POINT.--Your great strength lies in anticipation: witness Ἄναξ ἀνδρῶν. To that gentleman every ball seems hit, because he always gets thereabouts; yet is he near-sighted withal! ’Tis the mind that sees, eyes are its glasses, and he is too good a workman to want excuse for his tools. With slow bowling and a bad batsman, Point can anticipate easily enough. Still, with all bowling, fast and slow, the common fault of Point is, that he stands, if near, too near; and if far off, yet not far off enough. Stand where you yourself can catch and stop. If slow in hand and eye stand off for longer catches, else, by standing where a quick man would catch sharp catches, you miss everything. With fast bowling, few balls which could be caught at seven yards ground short of twelve. Though, if the ground is very rough, or the bowling slow, the ball may be popped up near the bat, even by good players. Whenever a ball is hit Off, Point must cross instanter, or he’ll be too late to back up, especially the bowler’s wicket. Point is sometimes Point proper, like a Wicket-keeper or Short-slip, to cramp the batsman, and take advantage of his mistakes; but with fast bowling and good batsmen, Point may advantageously stand off like any other fieldsman. For then, he will save many more runs, and may make quite as many catches. If Mr. King stood as Point, and Chatterton as Cover in the same line, with Pilch batting and Wisden bowling, they would not (as I presume they are well aware) work to the best advantage. When Clarke is bowling he generally wants a veritable Point for the catch. But, to stand near, as a Scientific Point, with wild bowling is absurd. SHORT-LEG is often a very hardly used personage, expected to save runs that seem easy, but are actual impossibilities. A good ball, perhaps, is pushed forward to middle wicket On, Short-leg being square, and the bowler looks black at him. Then a Draw is made, when Short-leg is standing rather forward, and no man is ubiquitous. If the batsman often does not know where the rise or bias may reflect the ball, how should the fieldsman know? COVER-POINT and LONG-SLIP are both difficult places; the ball comes so fast and curling, that it puzzles even the best man. No place in the field but long-stop has the work of long-slip. This used to be Pilch’s place.