184 THE COMPLETE SPORTSMAN 



to the A\'icket as quickly as possible. In order 

 to save a boundary hit it is quite allowable to 

 jump on the ball, but the practice of throwing 

 one's ba^t at it in a vain attempt to arrest its 

 flight has fallen into abeyance (if not desuetude). 



Experience alone can teach a man who is sta- 

 tioned in the deep field how to run towards a 

 high catch in such a fashion that although he 

 will seem to be covering the ground very rapidly 

 there is really no danger of his reaching the ball 

 before it touches the ground. Should he mis- 

 calculate the distance and find it impossible, 

 with decency, to prevent the ball falling into his 

 hands (whence, of course, it will rebound upon 

 the sward), he should point apologetically at 

 the sun (which is probably behind his back) or 

 pretend to nurse a wounded finger. It is as 

 well to remember, too, that whenever a ball hits 

 a batsman's pad, it is correct for every member 

 of the fielding team to shout " How's that ?" 

 in as confident a tone as possible, and thus 

 perhaps by sheer force of sound intimidate 

 the umpire into saying " Out !" 



Some people, I admit, consider this a practice 

 that should be viewed with disfavour — that it 

 should, in fact, be placed in that category of 

 reprehensible acts which are so entirely out of 

 place in village cricket that it will be only neces- 

 sary to mention one or two of them here. When, 



