HOW TO SCORE.
(BY W. G. GRACE.)
Ask any player who has scored over a hundred in an innings if he felt
any particular influence at work on the morning of the match, and he
will probably answer in the negative; but press him, and he will admit
that he felt fit and well, and that the feeling was owing to a good
night’s rest, together with the careful training of days and weeks. I
am aware that there are exceptions to this rule, and that players have
been known to score largely after a night of high feasting and dancing;
but in my own experience, whilst admitting that occasional freaks of
this kind have been followed by moderately large scores, I cannot
recollect many of my big innings that were not the results of strict
obedience to the rules which govern the training for all important
athletic contests. Temperance in food and drink, regular sleep and
exercise, I have laid down as the golden rule from my earliest
cricketing days. I have carefully adhered to this rule, and to it in a
great degree I attribute the scores that stand to my name in cricket
history, and the measure of health and strength I still enjoy.
Early in the season every cricketer knows the difficulty of getting
his eye in, but though he may be disappointed at the small score
attached to his name match after match, he plays steadily on, trusting
that by constant practice the coveted hundred will come. If he hopes to
score largely he must be careful in his manner of living and moderate
in all things, even though nature may have blessed him with exceptional
wrist power and sight.
The capacity for making long scores is not a thing of a day’s growth,
and it may be years before strength and skill come and enable the
young cricketer to bear the fatigue of a long innings. He cannot begin
too early to play carefully and earnestly, and in all club and school
practice the lad should play as if he were engaged in an important
match, and the result depended upon his individual efforts. In my own
case, thanks to careful guidance, I was early taught to keep my wicket
up, never to hit recklessly, always to play straight or good-length
balls with force, and if possible away from the fielders. Habits of
that kind thoughtfully cultivated will not desert you in first-class
cricket. Great scores at cricket, like great work of any kind, are, as
a rule, the results of years of careful and judicious training and not
accidental occurrences.
If you have occasion to travel a considerable distance to play, make an
effort to get to your destination the night before, or at least some
time before, the match begins. There is nothing so fatiguing to the
eyesight as a long railway journey, and going straight from the railway
station to the wicket is often fatal to long scoring.
I have tried hard, especially of late years, to arrange so that I could
reach the ground in good time and save everything in the shape of hurry
or bustle. There are but few cricket grounds within a hundred miles of
each other where the light and conditions are alike, and it takes some
time for eye and mind to accommodate themselves to new surroundings.
You will find it just as trying to play in a blaze of sunshine, after
three days of smoke and leaden skies, as you will in a change from the
sunny south to the bleak, sunless north.
You must also not only bear in mind the vast importance of reaching
the ground in good time, but the greater importance of getting five
or ten minutes’ batting practice before the innings begins. Very few
grounds are the same as regards the way in which the ball rises off
the pitch, even if the light be similar to that you have been playing
in for days, and it requires nothing short of a genius for the game to
change from a fast to a slow wicket, and play with the same ease and
confidence.
I shall not readily forget an experience that came to me in 1871, when
I travelled from London to Brighton to play for the Gentlemen against
the Players for the benefit of John Lillywhite. Being very much younger
than I am now, I was blessed with clearness of vision and quickness of
action that suited themselves very readily to most conditions of light
and ground. Perhaps it was the inexperience of youth that led me to
put off reaching the old Brunswick ground at Hove until the moment of
beginning my innings. This I know, I felt as fit as ever I did in my
life, walked to the wicket with confidence, and took my guard carefully
to the bowling of J. C. Shaw. He was on at the sea-shore end, and there
was a glare on the water, delighting the artistic eye I have no doubt,
but to me shifting and dancing like a will o’ the wisp. There is no
need to deny the fact, I was all abroad to his first ball, and knew it
had beaten me before it came within two yards of me. I tried hard to
play it, but the ominous rattle told me I had failed, and I returned to
the pavilion and made the mental note. The dazzling light, the railway
journey, and want of five minutes’ practice did it. I had no desire to
repeat the performance in the second innings, and had little fear of
doing so. I took care to have some practice, and scored 217, my brother
G. F. made 98, and we increased the total by 240 runs in two and a half
hours.
There is this also to be said in favour of five or ten minutes’
batting practice before a match, that it enables you to test pads,
gloves, and shoes. To have the fastening of a glove or pad break off
when you are well set is a disagreeable and annoying interruption. It
takes some time to put things right, and when you return to the wicket,
the confidence you felt has very likely to a great extent deserted you.
And how often have you placed your boots in your bag, all the spikes
seemingly firm, to find one or two missing after you have been batting
for a few minutes! One has gone out of the toe of your boot, and you
play forward to a ball, miss your footing and get stumped; or one has
vanished from the heel, and you are called by your partner for a short
run, sent back again, slip, and get run out. Inattention to these
apparently small points causes annoyance, and may prevent you from
getting a long score.
You are now ready to go in, and if you are first on the list you may do
it leisurely; but if you follow first wicket down, or later, impress
strongly upon your mind that it is your duty to get to the wicket
within the limit of time the law allows, and as quickly as possible,
particularly if your partner has got his eye in and looks like making
a large score. You will expect a like consideration when your turn
comes to wait, and nothing upsets a player so much as having to loiter
three or four minutes when he is warm and at home with the bowling,
especially when he knows there is no need for delay. There will be a
lack of confidence between you for some time at least, and indifferent
judging of runs.
You will doubtless please yourself as to the guard to be taken; but
whether you take it to cover the middle and leg stumps, or middle
or leg only, be sure to keep your legs clear of the wicket. A good
umpire notes at the first glance if your leg is covering any part of
it, registers it against you, and remembers it when called upon for a
decision. If you stand clear of the wicket, he realises that you are
taking every precaution, will not decide without thinking, and will
give you the benefit of every doubt.
Be sure you have your right foot firmly planted behind the popping
crease, or you may play a little too far forward and be stumped. You
may as well remove any small piece of grass or loose bit of turf that
catches your eye as you look along the wicket. After you have taken
guard, and marked it clearly, look all around and note the position of
the fieldsmen. It is something to know you may hit out to certain parts
of the ground without the risk of being caught.
It is not very many years since, if you had asked the question how you
were to begin an innings, you would have been told to play quietly
for an over or two, and hit at nothing straight until you got your
eye in. With all my heart I say, do not be in a hurry to hit; keep up
your wicket and runs will come; but do not think that this means that
you are not to punish a loose ball if you get one, whether it be your
first or your twentieth. I understand it to mean that you are not to
hit at a good or doubtful ball for the sake of a start, or to shake
off the nervousness that affects a great number of players until they
have scored the first run. No; begin as you mean to go on, playing good
balls carefully, hitting loose ones, and bearing in mind that a large
score is not made in half-a-dozen hits or overs. Do not be surprised
and disappointed if the first few overs are maidens, or ruffled that
the score-sheet is still clean so far as you are concerned. Possibly
your partner has been placing balls that you could not get away, and
you grow impatient. That is foolishness, and fatal to your chance of
scoring. Remember he had been batting before you came in, and had
obtained the confidence and mastery over the bowling that is now
coming slowly but surely to you. Runs will come if you stay in, and
few bowlers can go on bowling over after over for half an hour or more
without giving you a loose ball or two.
It is bad judgment to attempt sharp runs early in your innings.
Inclination that way is sure to be encouraged by the bowler, and when
you least expect it he will in some way unknown to you communicate with
the wicket-keeper and fielders, and the next attempt may end in you
or your partner being run out. A deal of harm has been done even if
you just saved it by an inch or two, and you will be in a most unhappy
state of mind for some time afterwards. It dawns upon you that there
was a degree of stupidity in the attempt, and it does not improve your
temper to have words of caution showered upon you from the pavilion.
The state of the game, the condition of the score did not demand it,
and you will be very lucky if you realise the fact, and recover your
usual coolness and confidence before resuming your innings.
Exercise judgment when running out big hits. If you find the fielders
a little careless in throwing in, you may make a five out of what
looked like a four; but remember that to do this you will have to make
an exceptional effort that will try your wind. And now you have the
opportunity to show if your head is of the thoughtful kind. The bowler
will be delighted if he can tempt you to play the next ball before
you have got rid of the flurry and excitement, and you will be looked
upon as very obliging and thoughtless if you do. Very likely you have
resumed your position in front of the wicket with no intention of
playing for a second or two; perhaps the bowler is aware of the fact,
but that does not prevent him from bowling at you in the hope that you
may change your mind. Do not blame him if you play and are bowled. He
was not supposed to know that you were not ready, and you had no right
to be there recovering your breath; it will come back as freely to
you a yard or two away from the wicket as in front of it, and neither
bowler nor fielders ought to blame you for waiting for that purpose.
You are playing the game for your side as well as your individual
reputation, and ought to take all needful precautions.
Be careful what you take to drink during a long innings. If you are
not accustomed to large scoring you are sure to feel thirsty, and your
mouth will become very dry before you have made many runs. A big drink
at this or any other time when you are in is a great mistake. For the
moment you feel as if you must quench your thirst, or you cannot go
on; you must, however, refrain, for there is nothing so insidious and
infectious as indulgence in drinks of any kind. In half an hour you
will want another, and the fieldsmen generally will sympathise and
lean to your way of thinking. Then there will be five minutes’ break,
you will probably lose sight of the ball, and very likely get out
immediately after. If you must have something, call for a little water:
it will answer the purpose perfectly. Rinse your mouth with it, swallow
as little as possible, and the thirst will quickly pass away.
It is the first long innings that requires nerve and judgment. The
hopes and fears that spring up in the young player’s breast when he has
scored something between fifty and a hundred make it a severe trial;
and I daresay if you and I could read his thoughts we should find that
every run of the last ten was made in mental fear accompanied by a
thumping heart. But when the hundred is reached, who can describe the
joy that thrills him as he hears the hand-clapping and shouting!
I will not say, be modest in the hour of victory, but rather be modest
after it. It is after the victory, as we listen to outside praise, that
conceit and its enervating influence steal in. Turn a deaf ear, and
remember it was in fear and trembling that you reached the much-desired
score. Quiet confidence is a widely different thing from conceit. The
former will help you to a run of big scores, the latter will cripple
every effort to sustain your hardly earned reputation.
So far I have not touched upon the different wickets that are met
with during the season. There have been years, such as 1887, when the
weather has continued dry and fine for weeks, and the change from
ground to ground was hardly perceptible; but I have known the wicket
to change in a single match from dry, fast and true, to wet and soft,
and then to have finished sticky and unplayable. Anyone who can score
heavily through changes of that kind will be exceptionally fortunate.
I venture to think it may be of some use to young cricketers if I tell
them how they should play under these different conditions of ground. I
will begin with what is known as a fast, dry and true wicket.
This is the wicket which all good cricketers like to play on, and, if
it does not crumble before the match is finished, long scores may be
expected. Never hesitate to play forward on a wicket of this kind, for
the bowler can get little or no work on the ball, and, what is more,
the further it is pitched up and the faster it comes along, the easier
it is to play it forward and the more difficult to play it back. On
such a wicket as this do not go in for lofty and ‘gallery’ hitting, or
you will very likely throw away your chance of making a long score.
If the bowler gives you a ball well up, instead of hitting very hard
at it, I should advise you to drive it along the ground; although you
may not score so many runs for it, still you do not incur the risk
of being caught out, and you will get the applause of those who know
what scientific batting means. Cuts and leg-hits travel at a rare pace
on a good fast ground, and timing and placing are of more importance
than strength. A snick to long-leg may bring more runs than a hard hit
straight, and a tap past long-slip goes flying to the boundary with a
very small expenditure of strength. Most long scores have been made on
a wicket of this description, and you do not tire half so much as you
would if the wicket were wet and heavy.
In the season 1876--one of my best years--I remember playing in three
matches following each other when the ground was fast, dry and true.
The first match was at Canterbury, for Marylebone C.C. _v._ Kent. Kent
made the long score of 473, chiefly owing to the magnificent batting of
Lord Harris, who made 154. We responded with the comparatively small
total of 144. To follow on with so large a deficit was not encouraging;
but the wicket was still everything to be desired in pace and quality,
and I made up my mind to play a fast game, knowing that the bowler
could get little or no work on the ball, and that any attempt to play
carefully for a draw would be useless. It is now a matter of history
that we scored the first 100 in forty-five minutes, 217 well under
the two hours, and finished up with a total of 557 for nine wickets,
converting what appeared to be inevitable defeat into a creditable
draw. It took me a little over six hours to make my 344; but so good
and fast was the wicket that I played forward to most of the good balls.
Two days after, on a similar wicket against Notts, playing for
Gloucestershire at Clifton, I made 177, and the same week 318 not out,
against Yorkshire at Cheltenham. The last wicket was one of the very
best I ever played on, and right through the innings I could play
forward without danger to nearly every ball bowled. Remember, then, on
a wicket of this kind to play forward as much as possible.
I come now to a fast, good, wet wicket. It may surprise a great many
players when I say, play almost the same way as upon a fast dry wicket.
The bowler has still as much difficulty in getting work on the ball, as
it cuts through the ground and he cannot hold it owing to its wet and
slippery state, and you will find playing forward the better way. You
will have to be a little more watchful, for some balls will keep low
and travel at a terrific rate after they pitch, and should you get a
shooter it will come to you even faster than, on a dry wicket. Batsmen
on our perfect wickets of to-day think a ball that keeps low is a
shooter; but I wish they could come across the shooters we used to have
at Lord’s ground twenty years ago. They seemed completely to baffle
some players, and gave them the impression that the ball, instead of
travelling all along the ground, went under it and came up again at the
bottom of the wickets.
Of course you will distinguish between a fast wet wicket and one that
is not thoroughly saturated. The latter, though perhaps quite as true,
will not be so fast, nor will runs come so quickly. A wicket of this
kind was formerly considered much in favour of the bowler; but that
opinion has been upset, and a good punishing batsman, who takes no
liberties, has the bowler pretty much at his mercy. In 1873, on a
wicket of this kind, I made 160 not out for Gloucestershire _v._ Surrey
at Clifton. In the early part of the innings the wicket was fast and
wet, and the ball travelled at a rare pace; but later on it became
softer, and the ball did not travel so well.
A slow, good, dry wicket. You will occasionally meet with this kind of
wicket after rain, when the ground has not had time to dry sufficiently
to make it fast. The bowler can get more break on than he can on a
good fast wicket, but the ball rises slowly off the pitch and you have
plenty of time to watch it. You will rarely get a ball higher than
the bails, and you can play forward or back as the pitch admits. When
playing forward, you must not play too quickly, as the ball sometimes
hangs a bit and you may play it back to the bowler. It was on a wicket
of this kind at Clifton College ground that I scored a hundred in each
innings for Gloucestershire _v_. Kent in 1887. The first day the wicket
was perfect of its kind, every ball coming easy and with very little
break, travelling quickly when hit, as the outside ground was much
harder than the pitch, which had been watered. I made 101 in less than
three hours. Rain stopped play for some time on the second afternoon,
Friday, but by Saturday afternoon the wicket recovered, and I scored
103 not out in two hours and twenty minutes. Years ago, when youth was
more on my side, I preferred a very fast dry wicket; but now I confess
to a leaning for a good, slow, and dry one.
The three wickets I have described must be considered easy, and
attention to the points I touched upon at the beginning should help the
batsman to score largely. I now come to two of a very different nature,
on which, as a rule, the bowler has a high time of it, and where
special nerve, skill, judgment, and luck on the part of the batsman are
required before he can make a large score.
[Illustration: M.C.C. AND GROUND V. AUSTRALIANS, LORD’S, MAY 22, 1884
W. G. GRACE, L.B.W. BOWLED PALMER--101]
First, a bumpy wicket. By a bumpy wicket I do not mean a fast fiery
wicket where the ball only goes over the top of the stumps and raps the
knuckles occasionally, but a wicket upon which you may get a shooter
one over and a blow on the chest the next, as a pleasing variety to
those that come frequently right over your head the first bound and
straight into the hands of the long-stop without again touching the
ground. I can assure all young players that there is a new and curious
sensation in facing balls of this kind. Skill, patience, a quick eye
and ready arm are useful for the occasion, but dogged pluck is worth
the whole of them. Do not let thoughts of hard knocks trouble you,
or your chance of scoring even a double figure will be remote. Take
your position at the wicket in your usual way, stand up to the bowling
pluckily, and do not have it said of you that you are only a good
wicket player. On a ground of this kind every run is valuable, and you
may risk stealing a sharp run or two now and then. One of your side may
make fifty or more runs, but the average score is sure to be small,
and you must face the possibility of hard knocks and play as if you
expected every ball to come true and a large score depended upon you.
I am glad to be able to say that, owing to the general improvement
that has taken place in the principal grounds, you rarely now meet
with a bumpy wicket. When the Yorkshire County Eleven made their first
appearance at Lord’s in 1870 to play against the M.C.C. and Ground,
the wicket was as bumpy as a wicket could be, and very few players on
either side escaped knocks of some kind. It was the first match in
which the alteration in law 9 came into operation, by which a bowler
could change ends twice in the same innings but not bowl more than two
overs in succession; and Alfred Shaw and Wootton availed themselves
of it in the second innings of Yorkshire. The M.C.C. went in first to
the bowling of Freeman and Emmett, and were all out for 73. Yorkshire
made 91, George Pinder, the well-known Yorkshire wicket-keeper, who was
playing for the first time at Lord’s, contributing 31. The prospect in
our second innings was not encouraging, and the wicket anything but
good, when that accomplished Essex sportsman, Mr. C. E. Green, joined
me; but if ever a good and sterling cricketer played pluckily under
adverse circumstances, Mr. Green did that day, and in seventy minutes
we scored 99 runs. Freeman bowled a terrific pace, and Emmett was in
his glory, his bowling bumping and kicking up as I have never seen it
since. We were hit all over the body, Mr. Green twice painfully hard
on the chest; but he was cool and cheerful, and made 51 in his best
style--and that is saying a great deal considering the number of balls
he had to dodge with his head. Just before I was out, last man, Emmett
bowled a ball which hit me very hard on the point of the left elbow,
the ball flew into the air, and we ran a run before it came down into
short-leg’s hands; but I could not hold the bat properly afterwards,
and was glad when the innings was over. I made 66, and our total was
161. Freeman, Iddison, Pinder and Wootton were all badly knocked about.
Yorkshire won by one wicket; thanks to the plucky hitting of Luke
Greenwood and the steady batting of Emmett.
Now I come to a drying, sticky wicket. This is about the worst you
can play upon, and he who scores largely on it deserves to be praised
indeed. If the bowling be indifferent the player who can pull or hit a
long hop to leg has a decided advantage, as the ball hangs a great deal
at times and favours that kind of play. If the bowler be on the spot,
then tall scoring is an impossibility. The work to be got on the ball
is astounding; I have seen balls break a foot or more.
This kind of wicket is oftener seen at Lord’s after a good deal of rain
and a drying sun than anywhere else. We all remember that great match
when the Australians made their first appearance there in 1878. I had
a fair conception of what might happen, and after hitting the first
ball of the match to the boundary was not surprised at being caught out
from the fourth. One ball of Spofforth’s was enough for me the second
innings. The best advice I can give is to watch every ball on a wicket
of that kind, and score when you can.
In conclusion, never treat a straight ball with contempt, however badly
bowled. I have met with a ball that bounded twice or thrice before it
came to me, varying every bound and at the finish twisting or shooting,
and becoming a very difficult ball indeed. I have made it a rule all my
life to hit a straight long hop or full-pitch with a straight or nearly
straight bat, so that when a ball of this kind was bowled to me I had
the full length of my bat to play it with, whereas if I had tried to
pull or hit across at it, I should only have had the width of my bat,
and should have been more likely to miss it.
When an indifferent bowler is put on, you cannot be too careful. He is
put on to tempt you to hit, and does not mind how many runs you score
off him; but presently you will get a good ball, and if you are not
careful, especially if you are trying to bring off a favourite stroke,
you will hit at it and very likely lose your wicket.
After you have made a boundary hit do not make up your mind to hit
another off the next ball.
Keep your eye on the bowler, watch how he holds the ball and runs up
to the wicket before delivering it; that will help you considerably to
detect alteration in length and pace.
It is a mistake to hit at the pitch of slow, round, or under-hand
bowling. The twist is sure to beat you, and if you do not miss the
ball altogether, you will most likely get caught at cover-point. In my
younger days I always ran out to under-hand bowling and hit it before
it bounded, or waited and got it long hop. When a first-class bowler
tries to bowl a slow ball with an extra amount of break, look out for a
bad ball, and when it comes, as it will sooner or later, punish it, and
you will upset him a bit, and very likely prevent him from bowling good
balls afterwards.
I think I have touched upon nearly everything that might help a young
player to a long score, and with just a word about playing against odds
I have done. Whether against eighteen or twenty-two in the field, play
the same game that you would against an eleven. I have very often found
that the fieldsmen in the outfield are placed too deep, and a second
run can be stolen after the ball passes the men close in. Do not hit to
leg, but rather place or snick the ball; you will get just as many runs
without the risk of being caught. It was when playing against odds that
fine placing to leg was first cultivated, and now it has to a great
extent superseded leg hitting.
I need not say how delighted I am to watch the progress of every
young and rising cricketer. My heart is in the game I love above all
others, with a love that is as strong to-day as it was when I made my
first large score, and when eye, hand, and foot were much quicker than
they are now. I do not believe that there are no days like the good old
days of cricket, but I do strongly believe that the prospects of the
game are as bright and hopeful to-day as they have been at any time in
its history, and that in future years as great if not greater things
will be done with both bat and ball. I ask every young cricketer to
study the points I have submitted, and it will be sufficient reward to
me if they in some way help him to make a big score.