VILLAGE CRICKET 173 



shilling falls on its head or on its tail. If you 

 have cried " The Bird !" with sufficient vigour 

 and self-confidence, the visiting captain mil 

 politely assume that this is a local term for 

 whichever side of the coin is uppermost, as, 

 indeed, you may perhaps deceive yourself into 

 fancying that it is. Your decision will conse- 

 quently be accepted without argument, all 

 parties will be satisfied, and you can stroll across 

 to the tent and put on your pads with a com- 

 paratively easy conscience. I may add that I 

 myself have practised this method for the last 

 two seasons and have never known it fail. In- 

 deed, it is to a large extent due to my skill in 

 mnning the toss that this year I have again been 

 elected captain of the Little Wilmingdon Wan- 

 derers, a post that I am otherwise wholly un- 

 qualified to fill. 



Next to the captain it may truly be asserted 

 that the umpire occupies the most important 

 position in the village cricket field. It is not 

 enough that he should be thoroughly acquainted 

 ■with the laws of the game, be a man of wdde 

 experience and alert eye, prompt to decide 

 knotty points, of unquestioned integrity, and, if 

 possible, unrelated by marriage to any of the 

 players. Besides all this he must be well versed 



