One peculiarity of the leg-twisting ball is that when the ground is soft and sticky it is comparatively of no avail. The ball then, of course, twists to a greater extent than when the ground is hard, but it leaves the pitch so very slowly that the batsman can either wait for it on the long-hop or hit it on the full or half-volley. The leg-break ball on a soft ground, if bowled at all, must be bowled faster than on hard, in order to counteract the deadness of the turf. The best states of the ground for this bowling, as indeed for most, are when the ground has been hard and fast, and has since become crumbly and covered with loose bits of grass and worn turf, and when there has been heavy rain to saturate the ground which is being rapidly dried and caked by a hot sun. In the former state the ball takes plenty of twist, and also leaves the ground very quickly, in addition to sometimes getting up uncomfortably high for the batsman. In the caked state the ball takes lots of twist, and puzzles the batsman by the varied and uneven paces at which it leaves the ground, sometimes coming sharply and high, at other stopping on the ground and, in batsman’s parlance, ‘getting up and looking at you.’ SHORT SLIP ● WICKET KEEPER ╔╦╗ ● ║║║ POINT ¯¯¯¯¯ LONG LEG ● COVER POINT ● MID ON ● EXTRA MID OFF ╔╦╗ ║║║ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ● ● MID OFF BOWLER ● DEEP MID OFF ● DEEP MID ON The leg-break diagram. These positions of the fieldsmen will suit under-arm bowling, except that, perhaps extra mid-off may be put out on the on side.