170 THE COMPLETE SPORTSMAN 



signal, Jasper Marling ^^ill grasp the ball in 

 his gnarled fingers, and the great match wall 

 commence. 



2. 



This is neither the time nor the place to 

 describe in detail a game of village cricket. But 

 for the benefit of any of my readers whose ex- 

 perience thereof may be limited, who may, how- 

 ever, at any moment be called upon to engage in 

 this delightful sport, I propose to give one or 

 two hints that I myself have found infinitely 

 useful on such occasions as I have been tempted 

 or coerced into taking part, whether in the 

 character of captain, umpire, batsman, bowler 

 or fieldsman (commonly called " field "). 



The captain's position is one, as I need hardly 

 say, of extreme responsibility. To be successful 

 he needs common sense and tact, he must be a 

 diplomat as well as a born leader of men. It is 

 for him to arrange the order in which various 

 members of his team shall bat, and he wdll in- 

 variably find that the individual distaste for 

 going in first is only surpassed in intensity by 

 the universal objection to going in last. In such 

 circumstances he will require unusual powers of 

 persuasion to solve a complicated and often 

 painful problem. 



When his team takes the field, the choice of 



