsman. Suppose the weather looks uncertain and
broken, and the glass has been gradually going down, a captain should
never in any state of the ground risk putting his opponents in. Rain is
always in favour of the in side; bowlers cannot stand and cannot hold
the ball, which, wet and slippery, cannot be made to take any twist or
screw that the bowler may try to give it.
Sometimes in a one-day match it may be advisable to put the other side
in under circumstances different from the above, circumstances which
are for the captain alone to judge of, and which it is impossible to
discuss. Suppose a very strong side is playing against a very much
weaker one. It may be that the captain of the former is afraid that
if his side once goes to the wickets, so many runs will be made as to
preclude all probability of finishing the match; and he may be content
after conference with the members of his team to take the undoubted
risk of putting the other side in; it is, however, a very dangerous
thing to do at any time, and his finesse may very possibly end
disastrously to his side in the imperfect light of the evening.
There are, however, _some_ disadvantages in batting first. In the
first place, nearly every cricketer is a better man after luncheon
than before. Do not let this be understood for a moment as a hint
that the overnight carousals of cricketers (very pleasant though they
be) are such as to interfere with correctness of eye and steadiness
of hand in the morning. Far be it from me to suggest such a thing.
But every man is fitter in the afternoon, his eye is more accustomed
to the light, and his digestion is better. And besides, the men that
walk to the wickets to bat the first time they go into the field are
apt to be more nervous than those who have been playing a few hours
and have got accustomed to the light and general surroundings. These
are disadvantages certainly, but they are as nothing compared to the
advantages gained by batting first. These include getting the best
of the light, the best of the wicket, and, last but not least, the
incalculable advantage of having in the last innings of the match
to save and not get runs on a wicket that has previously stood the
wear and tear of three innings. The side that bats second is nearly
always in at the close of the first day’s play, and the lights and
shadows between six and seven often make the ball very difficult to
judge accurately; at Lord’s, especially, the light gets bad towards
the close of the day; a haze overspreads the ground, making clear and
accurate sight extremely difficult. As for the respective difficulties
of making and saving runs, a cricketer need only look at his scores and
references to see how often the out side at the close of a match has
prevented the in side from getting the runs required. The feeling of
responsibility which affects the batsmen on these occasions creates an
over-anxiety to play steadily and run no risks, and often results in
feeble play. Then the bowlers and fielders are nerved to their utmost
endeavour to keep the runs down, every fielder runs after the ball at
the very top of his speed, half-a-dozen men are backing up to prevent
an overthrow, and the bowler not only does all he knows to secure a
wicket, but strives hard to avoid the delivery of a punishable ball.
Whenever a side goes in for the last innings of the match against a big
score and wins, one may feel sure the match has been won by sound and
sterling cricket. There are many well-known instances of the fielding
side pulling the match out of the fire at the very last moment. In the
Oxford and Cambridge match in 1875, Cambridge in their last innings
wanted 175 runs to win. Seven wickets fell for 114. The eighth went
down at 161. Before this wicket fell it looked any odds on Cambridge,
but the eleven were eventually all out for 168, and lost the match
by six runs. In England _v._ Australia at the Oval in 1882, England,
the last innings, wanted 85 to win, but only made 77. The annals of
cricket are full of instances showing that it is better at the end
of a match to have to save runs than make them. We remember playing
in a match some years ago in Scotland, where the folly of putting in
the other side first on a good wicket was clearly shown. It was a two
days’ match, and the two best batsmen on the side which lost the toss
had been travelling all night from England. This, in spite of a good
wicket, induced the captain who had been successful in the toss to put
the other side in. One of these travel-worn and weary batsmen knocked
up over ninety runs, the ground began to cut up, and the side that
had refused to bat first came utterly to grief. As the losing captain
left the ground, he said, ‘One thing this match has taught me--_never_
to put the other side in first.’ The following year the same match
was arranged, and once more the toss was won by the same captain. The
ground was very soft indeed, in fact sodden with days of heavy rain.
Again, in spite of the former sad experience, the other side were put
in first and made over 200 runs. The ground was too soft for bowlers
to put any life into the ball, and all bowling was comparatively easy.
Next day the ground had got firmer and more solid, and the side that
won the toss was again dismissed for two insignificant totals.
With regard to the order in which a captain should send in his men, a
good deal depends on the strength of the batting he has at command.
With a weakish batting team it is, in our opinion, always better to
send in the best batsman first, assuming of course he has no objection
to the place. It is of great importance to give the best batsman every
possible advantage, and the men who go first to the wickets have a
great advantage over the others. They have less waiting for their
innings, and consequently less of that restless nervousness from which
few men are free; they have the best of the wicket; they have often
loosish bowling just at first, before the bowlers have warmed to their
work; and, last but certainly not least, they are batting a new ball.
Few people realise what a difference a new ball makes to the batsman;
it goes cleaner and firmer off the bat than an old one, and, what is
better than all, a hard new ball is much more difficult to twist than
one that has had a hundred runs made off it. Let anyone look at an
old bowler who has to begin the bowling: his first action is to rub
the ball on the ground in the hope of taking off even a little of its
slippery newness; it is not, however, till after its surface has been
considerably worn that it begins to take much notice of any twist, at
any rate on a hard ground.
With such advantages to be gained by going in first it would be a pity
not to give the best batsman the chance of making a good start for his
side. A good start gives confidence to the shaky batsman, and shows
the bowlers that they are not to have it all their own way. Sometimes
the best batsman on a side does not care about going in first; if so,
it is always well to consult his wishes and humour him, but he should
_never_ go in later than second wicket. With the best batsman should
go some steady correct bat, one who plays the game thoroughly and does
not take liberties with the bowling. In these days of perfect grounds
it is a vast mistake to send in first a regular ‘sticker,’ one who
scores at the rate of eight or ten an hour. The stonewallers of our
cricket-fields have a great deal to answer for in the heavy indictment
against modern players of leaving so many unfinished matches. An
account was lately given in the papers of a man recognised as a
first-class county bat who was in on a fast hard wicket in the first
innings of a match three hours and forty minutes for thirty-two runs.
More shame to him! He did his best to draw the match, and by puddling
about for so long only helped to wear out the ground for more capable
scorers who were to follow him. Sometimes, when the ground is very bad,
it is good to have a sticker, but taken altogether cricket would be
very much better off if the whole race of stickers occasionally adopted
a somewhat freer style. Nobody objects to slow scoring so long as the
batsmen are playing good correct cricket, playing the straight ones
with a straight bat and cutting or hitting the crooked ones; but every
cricketer objects to seeing ball after ball simply stopped without the
slightest attempt to make a run.
Two very fast run-getting batsmen should not be sent in together; they
are apt to run each other a bit off their legs. W. G. Grace and A. P.
Lucas were as good a pair for first that have ever been seen; both
played sound correct cricket: the former scored freely, the latter when
the ground was hard quite fast enough; and Shrewsbury and Stoddart were
about as good.
After the first two have been selected the others must follow generally
in order of merit; it is as well not to put in two hard-hitters
together if possible, as it often tends to make one hit against the
other. First one makes a big hit; the other feels bound to follow suit,
quite irrespective of the pitch of the ball, and loses his wicket. It
is always an excellent thing to have one or two real good hitters, but
they should be kept apart as far as possible in their innings; sixth
or seventh wicket down is a very useful place for a hard hitter; the
bowling has often begun to get a trifle loose by that time, and good
hitting may make a dreadful mess of it in a very short time.
If any of the bowlers on whom the captain relies for his main attack
happen to be goodish batsmen and likely to make a few runs, it is just
as well to let their innings come off as early as convenient. A bowler
who makes forty or fifty runs at the close of an innings never bowls
as well after the running about as he would do had he made nothing,
and it is consequently best if possible to insure him a rest before he
begins his more important duties as bowler. It is exceptional to find
a man successful in batting and bowling in the same match. There are a
good number of modern cricketers who are very fair all-round men, and
shine at times in both branches of the game; but it very rarely happens
that success awaits them in both in the same match. Sometimes we find a
well-known bowler piling up heaps of runs, but on looking at the other
side of the score-sheet we generally perceive that he has done it at
the expense of his wickets. Alfred Shaw, the famous Nottingham bowler,
used at times to bat with great success, but when he did so he was
nearly always unsuccessful with the ball.
When once the captain has arranged the order in which his men are to
bat he should stick to it. It is worrying and harassing to the batsmen
to be continually shifted up and down. We once saw one of the best
batsmen in England put in last but one because the captain thought
he looked nervous. His side was beaten by a few runs, and without
his having received one single ball. An order made out before the
innings begins is more likely to be correct than one hashed and cut
about amidst excitement and anxiety. Never should a captain change his
order in the second innings; of course a man who is in particularly
good form may be given a hoist up a place or so, but the bad bats of
the team should not be sent in first so long as there is the remotest
possibility of losing; and at cricket this contingency is nearly always
on the cards. The good batsmen do not wish to go in if there is only an
hour or an hour and a half to play; they may get out and cannot make a
really big score, so they fight shy for their average’s sake. Captains
should put a stop to this and insist on their taking their proper
place; first, because the side may otherwise be beaten, and secondly,
because those who have the advantage of going in first in favourable
circumstances should also take their turn when things are not so bright.
After a captain has written out his order of going in, he should
carefully watch the innings from the first to the very last ball.
A watchful captain can at times greatly help his side; a shout of
‘steady’ when a young batsman appears to be getting rash in his play,
or when two players are getting a little abroad as to running, often
comes with great effect and authority from a captain, and may prevent
such a catastrophe as that represented in the illustration opposite.
A word of encouragement to a nervous player as he leaves the pavilion
may also often be of service. On no account should a captain ever abuse
a batsman, no matter what rash stroke or foolish lack of judgment
has cost him his wicket. Nothing is so galling to a batsman when he
has made a bad stroke or been guilty of a mistake as being publicly
derided or reproved. Afterwards, when the keen sense of vexation has
somewhat subsided, a quiet word of advice may be given, and will have
much more effect than a noisy public remonstrance. A good cricketer who
has made a bad stroke and thereby lost his wicket knows better than
any spectator what a mistake he has committed. Pavilion worthies, ye
who love cricket for its own sake, ye who sit for hours criticising
every ball and every stroke, forbear, we pray you, out-spoken remarks
on the arrival of a discomfited batsman. ‘What on earth possessed you
to try to hit a straight one to leg?’ ‘You never seemed at home the
whole time!’ ‘You can’t keep that leg of yours out of the way!’ are all
remarks that may be withheld at any rate till the keen sense of failure
has diminished.
[Illustration: LUCIEN DAVIS
Run out.]
It may possibly happen that during the course of an innings a
point which during the summer of 1887 was considerably discussed, and
about which some very extraordinary remarks have been made, may crop
up for decision by the captain. Supposing he considers that his side
has made enough runs to win the match, and that if any more are made
there will not be sufficient time to get the other side out. Is he
justified or not in giving orders to his men to get out on purpose? A
great controversy arose on this point about ten years ago, owing to the
captain of one of our leading counties considering that he was entitled
to give such orders. If this question be looked at from a cricketer’s
point of view--and by that is meant from one which is in every way
honourable and to the furtherance of the true interests of the game--it
will be seen at once that a captain has a perfect right to ask his men
to get out whenever he considers enough runs have been made to insure
victory.
The true principle of the game is, we take it, that every side should
do its utmost honourably to win the match. In days gone by, when
grounds were rough and uneven, every match had to be completed in a
much shorter time than is now allowed. In these times of improved
batting and perfection in grounds, three whole days have been decided
on as the time within which every county or club must win, lose, or
draw the match. The game is not to lose or to draw; it is to win; and
the side that can win most matches in the time allowed is plainly
the best side. And should a side make so many runs as to render it
impossible to win if they make more, whereas if they get out they must
almost inevitably win, and can scarcely lose, we consider it would not
be acting up to the true principle of the game if it did not get out.
Besides, what sport or individual interest to a batsman is there in
making runs after the match is practically finished? A man does not
play at cricket for himself so much as for his side; it is not the
number of individual notches or wickets that falls to his lot which
delights the true cricketer: it is the actual result of ‘won or lost.’
What pleasure does a member of either of the University elevens derive
from making fifty every innings he plays in the Inter-University
matches if all his matches are lost? There are some who say that
directly the principle is recognised that a man has a right to get out
on purpose in order to gain victory for his side, it will open the
door to all sorts of shady tricks in the game, and there will be no
guarantee to the cricket-loving public that a side is trying. We cannot
see the relevancy of this argument; if a man sacrifices himself for
his side, the more honour is due to him. It is suggested that if the
batting side has a right to get out or to forego its right of batting,
the fielding side has a right to drop catches purposely and to bowl no
balls and wides so as to avoid being beaten. If this latter course were
permitted, it would be in direct contradiction to the true principle of
the game--viz. the endeavour to win; it would be a dishonest subterfuge
to prevent victory from rewarding the side that had played the best; it
would be an un-English, dog-in-the-manger policy, and, in our opinion,
it would entitle the umpires to say that the game was not being played
fairly. There is a vast difference in principle between getting out
on purpose in order to win and bowling and fielding badly in order
to snatch victory from the best side. A captain is, then, not only
perfectly justified, but is bound in the interests of his side, and in
the true interests of the game, to order his men to get out if that is
the only way to win.
[In 1894 the M.C.C. passed a law to the effect that the side which
goes in second shall follow their innings if they have scored 120
runs less (not 80 as formerly) than the opposite side in a three days
match, or 80 runs in a two days match, and power was also given for the
in-side on the last day of a match to declare the innings at an end.
This last most important rule was passed partly in order to prevent
drawn matches, and partly to prevent cricket lapsing into burlesque, as
it has on several occasions. But still the true principle alluded to in
the beginning of the preceding paragraph is difficult to find, and the
awkward question still remains, as it is within the right of a captain
to order his men to get out that he may follow on, is it not within the
opposing captain’s right to order his bowlers to bowl wides to prevent
the follow on? The motive is the same in each case: one captain desires
to follow on because he thinks that by following on he has a better
chance of winning the match; the other captain is of the same opinion;
is it wrong, therefore, for him to try and defeat that object by
bowling wides? I am not able to say that it is. One captain to make his
side follow on orders his batsmen to play skittles; the other captain
to prevent a follow on orders his bowlers to play skittles. Where is
the difference in principle? There is a difference of another kind,
which is, that it is easier for a batsman to get out on purpose without
making it appear to be a burlesque than it is for a bowler to bowl
wides or no balls on purpose. A batsman may run himself out or put his
leg in front, and nobody wonders; but if a steady bowler bowls three
wides running, the most ignorant spectator sees through the game at
once, and yells accordingly. The problem may be stated in another way.
Is it cricket to sacrifice runs by running yourself out or knocking
down your wicket? If the answer is in the affirmative, then state your
reason why it is wrong for a bowler to sacrifice runs by bowling wides
or no balls. To a genuine cricketer it is equally unpleasant to see
cricket turned into burlesque by the batsmen as by the bowlers; what
is difficult to understand is why the batsmen should be allowed to
practise burlesque and command the applause of the crowd, while the
bowler is hooted and yelled at.
The question is a most difficult one to answer, and perhaps the most
satisfactory solution may be in the direction of abolishing the follow
on altogether, and giving power to close the innings at any time. Every
proposal has its drawbacks, and the drawback to this is that it gives
an additional advantage to winning the toss; but it is not easy to see
that there is any better solution of the question.--R. H. L.]
In club and county matches a captain whose side is batting may often
have little duties to perform, such as hurrying his men in after the
fall of a wicket and allowing no time to be wasted, &c. There is
nothing so annoying to a keen cricketer as to see the field waiting
three or four minutes whilst some ‘local swell’ calmly buckles his pads
and saunters sleepily to the wicket. A captain should see that the next
batsman is always ready to go in directly the preceding one reaches the
pavilion; and a good experienced captain can also give many valuable
hints to the younger members of his team as they sit waiting for their
innings. ‘Play your own game, of course;’ he is the first one to know
and realise the truth of the old saying; but (and there are often many
_buts_) ‘for goodness sake don’t try and hit that curly bowler unless
you are on the pitch of him;’ ‘if you play back to that fast chap you
are done; he is out and away faster than he looks;’ ‘watch that man at
cover: he’s as quick as lightning with his return.’ All these little
odds and ends from an old hand are well worth the attention of a young
player; they all help to give him more confidence and more knowledge
and experience, and consequently make him a better cricketer. And
then a captain’s eyes must be sharp to detect any slovenliness in the
dress of a batsman. What a sorry sight it is to see a man going to
the wickets with his pad-straps hanging two or three inches down his
legs, his trousers unfolded and sticking out from behind his pads,
his shirtsleeves hanging loose, and altogether having a general air
of being a slovenly fellow! A captain must note this; he knows that
there are a good many better ways of getting out than being caught from
one’s pad-straps or loose trousers that flap gaily in the breeze, or
from one’s shirtsleeves that float round the forearm with so great an
expanse of canvas, looking for all the world like a bishop’s sleeve.
All these little things are worth knowing; cricket is a game with a
great deal of luck in it and full of a great many odd chances, and the
sooner a young player realises that he must do all he can to minimise
the chances against himself, the better cricketer he will become and
the more runs he will make.
The duties of a captain in the field are far more onerous than those
out of it. It is here that his good qualities are tested, his knowledge
and judgment of the game put to the proof. The most difficult task
he has to perform is the management of the bowling. It, of course,
occasionally happens that his two best bowlers are put on, and bowl
successfully without a chance during the whole of the innings. But this
is a very exceptional occurrence, and is but seldom seen in first-class
cricket, and then only when the ground is sticky or crumbled. It is in
the bowling changes and placing that a captain’s skill is principally
seen. On a hard fast wicket it is best to begin with fast bowling at
one end and slow at the other. A good overhand fast bowler on a hard
wicket has more chance of making the ball rise, and getting catches in
the slips and at the wickets, than a slow one; but it is always well
to have different-paced bowling on at either end, as in this way the
batsman’s eye does not get thoroughly accustomed to one pace. The late
F. Morley--in his day the best left-hand fast bowler in England--and
A. Shaw were always individually more successful when playing together
for their county, the fast left hand and slow right being an excellent
variation for the eye of the batsman. Poor Morley, what a good bowler
he was! In our opinion he was the best fast bowler we have had in
England for a very long time. He was a good pace, had a beautifully
easy left-handed delivery, just over his shoulder, and was most
wonderfully accurate in his length. He had a good spin and break-back
on his bowling, and every now and then sent in one that came with the
arm and required a lot of playing. His early death caused a great gap
in the ranks of our professionals, and was much lamented by every class
of cricketers; for a more honest and unassuming professional player
than Fred Morley never went into the cricket-field. His knowledge of
geography was not up to his cricket capabilities; for after a serious
collision in the Indian Ocean, on his voyage to Australia in 1882, a
mishap which subsequently ended fatally to him, he said: ‘No more ships
for me: I’ll home again by the overland route!’
At the beginning of the innings the two bowlers put on should both be
asked which end suits them best; if both want the same, the captain
should give the choice to the one on whom, taking into consideration
the state of the ground, he relies most. The field should be placed
according to the style of the opposing batsman, and in doing this the
captain should act with the consent of the bowler. There are many
captains who change the field from time to time without ever consulting
the bowler, who, if a cricketer, knows better than anyone else where
his bowling is likely to be hit.
No rule can be laid down with regard to the frequency of bowling
changes, except the more the better. A bowler should never be kept on
if he is not getting wickets, and if the batsmen are playing him with
ease. It goes no way towards winning a match to bowl ten or a dozen
short-pitched consecutive maiden overs. Directly the batsmen seem to
have guessed the length and style of bowling it should be changed, if
only for a few overs, while some new style is tried for a short time.
If a long stand be made, every style of bowling should be quickly
tried; thirty runs should never be allowed without a change of some
sort, unless the bowling happens to be particularly puzzling to the
batsman, and is being badly played.
As regards the placing of the field, it has already been said that
usually the bowler is best able to guess where his own bowling is most
likely to be hit; but there are many things which a captain should
recollect, as the suggestions of a captain in whom his bowlers place
confidence are always accepted readily. He should keep his eye on
short-slip, as this place is, especially on a fast wicket, the most
important of all. There are more good batsmen dismissed at short-slip
and the wicket, on good wickets, than at any other places. It is an
extraordinary fact connected with short-slip that, unless he has had a
great deal of experience, he is continually shifting his position; one
over he will be standing fine and deep and the next square and near to
the wicket. It is the captain’s duty, even more than the bowler’s, to
see that this does not happen.
On a true hard wicket we never like to see a captain putting his
mid-on or short-leg close in to the batsman, to field what is called
‘silly’ mid-on; the risk of standing near in on a hard wicket to a
batsman who can hit at all is not by any means slight, and we have
on several occasions seen men placed in this position get very nasty
blows. Boyle, the Australian mid-on, stood about as near in as any man
ever did stand; on sticky grounds he made many catches, on fast grounds
he missed many which if standing further back he would have caught. He
not seldom received nasty injuries, and on one occasion was laid up
for several weeks with a broken or injured bone in his hand. A quick
active field at mid-on who will run in when he sees the batsman making
a quiet forward stroke on the leg side, and when he observes a leg-side
ball kick up higher than usual, is all that should be required. In
a match at Melbourne, in 1882, we recollect a very amusing little
incident in which mid-on played a prominent part. The Australians were
batting, and Bates, the Yorkshireman, had just dismissed two of their
best bats, McDonnell and Giffen, in two consecutive balls. Bonnor,
who used to congratulate himself, and not without a certain amount of
justification, that he could make mincemeat of our slow bowling, was
the next man in. Somebody suggested that, in the faint hope of securing
a ‘hat’ for Bates, we should try a silly mid-on. Bates faithfully
promised to bowl a fast shortish ball between the legs and the wicket,
and said he was quite certain Bonnor would play slowly forward to it.
Acting on the faith of this, W. W. Read boldly volunteered to stand
silly mid-on for one ball. In came the giant, loud were the shouts of
welcome from the larrikins’ throats; now would the ball soar over the
green trees even higher than yonder flock of twittering parrots. As
Bates began to walk to the wickets to bowl, nearer and nearer crept
our brave mid-on; a slow forward stroke to a fast shortish leg-stump
ball landed the ball fairly in his hands not more than six feet
from the bat. The crowd would not believe it, and Bonnor was simply
thunderstruck at mid-on’s impertinence; but Bates had done the hat
trick for all that, and what is more, he got a very smart silver tall
hat for his pains.
[Illustration: Eton _v._ Harrow.]
The duties of captains of the University teams and of the Public
Schools are far more arduous than those of a captain of a county or a
club eleven. At our large Public Schools the captain is responsible for
the selection of the team; he may be assisted to a certain extent by a
committee, but the actual filling up of the vacant places in his eleven
generally devolves on him alone. An energetic and keen boy captain will
usually manage before the close of the summer term to get together a
team of fair merit; even if the stuff he has to work upon is inferior
in quality, the great amount of time at his disposal for practice, and
the assistance he receives from the school professionals and masters,
ought always to ensure a keen captain having a tolerable eleven before
the summer holidays begin. It may be taken as true that a bad fielding
school eleven denotes a bad and slack captain. Whatever may be the
batting and bowling material at his disposal, a boy captain can, if
he likes, have a good fielding side; and if in his school matches
at Lord’s, or elsewhere, he finds that he loses the match by slack
fielding, he has none to blame but himself. None of our best county
teams can field as boys can if they are properly taught and kept up to
the mark. There are few men of thirty taking part in the game who can
throw with any effect for more than about thirty or forty yards; their
arms and shoulders are stiff, and will not stand it, whereas boys can
all throw, and are about twice as active as many of those whose names
at the present time figure prominently in our leading fixtures.
A school eleven, as indeed every other, only requires four regular
bowlers. ‘If you cannot win with four bowlers, you’ll never win at
all,’ is an old and true saying. But this wants a little explanation.
The four best available bowlers must be played without regard to their
batting powers, and after these four have been selected let the team be
filled up with good batsmen and fielders, quite irrespective of whether
they can bowl or not. It is an excellent thing for a side that every
man should be able to bowl a bit if wanted, and every boy should be
able to do so, but it is only necessary in choosing the team to play
four men as bowlers only.
Every school eleven should possess a lob-bowler; if he be a good one
so much the better, but one of some sort there must be. Lobs have
always been most destructive to boys, and even very indifferent lobs
are occasionally very fatal to schools. A little practice will teach
any boy to bowl them fairly; he must take a long and rather a quick
run, and bowl just fast enough to prevent the batsman hitting the
good-length balls before they pitch. The high slow lob is generally
worthless.
The wicket-keeper must also be trained and coached. He should be taught
the right and the wrong way to stand, and should practise keeping for a
short time every day. And, above all things, the school wicket-keeper
should know that for anything over slow and slow medium bowling he is
to have a long-stop. The number of good wicket-keepers who have been
spoilt by having to perform the office of long-stop as well as their
own is legion. There are no first-class keepers nowadays who put out
their hands on the leg side and draw the ball to the stumps; they all
jump to the leg side in front of the ball to prevent it resulting in a
four-bye, and consequently, even if lucky enough to take the ball with
their hands, they are so far from the stumps as to make it exceedingly
difficult to knock the bails off.
A captain of a University team has not so much to do with training and
coaching his team as a school captain. By the time men have reached
their University eleven they have generally mastered the elementary
principles of the game, and require more practice and experience,
keeping up to the mark rather than coaching. A captain’s duty is
consequently to see that his men engage in constant practice at all
parts of the game, and by showing an example of keenness and energy to
inspire his team with the same qualities. Some men at the University,
and especially those fresh from the restraint of a public school,
occasionally require a few words of advice about the mode of life
which is necessary for undergoing with success the wear and tear of a
University cricket season. A ’Varsity team has about six weeks’ hard
work, and no man can bear the strain of this if, at the same time,
he is keeping late hours and distributing his attentions impartially
amongst all the numerous delicacies that adorn the University
dinner-tables during the May term. No strict training is required,
thank goodness! Cricket does not demand of her votaries the hollow face
and attenuated frame, and too often the undermined constitution, that
a long term of arduous training occasionally results in, especially to
a youth of unmatured strength; but a cricketer should live a regular
life and abstain at table from all things likely to interfere with his
digestion and wind. Above all else, smoky rooms should be avoided. A
small room, filled with ten or a dozen men smoking as if their very
existence depended on the amount of tobacco consumed, soon gets a
trifle foggy, and the man who remains there for long will find next
morning on waking that his head feels much heavier than usual, and his
eyes are reddish and sore. A University captain should never hesitate
to speak to any of his team on these matters, should he think warning
or rebuke necessary.
The necessity of moderation in drink is happily a thing which few
University cricketers require to be reminded of. There are many
opinions as to what is the best drink for men when actually playing.
By best we mean that which does least harm to the eye. In hot weather
something must be drunk, and the question is, What? Our experience is
that beer and stout are both too heady and heavy, gin and ginger beer
is too sticky, sweet, &c., to the palate. In our opinion, shandy-gaff,
sherry, or claret, and soda are the most thirst-quenching, the
lightest, and the cleanest to the palate. The latter consideration is a
great one on a hot day at cricket. In a long innings the heat and the
dust are apt to make the mouth very dry and parched, and a clean drink
is especially desirable.
As a rule a ’Varsity captain has not much difficulty in selecting the
first eight or nine of his team--there are usually that number that
stand out as far and away better than all the others--but the last two
or three places often cause him the greatest difficulty. There may
be two or three men of the same merit fighting for the last place,
inflicting sleepless nights and anxious thoughts on the captain. He
cannot make up his mind, and possibly remains undecided till the very
week before the big match. A ’Varsity team owes half its strength to
playing so much together. Every man knows and has confidence in the
others, and every man’s full merits and the use he may be to the side
are understood by the captain; consequently, the sooner the whole team
is chosen the better.
[Illustration: A. E. STODDART]
Now let us briefly discuss the considerations that should guide
the captain in the choice of his team. And perhaps the simplest and
best way will be to assume that a captain has to choose the best team
in England (our fictitious captain making the twelfth man on the side).
The first thing he must do is to choose his bowlers, and, as we have
said above, these must be the best four he can get, each one different
from the others in style. He wants a fast bowler to begin with (and if
the match is to be played on a hard wicket he will probably want two).
He has Mold and Lockwood to choose from, undoubtedly the two best.
If he wants one only, he must be guided by present form; whichever
is bowling the best must be selected. Let us say he has selected
Mold. This is No. 1. No. 2 must be a good left-hand bowler. Peel and
Briggs are perhaps the only two at the present time who have good
qualifications, and we think our captain would probably fix on Peel
as being the best bowler of the two. No. 3--a medium-pace to fast
round-arm bowler--is next wanted. Lohmann would be the very man, but
since ill-health at the present date prevents his appearance on the
field, let our captain bring into his team as No. 3 Lockwood. Surely
he or Mold, if not both, will prove destructive. No. 4.--Our captain
now wants a right-arm slow bowler accurate enough to keep down the runs
(if it is necessary) on a hard true wicket, and powerful enough with
the ball to take advantage of crumbled or sticky wickets. Who is he to
take? C. M. Wells of Surrey and Cambridge, Flowers of Notts, Attewell
of ditto, Wainwright of Yorkshire, A. Hearne of Kent, are all good
names. The man for this place a few years ago would have been Alfred
Shaw. What a fine bowler he was! Perhaps his best performance was in
1875, when for Notts _v._ the M.C.C. at Lord’s he bowled 162 balls for
7 runs and 7 wickets (bother the maidens: we don’t care how many of
them he bowled!), and amongst these seven wickets were W. G. Grace,
A. W. Ridley, C. F. Buller, and Lord Harris. In the same match, for
the M.C.C., A. W. Ridley with his lobs had a good analysis for the two
innings--208 balls, 46 runs, and 10 wickets. Our captain thinks for
No. 4 he cannot do better than Wainwright, and we agree with him. No.
5--the wicket-keeper--must be G. McGregor of Cambridge and Middlesex.
Alas! when this chapter was written for the first edition of this
book Pilling was the wicket-keeper selected, and we then expressed a
hope that his health would allow him to remain behind the stumps for
many years to come. Pilling died a few years ago, but those who ever
played with him will never forget the excellence of his calm and quiet
wicket-keeping, nor the gentleness and courtesy which graced his whole
character. No. 6.--Now our captain has got to fill up six places; he
has up to the present provided for getting rid of the opposite side:
he now turns his attention to the selection of his batsmen. W. G.
Grace first, no one disputes. Does someone suggest Shrewsbury? Well,
certainly, during the last seven or eight seasons he has batted most
wonderfully well; but for winning a match give us W. G. as our first
choice. Shrewsbury may be the best to prevent his side being beaten;
but we want to win, and if one man stays in the best part of a couple
of days for 150 runs there is a great chance of the game being drawn.
We like the man who makes 150 in three to four hours, and then gets
out and helps to get the other side out afterwards. So our captain
annexes W. G. as No. 6. No. 7, Shrewsbury. No. 8, A. E. Stoddart, that
sound and resolute batsman, who perhaps gives more pleasure to the
spectators than any other living cricketer. No. 9, Gunn. No. 10.--And
now, having selected nine of his team, our captain must consider what
he has and what he has not got. His team at present consists of W. G.
Grace, Shrewsbury, A. E. Stoddart, Gunn, G. McGregor, Mold, Lockwood,
Peel, and Wainwright. He has therefore the four best batsmen in
England--Grace, Shrewsbury, Stoddart, and Gunn--three sound first-class
batsmen in Lockwood, Peel, and Wainwright, a very likely run-getting
bat in McGregor, and an indifferent performer in Mold. He has six
bowlers, the four chosen and Grace and Stoddart. Now what has he in
the field? Shrewsbury will have to go point, that is evident, as he is
a fairly good point and useless elsewhere owing to his inability to
throw. Grace, Mold, and Lockwood must all be in places somewhere near
the wicket, Grace because of advancing years and stiffened muscles, the
other two because much throwing would damage their bowling. We have
Stoddart and Gunn, both excellent fielders and throwers, and these two
must be kept for fielding in the country. Peel and Wainwright are also
two good fielders, but they being bowlers will not probably be wanted
for country fielding except in an emergency. Taken as a whole, the nine
we have already got are good fieldsmen. What does our captain then want
for the tenth place? As he has already got a strong batting, bowling,
and fielding side, he must look out for a good all-round cricketer
who will strengthen his team at all points. He must take care not to
give either of his last two places to men who will weaken the side in
fielding; above all, they must be good in the field. Would W. W. Read
do for the tenth place? Unquestionably he is a magnificent batsman,
but where is he to go in the field? Shrewsbury is at point; W. W.
Read would have to field elsewhere then, and, for the same reason as
already given for W. G. Grace, he would seriously cripple the side if
required to go into the country, as undoubtedly he would have to. No.
Our captain rejects W. W. Read, and selects F. S. Jackson of Cambridge
University and Yorkshire as his tenth man. And as he is one of our most
accomplished and resolute batsmen, a fine field and thrower, and a most
useful fast change bowler, surely his inclusion in the team will add
strength to every department of it. No. 11.--The last place in the team
is a difficult task to select. The same considerations must guide the
choice here as for the tenth place. If another bowler were required we
would suggest Briggs or A. Hearne as being good bowlers and all-round
good cricketers, but our captain is already playing four men to bowl,
and has in addition the various changes already mentioned. Is there
any really first-class batsman who, if included in the team, would not
injuriously affect the fielding of the side? W. W. Read we have already
said has to be rejected. A. Ward of Lancashire is the man, a really
sound batsman and a good field and thrower. Our captain has completed
his task, and a very powerful team he has selected, strong in batting,
bowling, fielding, and throwing, and indeed a difficult nut for any
Australian side to crack.
Such was the selection of the first English eleven about ten years ago,
but a great deal has happened since that date. At the present moment
Stoddart’s team in Australia have been so unsuccessful that though
when they started they were reckoned to be about our best eleven, for
the honour of England it must be hoped that a better is to be found.
There can be no doubt that our bowling is terribly weak, weaker on good
wickets than at any previous time in cricket history, and it seems that
we must go out of the beaten track of bowlers and try a change. Our
representative eleven to-day is chosen with no great confidence, and
many will unfavourably criticise the selection. There is no difficulty
about the batsmen, who shall be MacLaren, Ranjitsinhji, Gunn, Abel,
Jackson and Hayward, and the wicket-keeper Storer; but what about the
bowlers? Hirst is not good enough, Peel and Briggs are past their
prime, and Wainwright on good wickets is harmless. Richardson and
Hearne we still must select, but for the last two we shall select a
veteran and a youngster. Attewell shall be one and the young Essex
amateur Bull shall be the other. During the last season Bull on hard
wickets showed himself to be a slow bowler with more spin than any
other bowler in England, moreover he is not so well known; while
Attewell bowls still the best length, and can always keep runs down.
One thing will be noticed here, and that is, that for the first time
since 1867 W. G. Grace is left out of a representative English team,
and the elements of a tragedy can be found here. For twenty-nine years
he would have been chosen, but the time has come at last; but to show
his wonderful powers, if he had been chosen now--and some people would
still choose him--it would largely be for his bowling, which is unlike
other bowling, and would still get wickets.
An old cricketer may here be permitted to drop a tear over the
decadence of the bowling and the superlative excellence of the grounds
that has disturbed the old balance of cricket, and brought far too
prominently forward the second and third rate batsman.
In the field all captains should be cheery and bright, and full of
encouragement to both fielders and bowlers. A despondent captain, who
becomes sad and low when things are going against him, has a most
depressing effect on his men. Cricket is a game full of so many chances
and surprises that no match is ever lost till the last ball has been
bowled, so the bowlers must be cheered and encouraged and the fielders
kept up to the mark till all is over.
[Illustration: At wicket after bowling.]
Everything that goes on in the game should be noticed by the captain.
If a bowler forgets to get behind the stumps when the ball is to be
returned to him by a fielder, the captain should at once call his
attention to the fact; if a fielder keeps shifting his position over
after over without orders, a gentle reminder must be given; if a
fielder throws unmercifully at the bowler or wicket-keeper when there
is no attempt at a run on the part of the batsmen, he must be spoken
to. It is a bad fault on the part of a fieldsman to knock the poor
wicket-keeper’s hands to pieces for no purpose.
If a captain keeps his eye open on all these little things, and does
his best to eradicate them and others of the same nature from his men,
if he is a keen zealous cricketer gifted with a calm temperament and
sound judgment, he may rest assured that before he has led his men very
long he will be the captain of a good team.
[Illustration: ‘Guard please, Umpire.’]