bat does come down on a ‘yorker’ in the crease at the last moment, it
often dribbles on with the spin, and just dislodges the bails. The
only proper, workmanlike way to deal with ‘yorkers’ is to play them
forward. The bat should be thrust forward directly the ball is seen to
be right up to the batsman, and then it cannot fail to be stopped. One
great peculiarity of ‘yorkers’ is that it is impossible to bowl such a
ball to some batsmen. W. G. Grace hardly ever gets one; directly the
ball leaves the bowler’s hand he sees its destination, viz. an inch
inside the crease; he puts the bat out to meet the ball, and makes it
one of the easiest possible, viz. a full-pitch. If there were no such
thing as misjudgment on the part of a batsman, there would be no such
thing as a ‘yorker.’ It depends for its very existence on being taken
for something else. If every batsman were perfectly accurate in his
sight and judgment of pitch, every so-called ‘yorker’ would be neither
more nor less than a ‘full-pitch.’ However, as every batsman, we are
thankful to say, is liable to err in judging the pitch, and as nearly
every batsman when first going in is more liable to err with a ‘yorker’
than any other ball, the bowler should most decidedly try it. A slow
bowler should first try a medium-paced ‘yorker,’ somewhat faster than
his usual pace, and then a slower one. It is astonishing how many
wickets fall to slow ‘yorkers;’ the ball is mistaken for everything but
what it really is, viz. a full-pitch--for every ball pitching inside
the crease must be playable as a full-pitch.
When a bowler is put on to bowl by his captain, it is his duty to do
everything in his power to dislodge the batsman. It is really quite a
secondary consideration for him whether many or few runs are being made
off his bowling. It is the duty of the captain to tell the bowler when
he wants the pace in the run-getting to be diminished, and then, and
not till then, must the bowler begin to bowl straight and short with
that object. But until certain instructions are given, the bowler must
never stop for an instant in his endeavour to get the batsman’s wicket.
If he has experimented with every one of his arts and is unsuccessful,
or even if he becomes too expensive in run-getting before he has done
this, the captain’s duty is to take him off.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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