Strokes 
Bowlers 
Do Not 
Like. 
By 
J. B. HOBBS. 
Illustrated by Cbas. Grave. 
HE one thing a bowler dislikes 
more than anything else is to 
be treated with scant cere- 
mony. It does not please 
him to behold his best balls 
met with bold assurance and 
played well, and he is apt to 
become almost visibly annoyed if a ball which 
he considers worth a wicket results in a 
boundary instead. This may sound like 
unduly insisting on the 
obvious, but it is so 
important that I have 
given it place of honour 
in my article. When 
a bowler finds himself 
treated with respect he 
will bowl his best all 
the time until beaten 
by sheer fatigue, and 
batsmen who do not 
wish to study a bowler’s 
feelings would do well 
to ponder on this fact. 
The batsman who 
simply will not be 
denied in his energetic 
quest for runs uses 
up his bowlers far more 
quickly than the man 
who is content to play 
over after over “ for 
keeps,” and allow runs 
to come on their own 
initiative. S c o r i n g 
BOWLER: “WHAT IS MY ANALYSIS?” 
SCORER: “ONE HUNDRED AND SIX FOR ONE.” 
BOWLER: “THANKS!” 
strokes off good balls are the pet aversion of j 
our friend the bowler, who, contrary to the 
popular idea, is by no means averse to that 
slow batting of the safe type which does not 
make rapid runs of his 
average, and keeps him 
buoyed up with the 
constant hope of getting 
a wicket cheaply — even j 
if he has to wait a long , 
time for it. 
Having mentioned the 
general principle under- 
lying all batsmanship 
which fails to commend 
itself to bowlers, I will 
proceed to treat of par- 
ticular strokes, after 
explaining how modern 
methods have made a 
great increase in the 
number of strokes 
bowlers do not like. 
Batsmen cast in the 
severely classical mould 
of a by - no - means - 
distant past could al- 
ways be relied upon to 
do certain “correct” 
BEATEN BY SHEER FATIGUE. 
