The Book of Sports Part 5

A balancer finds that a body to be balanced, is the best for his purpose if it have a loaded head, and a slender or pointed base, for although the higher the weight is placed above the point of support, the more readily will the line of direction be thrown beyond the base, yet he can more easily restore it by the motion of his hand,--narrowly watching with his eyes its deviations. Now the same watchfulness must be displayed by the gymnastic balancer: he first uses the balancing pole,--he then mounts the balancing bar without it. On mounting the bar, the body should be held erect, and the hands must be extended. He must then learn to walk firmly and steadily along the bar, so as to be able to turn round, and then he should practise going backwards. Two balancers should then endeavour to pa.s.s each other on the bar; afterwards, to carry each other, and bodies of various weights, in various positions.

Walking on stilts is connected with balancing. A person can walk with greater security upon high than on low stilts. In some parts of France, the peasantry, in looking after their sheep, walk generally on stilts, and it only requires practise to make this as easy as common walking.

Some few years ago, several of these stilt-walkers were to be seen in London, and they could run, jump, stoop, and walk with ease and security, their legs seeming quite as natural to them as those of the Stork.

PART V.

CRICKET.

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Cricket is the king of games. Every boy in England should learn it. The young prince of Wales is learning it, and will some day be the prince of cricket-players, as I trust he will some day, a long while hence, however, let us hope, be king of merry England. I shall, therefore, be very particular concerning this n.o.ble game. It is played by a bat and ball, and consists of double and single wicket. The wicket was formerly two straight thin batons, called stumps, twenty-two inches high, which were fixed in the ground perpendicularly, six inches apart, and over the top of both was laid a small round piece of wood, called the bail, but so placed as to fall off readily if the stumps were touched by the ball. Of late years the wicket consists of three stumps and two bails; the middle stump is added to prevent the ball from pa.s.sing through the wicket without beating it down; the external stumps are now seven inches apart, and all of them three feet two inches high. Single wicket requires five players on each side, and double wicket eleven; but the number in both instances may be varied at the pleasure of the two parties. At single wicket the striker with his bat is the protector of the wicket; the opponent party stands in the field to catch or stop the ball; and the bowler, who is one of them, takes his place by the side of a small baton or stump, set up for that purpose, twenty-two yards from the wicket, and thence delivers the ball with the intention of beating it down. It is now usual to set up two stumps with a bail across, which the batsman, when he runs, must beat off before he returns home. If the bowler prove successful, the batsman retires from the play and another of his party succeeds; if, on the contrary, the ball is struck by the bat, and driven into the field beyond the reach of those who stand out to stop it, the striker runs to the stump at the bowler's station, which he touches with his bat, and then returns to his wicket. If this be performed before the ball is thrown back, it is called a run, and a notch or score is made upon the tally towards the game; if, on the contrary, the ball be thrown up and the wicket beaten down by the opponent party before the striker is home or can ground his bat within three feet ten inches of the wicket (at which distance a mark is made in the ground, called the _popping crease_), he is declared to be out, and the run is not reckoned. He is also out if he strike the ball into the air and it is caught by any of his antagonists before it reaches the ground, and retained long enough to be thrown up again. When double wicket is played, two batsmen go in at the same time,--one at each wicket: there are also two bowlers, who usually bowl four b.a.l.l.s in succession alternately. The batsmen are said to be in as long as they remain at their wickets, and their party is called the _in-party_; on the contrary, those who stand in the field with the bowlers, are called the _out-party_. Both parties have two innings, and the side that obtains the most runs in the double contest, claims the victory. These are the general outlines of this n.o.ble pastime, but there are many particular rules and regulations by which it is governed, and these rules are subject to frequent variations.

SINGLE WICKET.

Single wicket may be played with any number of players, and is better than double wicket for any number of players under seven. At double wicket, a small number of players would get so fatigued with running after the ball, that when it came to the last player's turn, he would find himself too tired, without resting a while. The first innings in single wicket must be determined by chance. The bowler should pitch the wickets, and the striker measure the distance for the bowling-stump.

Measure a distance of the length of the bat, and then one of the striker's feet, from the middle stump in a direction towards the bowling stump: there make a mark, which is the same as the popping-crease, and this will show when you are on the ground; place your bat upright on the mark at the place where the measure came to, and ask the bowler whether your bat is before the middle of your wicket; here make a mark on the ground, which is generally called the blocking-hole.

The bowler now begins to bowl, and the striker should endeavour to hit any ball which comes within his compa.s.s, or if the ball given be not favourable for that purpose, he may block it; but in blocking he must be careful never to let the tip of the bat come before the handle, as the ball in such a case will probably rise in the air towards the bowler, and he will be caught out. In running, the striker must touch the bowling-stump with his bat or person, or it is no run, and he may be put out if he do no put his bat or some part of his person on his ground before the ball touches his wicket.

With three players, the bowler and striker will be the same as when two are at play; the second player will be fieldsman, who, when the ball be hit nearer to him than to the bowler, will pick it up, or catch it if he can, and return it to the bowler. If the striker should attempt to run, the bowler should immediately run to the wicket, and the fieldsman should throw the ball to him, so that he may catch it, and touch the wicket with it to get the striker out. When the first striker is out, the fieldsman will take his place, the striker will bowl, and the bowler will take the field. When four players are engaged, the fourth should stand behind the wicket; and when five or more play, the additional players should take the field. The rule in such a case is simply, that as soon as a striker is out he becomes bowler, then he becomes wicket-keeper, and then he takes his place in the field on the left of the bowler, and afterwards the other places in regular progression, until it is his turn to have a new innings.

LAWS OF THE GAME OF DOUBLE WICKET.

"Law, is law," said Evergreen; "laws must be rigidly obeyed, and, therefore, I will read the articles of war for your edification. The first article of war is said to be, 'That it shall be death to stop a cannon-ball with your head.'" Cricketers must be cautious also how they stop cricket-b.a.l.l.s with this part of the body: but

_Imprimis_, the BALL must be in weight between five ounces and a half and five ounces and three quarters, and must be between nine inches and nine inches and one-eighth in circ.u.mference.

2. The BAT must not be more than thirty-eight inches in length, nor exceed four inches and a quarter in its widest part.

3. The STUMPS, which are three to each wicket, must be twenty-seven inches out of the ground, and placed so closely as not to allow the ball to pa.s.s through. The bails must be eight inches in length.

4. The BOWLING-CREASE must be in a line with the stumps, and six feet eight inches in length, the stumps in the centre, with a return-crease at each end towards the bowler at right angles.

5. The POPPING CREASE must be three feet ten inches from the wicket, and parallel to it, unlimited in length, but not shorter than the bowling-crease.

6. They must be opposite to each other, twenty-two yards apart.

7. It is not lawful for either party, during a match, without the other party gives consent, to make any alteration in the ground by rolling, watering, covering, mowing, or beating.

This rule is not meant to prevent the striker from beating the ground with his bat near to the spot where he stands during the innings, nor to prevent the bowler from filling up holes with sawdust, &c., when the ground is wet.

8. After rain, the wickets may be changed with the consent of both parties.

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THE BOWLER.

9. The bowler must deliver the ball with one foot behind the bowling-crease, and bowl four bowls before he changes wickets, which he is permitted to do, once only, in the same innings.

10. The ball must be bowled; if it be thrown or jerked, or if the hand be above the shoulder in the delivery, the umpire must call "no ball"

(this being reckoned as one of the four b.a.l.l.s).

11. In some matches, the bowler may give six b.a.l.l.s where the parties are agreed. The bowler may order the striker at the wicket from which he bowls, to stand on which side of it he pleases.

12. Should the bowler toss the ball over the striker's head, or bowl it so wide that it shall be out of distance to be played at, the umpire, although the striker attempt it, shall adjudge one run to the parties receiving the innings, either with or without an appeal from them, which shall be put down to the score of wide b.a.l.l.s, and such b.a.l.l.s shall not be reckoned as any of the four b.a.l.l.s. When the umpire shall have called "wide ball," one run only shall be reckoned, and the ball shall be considered dead.

13. If "no ball" be called by the umpire, the hitter may strike at it, and is allowed all the runs he can make, and is not be considered out except by running out. Should no run be obtained by any other means, then one run shall be scored.

14. When a fresh bowler takes the ball, only two b.a.l.l.s shall be allowed for practice; he must, however, continue the next four in the game before he can change for another better approved. If six b.a.l.l.s are agreed to be bowled, then he must continue the six instead of four.

15. No subst.i.tute in the field shall be allowed to bowl, keep wicket, STAND AT THE POINT or MIDDLE WICKET, except by mutual agreement of the parties.

THE STRIKER.

Is OUT, if either of the bails be struck off by the ball, or either of the stumps struck out of the ground.

He is OUT, if the ball, from a stroke of the bat or hand below the wrist, be held by his adversary before it touches the ground, although hugged or caught between the arms and breast of the catcher.

He is OUT, if in striking, or at any other time while the ball is in play, both his feet be over the popping-crease, and his wicket put down, except his bat be grounded within it.

He is OUT, if in striking at the ball, he either with his bat, clothes, or person, hits down his wicket.

He is OUT, if under pretence of running a notch, or otherwise, either of the strikers prevent a ball from being caught, or if the ball be struck up and he wilfully strikes it again.

He is OUT, if in running a notch the wicket be struck down by a throw, or with the hand or arm with ball in hand, before his bat is grounded over the popping-crease. If the bails should happen to be off, a stump must be struck out of the ground.

He is OUT, should he take up or touch the ball while in play, unless at the request of the opposite party.

He is OUT, if with a part of his person he stop the ball, which the bowler, in the opinion of the umpire at the bowler's wicket, has pitched in a straight line with the wicket.

If the players have _crossed_ each other, he that runs for the wicket that is put down, is out; and if they have _not crossed_, he that has left the wicket which is put down, is out.

When a ball is caught, no run is to be reckoned.

When a striker is run out, the notch they were running for is not to be reckoned.

If "lost ball" shall be called, the striker is allowed the runs; but if more than six shall have been run before "lost ball" shall have been called, then the striker shall have all that have been run.

When the ball has been lodged in the wicket-keeper's or bowler's hands, it is considered _dead_, that is, no longer in play, and the striker need not keep within ground, till the umpire has called "play;" but if the player goes off his ground, with intent to run, the bowler may put him out.

Should the striker be hurt, he may retire from his wicket and return to it any time during that innings. Some other person may stand out for him, but not go in.