VILLAGE CRICKET 183 



Personally, I have often found that by taking 

 a very long run of about a hundred yards, dodg- 

 ing behind the umpire at the last moment, and 

 bowling the baU from the side of the \vicket 

 where the batsman least expected to see me, I 

 have often succeeded where other more skilful 

 bowlers failed. Peculiar forms of action are 

 also at times efficacious. I used at one time to 

 be able to make the batsman think that I was 

 about to deliver a slow left-handed " googly," 

 and then suddenly sling in a swift right-handed 

 " grub " while the wretched man's eye was still 

 riveted upon my waving left arm. Again, I 

 would sometimes follow a slow ball right up the 

 pitch and dance about in front of the batsman 

 as though with the intention of catching him 

 out off the end of his bat; this, however, re- 

 quired considerable courage, and I gave it up in 

 1907, when an unaffrighted player drove the ball 

 back at my head with such violence as to knock 

 out six of my teeth, and then proceeded to run 

 eight runs while I was still searching for missing 

 molars among the plantains. 



6. 



For the fieldsman there is no particular code 

 of manners. The great thing for him to remem- 

 ber is that the ball should be fielded and returned 



