prettily cut straight into Barlow’s hands at third man, and Mr. Leslie
had secured two wickets for no runs. He continued for another over or
two, had Bannerman beautifully stumped by Mr. Tylecote off a fast wide
half-volley on the leg side, and then retired in favour of one of the
regular bowlers, after having, simply by wild erratic fast delivery,
lowered three of the best Australian wickets. We give this as an
example of the principle that every cricketer should try to bowl, and
if he finds that he cannot attain to any efficiency, even with constant
practice, then let him try to ‘sling in’ as hard as ever he possibly
can; he will often be of use to his side when in a fix.
Before leaving the subject of fast bowling a word must be said about
what--some years ago, and again now--may be called the great cricket
bugbear of the last few years--viz. throwing. It is worthy of notice
that when over-arm bowling was first allowed a great outcry arose,
and there were not wanting those who prophesied that this ‘hand over
head’ style would ultimately result in ‘a mere over-hand throw--a kind
of pelting, with a little mannerism or flourish to disguise it.’ Now
it is an astonishing thing that, in a great variety of cases, this is
just what actually has happened. Some of the bowling that has been
allowed to pass unnoticed by umpires is well described by the phrase
quoted; but, although this is so, there are many minor offenders whom
all would like to see pulled up short, not out of any ill-will to them
personally, but in the interests of the game. Now throwing is most
pernicious to cricket, and is calculated, if allowed to increase (as it
surely will unless promptly suppressed by the authorities, backed by
public opinion), to exercise a most disastrous effect on the game. The
subject of throwing is sometimes pooh-poohed by prominent cricketers,
who have remarked, ‘What does it matter whether a man bowls or throws?’
If it makes no difference, by all means let the M.C.C. at once expunge
the rule relating to throwing and jerking. But let us pause for a
moment to see if there are any reasons to suppose that it does make a
difference. There are, in truth, two very good reasons why throwing
should be stopped. First, if it were allowed it would seriously
interfere with the art of bowling. The reasons for this proposition are
as follows: In throwing there is no scope for dissimilarity of style.
All men who throw must, from the very nature of the delivery, send the
ball on its course with exactly the same description of spin. It is
impossible for a thrower to make the ball go across the wicket from
the leg to the on side; every ball which leaves a thrower’s hand has
the off-side spin on it, and none other is possible. Any style which
tends to cramp bowling, as this does, must be bad. Again, a throwing
bowler cannot change his pace as other bowlers do; he dare not bowl the
slow high-dropping ball so successfully used by Spofforth and others,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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