368 



THE POPULAB EDUCATOE. 



RETURN 

 CREASE. 



Tfe come now to the preparation and allotment of the cricket 

 ground preparatory to play, confining our remarks at present 

 to the usual game of double wicket. If only an ordinary rfield 

 be available for the game, the most level portion of it, as near 

 the centre as possible, is selected for the purpose of pitching 

 the wickets. These must be directly opposite each other, and 



at a distance of twenty-two yards 



apart. A line six feet eight inches > 

 in length is drawn with chalk upon 

 the ground at each wicket, so that 

 the stumps stand in its centre. This 

 is called the bowling crease. At each 

 end of it another but short line is 

 drawn at right angles behind the 

 wicket, and this is named the return 

 crease. The object of these lines is 

 to mark out the space within which 

 the bowler must be standing when 

 lie delivers the ball. In front of the 

 wicket, four feet from it, and parallel 

 with the bowling crease, another line, 

 called the popping crease, is drawn. 

 No precise length is defined for the 

 popping crease, save that it must be 

 at least as long as the bowling crease 



RETURN 



CliEASE. 



DIAGRAM NO. 1. THE BOWLING AND POPPING CREASES. 



All being now in readiness for the game, the bowler takes thex 

 ball, and, after calling " play " before starting, delivers the ball 

 in the direction of the wicket farthest from him. His object is 

 to strike it with the ball, and if he succeed in the attempt, the 

 batsman stationed at that wicket is out. The object of the 

 batsman obviously is to keep the ball off his wicket, and also, 



by striking it to a distance, to make 



one or more rims towards the game 

 for his party. A run is scored when 

 the batsman is able to pass from 

 wicket to wicket without being put 

 out before he comes fairly behind 

 the popping crease, or places the 

 end of his bat within it. If the bats- 

 man runs from one wicket to the 

 other, and then returns to the wicket 

 he started from, he counts two runs 

 for his party, and so on. 



When the ball is struck, the 

 fielders, waiting in eager expectation, 

 strive to catch it or otherwise stop it, 

 and return it immediately to the 

 wicket-keeper or bowler, that he may 

 strike the wicket with it before the 

 batsman reaches home. If this be 



which the fielders as a body shall bo placed are fixed by 

 custom, which is founded on experience of where they are 

 most likely to be effective. These positions are occasionally 

 varied to suit the character of the bowling, whether fast or 

 alow ; but as a rule the men are stationed for medium bowling 

 nearly in the positions indicated by diagram No. 2. 



other ways of the batsman's being put out than those mention* 

 in the foregoing description; but these will be found fully detail' ' 

 in the laws of the game, which will be given in another papr > 

 In this we shall also give a little practical advice to the yon: 

 player, with illustrations cf the proper attitudes in battir, 

 bowling, etc. 



