THE ART OF TRAINING YOUNG CRICKETERS.
(BY R. A. H. MITCHELL.)
[Illustration: A six-year old.]
If you want to play cricket you must begin as a boy, is a true, if
not an original, remark. We remember asking a member of a well-known
cricketing fraternity what promise a younger brother gave of future
excellence, and his reply was, ‘He’s no good--but then he hasn’t had a
chance, for he was so delicate he couldn’t begin till he was six years
old.’ We do not ourselves presume to say that the game must necessarily
be learnt whilst a child is under his nurse’s care; but nevertheless we
know of no instance, unless Mr. A. E. Stoddart forms an exception to
the rule, of anyone attaining to the first rank who has not received
his early lessons in the noble game while still a boy. If this be so,
it is of interest to all cricketers to consider what training a boy
ought to have. Is he to be left merely to the light of nature and his
own powers of observation, or is he to be systematically coached, and
taught daily how each stroke is to be made and each ball bowled? Many
think that a training of this kind can hardly be begun too soon or
carried out with too great care and rigour. This may be so; but we
are by no means inclined to agree with such a Spartan discipline. We
believe that in games, as in life, if a thing is worth doing at all,
it is worth doing well; but, although we claim to be second to none in
our keenness to see good boy cricketers, we differ in the method we
advocate from those who support so severe a system of coaching young
boys.
Let us give some reasons in support of our view. In the first place,
success in cricket, and not in cricket alone, depends on the enjoyment
and interest taken in the game, and we believe that there is great
danger of destroying this enjoyment and interest by incessant coaching
and teaching at too early an age. In the second place, all coaching has
a tendency at first to eradicate individual peculiarities and to cramp
a natural style. Mr. W. G. Grace, Mr. A. G. Steel, Shrewsbury, and many
other well-known batsmen have peculiarities of their own, which could
not have been taught in early boyhood, but which might very easily
have been cramped, and perhaps entirely obliterated, much to their
detriment, in the hands of even a skilful coach. We do not deprecate
all advice even to very young boys, but we dislike anything that tends
to interfere with the powers of nature; and although we shall be told
that a good teacher merely directs them in the best possible way, we do
not think that the advantage likely to be gained will at all compensate
for a cramped style or loss of enjoyment. What should be taught, and
when, we will endeavour to suggest as we proceed.
[Illustration: OUR NATIONAL GAME]
First, however, one word to anxious parents and teachers of the art.
It is quite hopeless to expect that every boy can be made into a
cricketer. Countless are the excuses we hear to cover the feebleness
and incapacity of would-be players, made sometimes by their parents,
sometimes by themselves. They have never been coached, or they have
been badly coached; they have been made to play too much, or they
can’t play often enough; the ground they play on is so rough, or it is
so easy that they can’t play on more difficult ground. They used to
bowl very well; but they were overbowled, or they were never put on;
or they are always put on at the wrong end, or the catches are always
missed off their bowling. These and many other excuses are urged on
their behalf; but those who have watched cricket for but a few years
will soon learn to take such futile pleas for what they are worth. No
boy can become a good cricketer who has not a natural capacity for the
game. The batsman must have a good eye and is all the better for a good
nerve; the fieldsman must be active; the bowler--ah! what must he have?
_Nascitur non fit_; we will not commit ourselves at present to his
requirements.
In saying this do not let it be supposed that we wish those only to
play cricket who are likely to become good cricketers--far from it; but
we are concerned with the game as an art and not as an exercise, and do
not wish to raise vain hopes of success where success is impossible.
Now let us consider the three great departments of the game in detail;
for, although they are necessarily and closely connected, we cannot
treat of batting, bowling, and fielding in the same paragraph.
The batsman then first demands our attention, not because he is more
useful to his side than the bowler, but because it is here that more
may be taught than in any other department of the game. Take a boy ten
years old--we start with double figures, let it be an omen for his
future!--what can we tell him? Very little, we think, but certainly
this: never to move his right foot, but to plant it firmly just inside
the crease, with the toe barely clear of the leg-stump.
The left foot should also be placed in the same line, but it must be
moved into the position which is found to be the easiest for playing or
hitting any given ball. The batsman must learn to stand perfectly still
with his eye fixed on the bowler’s hand, and he must try to think of
the ball, and the ball alone; any fidgeting about is apt to interfere
with an accurate habit of sight. A boy should also be told to drive the
ball in front of the wicket and along the ground. We do not approve
of the cut for young boys; it is the batsman’s most finished stroke,
but it is absolutely fatal when attempted at an unsuitable ball. This
is all we think it necessary to teach our juvenile batsman, though
occasional hints beyond this may sometimes be useful. Do not, however,
cramp a boy who is disposed to hit, but tell him to hit straight; it is
easier at a later age to stop hitting than to teach it. For this reason
single-wicket matches among small boys are not without their use, as
they naturally encourage hard hitting in front of the wicket.
A danger which is not sufficiently guarded against at some private
schools is the habit of allowing young boys to play to fast bowling;
masters and others take part in the games and the practice, and bowl at
a pace which would be called medium in a man’s match, but which is very
fast for boys under fourteen years of age. The result of this is that
boys learn to be afraid of the ball; and if they once show fear they
will never become good players. It seems all but impossible to restore
confidence even at a much later age, and we know of many instances--we
will not be so unkind as to mention names--in which boys with great
natural powers have never overcome their fear of the ball, which they
had acquired before coming to a public school. For the same reason the
growing custom of small boys playing in men’s matches is to be strongly
deprecated.
[Illustration: LUCIEN DAVIS
Drawing away from the wicket.]
Boys’ matches we strongly approve of, but boys of fourteen and under
ought not to play in matches with full-grown men. If a boy with a
natural gift for cricket has learnt by the time he enters a public
school to stand firmly and play the ball in front of the wicket, he has
learnt all that is necessary to turn him out a good batsman later on;
but if fast bowling has taught him to fear the ball, we have but little
hope of ever seeing him attain to the first class.
A few years have elapsed, and our young batsman at the age of thirteen
or fourteen is passing into the larger sphere of a public school. What
ought to be his training there?
It cannot be expected that he will receive the same attention that will
be given at a later age, when he is a candidate for his school eleven,
nor do we think that he need be subjected to any rigorous system of
coaching. On the other hand, he ought to have some one of experience
to give him occasional hints and instil into him the true principles
of the game. Above everything else, he should have good ground to play
upon, so that, if his confidence has not been previously shaken, he
will not now learn to shrink from the ball. The question of ground must
always be a great difficulty; for, although it may be easy to get an
extent sufficient to satisfy the requirements of a large public school,
it is no easy matter to keep it in proper order and provide good match
and practice wickets throughout the summer for a large number of boys,
especially as the ground is generally required for football or other
purposes during the winter. However, the better the ground the better
the batsmen; and if this be true, a good ground is one of the most
important requirements in the training of our cricketers.
As a boy grows in years he will require, and will probably get,
more instruction, and if he meets with a coach of good judgment and
experience he will soon learn all that can be taught. His success will
depend on his own natural powers, his temper, and his perseverance. We
do not propose to deal in detail with all the duties of a coach, but
perhaps a few hints may not be altogether out of place.
First of all, then, we would say, do not coach a boy too often. Once a
week is all that is either necessary or desirable. A boy who is anxious
to learn will lay to heart the hints and instructions he has received,
and he will find it easier to carry them out when he is practising with
his schoolfellows than when he is actually receiving instruction from a
coach. A new attitude or a new stroke always presents great difficulty,
easy as it may seem in itself; and a boy who is trying something new
will not at first play better, and will become nervous and disheartened
if he is being too constantly pressed by an ardent teacher.
Do not let a boy practise for more than half an hour at a time, or he
will become careless and lose interest. During that time he should play
to both fast and slow bowling, but never to more than two bowlers; and
it would be well if he could play for a quarter of an hour to two slow
bowlers, and another quarter to two fast. It is confusing to some boys
to receive fast and slow balls alternately, particularly when they are
trying to alter or improve some point of style under the direction of a
coach.
Do not allow boys to play to fast bowling on bad wickets: slow bowling
on a bad wicket is a good lesson occasionally, as it necessitates
careful watching of the ball and accurate timing; but fast bowling
on bumpy ground can only do harm. Never allow throwing instead of
bowling,--it does infinite mischief.
A coach will naturally have to give instruction on numerous points, and
try to get his pupil to carry out what he teaches; but there is one
warning which must be impressed on the lad more strongly than anything
else. It is this: when you go to the wicket in a match don’t be
thinking of this or that position, or this or that stroke, but fix your
eye on the bowler’s hand as he comes up to bowl. Think of and watch
the ball only; if you learn correct habits in practice, your instinct
will throw you into the right position and enable you to make the right
stroke, provided that your eye does not fail you with the ball.
We do not purpose to describe how each stroke should be made or to
enumerate all the instructions that should be given to the youthful
batsman; for such details would be long and wearisome, and entirely
unnecessary for the guidance of anyone who understands the true
principles of the game; and certainly no one ought to try and teach
until he has (at all events theoretically) mastered these, though it
is by no means necessary for a good coach to be himself a first-rate
exponent of the batsman’s art. We would point out, however, that,
apart from natural gifts, over which the coach has no control, the
most important point to teach the batsman is first to watch the
ball; secondly, to throw himself at the right moment into the right
position--if he can do this, it is an easy matter to hit or play almost
any given ball; thirdly, to meet the ball either in playing back or
forward, and not to play in front of the left foot when playing forward
or behind the right when playing back.
And now what are we to say of the bowler’s art? How are we to teach
our boys the most unteachable department of the game? This part of our
subject we approach with many misgivings, and though we wish to limit
our advice to what is strictly practical, we feel that this very limit
will make many think that our hints are but meagre and uninteresting.
We must again ‘put back the clock’ (oh that some of us decrepit
cricketers could do so in reality!) to the age of ten. Again we ask
for some natural power of propelling a ball with ease, strength
proportioned to age, perseverance, and a real love of the game. Given
these materials to work upon, how are we to begin? First of all, let
the distance be short, certainly not more than eighteen yards at the
age of ten; let the ball be smaller and lighter than the regulation
size, and let a boy be taught at first to aim only at one length; as he
becomes fairly master of straightness and pitch, let him try to vary
the length a little, but not too often, or he may sacrifice regularity
and injure his delivery. Change of pace can hardly be looked for at
this age; but great care should be taken to prevent a boy from bowling
fast, and he should not bowl for long together. In practice it is a
good plan to take alternate overs with another boy, as it is easier
to bowl four or five balls well and then rest than to go on bowling a
greater number. A boy should be taught to measure the distance he runs
before delivering the ball, and he should learn to bowl on both sides
of the wicket. Great care should be taken to prevent a boy from bowling
too much; and if his bowling seems to be getting worse rather than
better, let him leave off for some days. We offer no advice on the more
abstruse arts of bowling, as the subject has been exhaustively treated
in a previous chapter.
Supposing that our boy bowler has by the age of fourteen acquired
straightness and pitch, with some power of variation, will he have a
fair chance of improving his bowling and distinguishing himself when
at a public school? We fear that this will be a trying time--indeed
must be so, even if he is taken in hand by some one who understands
and takes an interest in the game. In the first place, batting is more
attractive to most boys; in the second, the young bowler will probably
have a very indifferent field, and the missing of catches tempts
the youthful player to abandon the slower pace for the faster, with
disastrous results to himself. Almost all young boys wish to bowl as
fast as they can, and this ends frequently in ruining a good action and
a good arm which had at one time threatened the fall of many a good
wicket.
At this point, then, in a bowler’s career, public schools, we think,
have something to answer for; but we do not agree with those who say
that subsequently, when a boy is old enough to be a candidate for his
school eleven, there is any great lack of system or careful training.
Rather, if a short digression may be pardoned, we think that the
Universities, or the laziness of University men, may chiefly be blamed
for the dearth of gentlemen bowlers. Our argument shortly stated is
this. If we compare gentlemen bowlers of the age of nineteen with
professionals of the same age, we shall find that the former have
nothing to fear from the comparison. But pass on for five or six years,
and the gentlemen are seen to be behind in the race for pre-eminence.
Can this be the fault of public schools? Is it not rather that after
leaving school few, scarcely any, systematically practise bowling,
although they are just at the right age to improve, having stronger
muscles and more experience, to say nothing of leisure hours and
increased opportunities? If University men would practise their bowling
both at nets and in matches with the same assiduity that boys do at
a public school, we think that it would approach more nearly to the
professional standard than it now does.
We do not propose to offer our readers any special advice as to the
method of attack, which will naturally vary with different batsmen.
Experience and observation will suggest what may be done, if we can
only teach our young bowler to bowl straight, to vary his length, and
as he gets older his pace, and if nature has given him strength, and a
happy genius enables him to make the ball turn more or less at will.
Let us leave the bowler himself, and see if we can offer any hints on
providing him with a good field.
It is a common fallacy to suppose that anyone can field well if he
takes the trouble to do so. With this we cannot agree; but we feel
strongly that most cricketers might improve themselves very much in
this department if they took the same pains they do to improve their
batting.
But we must return to our small boys. First of all, let us teach them
to catch by throwing the ball from one to another, and let the ball be
small, proportioned to the size of their hands. Teach them to take the
catch opposite the upper part of the chest, when they can get to it
in that position, and to draw their hands back as the ball comes into
them. Do not keep them too long at this, or they will find it irksome.
Vary with a little ground fielding, but do not let them throw too
often or too far, or their arms will soon go, and you will ruin your
bowlers and your throwers as well. It is not, however, at this early
age that the most special attention ought to be given to fielding. It
is rather at our public schools that we here look for improvement; this
is the time at which we think most may be done. As a boy gains strength
and activity he gains two of the qualities most necessary for a good
fieldsman, and if nature has given him a good big pair of hands and
the power of throwing, it will be owing to his laziness if he does not
become a valuable aid to any bowler. We might dwell on the necessity
of keenness, watchfulness in the field, position for starting, and
many other essentials, but we have said enough for practical purposes;
all else will be easily learnt by a boy who has the energy and
determination to train himself into a good field.
It will be noticed that in our suggestions to the batsman we have not
advised him to make that use of his legs in defending his wicket which
now finds such favour with our leading players. We confess to regarding
this as an ignoble art; but we admit that if the l.b.w. rule is to
continue as at present, the art, ignoble as it is, must be taught in
self-defence, or our pupils will necessarily be handicapped in being
expected to stop balls which break and turn with their bat instead of
with their legs. Fortunately age will relieve us personally of teaching
how this may best be done. It is for the rising generation either to
alter the law or to learn the art of getting in front of the wicket
when the ball does not pitch straight.
It is in vain to lament over long scores and unfinished matches,
over dearth of bowlers and slackness in the field, whilst all the
time we are doing everything we can to make matters easier and easier
for the batsman, giving him perfect wickets, on which he can score
100 runs without getting out of breath, devoting his legs to the new
purpose of systematically intercepting the more difficult balls. How
different this from having honestly to run out every hit, and from
being compelled to play a real ‘snorter’ before the breath is fairly
recovered after the effort of running several fourers in succession!