But, is not a good hand and eye quite enough, with a little practice, without all this theory? Do you ignore the Pilches and the Parrs, who have proved famous hitters from their own sense alone?--The question is, not how many have succeeded, but how many more have failed. Cricket by nature is like learning from a village dame; it leaves a great deal to be untaught before the pupil makes a good scholar. If you have Caldecourt’s, Wisden’s, or Lillywhite’s instructions, _vivâ voce_, why not on paper also? What, though many excellent musicians do not know a note, every good musician will bear witness that the consequence of Nature’s teaching is, that men form a vicious habit almost impossible to correct, a lasting bar to brilliant execution. And why?--because the piano or the violin leaves no dexterity or rapidity to spare. The muscles act freely in one way only, in every other way with loss of power. So with batting. A good ball requires all the power and energy of the man! And, as with riding, driving, rowing, or every other exercise, it depends on a certain form, attitude, or position, whether this power be forthcoming or not. The scope for useful instructions for _forming good habits of hitting before their place is preoccupied with bad_--for, “there’s the rub”--is very great indeed. If Pilch, and Clarke, and Lillywhite, averaging fifty years each, are still indifferent to pace in bowling,--and if Mr. Ward, as late as 1844, scored forty against Mr. Kirwan’s swiftest bowling, while some of the most active young men, of long experience in cricket, are wholly unequal to the task; then, it is undeniable that a batsman may form a certain invaluable habit, which youth and strength cannot always give, nor age and inactivity entirely take away. The following are simple rules for forming correct habits of play; for adding the judgment of the veteran to the activity of youth, or putting an old head on young shoulders, and teaching the said young shoulders not to get into each other’s way. All balls that can be bowled are reducible to “length balls” and “not lengths.” _Not lengths_, are the toss, the tice, the half volley, the long hop, and ground balls. These are _not length balls_, not pitched at that critical length which puzzles the judgment as to whether to play forward or back, as will presently be explained. These are all “bad balls;” and among good players considered certain hits; though, from the delusive confidence they inspire, sometimes they are bowled with success against even the best of players. These _not lengths_, therefore, being the easiest to play, as requiring only hand and eye, but little judgment, are the best for a beginner to practise; so, we will set the tyro in a proper position to play them with certainty and effect.