anything like scientific and hard-hitting batting, it is the most egregious failure possible, and, indeed, any player with a good eye and a strong arm may do with it pretty much as he will; therefore, I at least will none of it. In very fast bowling the ball merely glints on and off the ground so rapidly, that any spin it may have upon it has hardly time to act, whereas a slower ball not only gives more time for the ball to "bite" the ground, but, falling more perpendicularly, actually takes the ground in a more advantageous manner.

The slower the ball, then, the more effective will be the bias; but pace and bias combined are the great desideratum, and each bowler must find out for himself the point at which he obtains most effect; only be it remembered that any very exceptional twist-save, perhaps, now and then as a surpriseis quite unnecessary, nay, even undesirable-a break of a few inches, six or seven, being quite sufficient for all ordinary purposes.

A ball is said to "break in" when it pitches to the leg side and turns in towards the wicket, and to "break back” when it pitches to the off side and comes in. The latter is by far the more dangerous bias, and a man who has such a command of the ball as to make it "break in" or "back" at pleasure may do pretty well what he likes with the batsman; only be it remembered that the most perfect accuracy of pitch is indispensable to success. Loose bowling is always bad: in fast bowling the very pace may prove its safety; but, with medium pace, pitch alone can yield it immunity from punishment.

FIELDING.

The art of fielding, though of no less importance than that of batting and bowling, and an acquirement of paramount and vital necessity to the wouldbe cricketer-without which, indeed, cricketing itself would cease to be-yet it does not, for its due inculcation, demand or, indeed, admit of the same extended and detailed instruction as has been above bestowed upon these, its compeers.

With the single exception of the wicket-keeper, and perhaps in some degree. also of the long-stop, it makes little or no difference to the player, so far as the theory of the art is concerned, what place he may take in the field. "Outfielding," it is true, makes greater demands upon one set of qualities, as speed and hard throwing, and "in-fielding" upon another; but, in all, the duties required are the same-to stop the ball, catch it if possible, and return it with all speed to the wickets; and, in performing these three functions-whether the player be far out in the field or close in to the bat-his action and attitude will be, and must of necessity be, the same.

A short general summary, therefore, of the various methods of practical fielding-of catching, stopping, and throwing-and a few concise details as to the special peculiarities of the several places in the field, will be all that the young learner will need to set him in the way of at least making a beginning in this indispensable art.

CATCHING.--The ball may be caught either with one hand or two: the latter is, of course, the easiest and safest way. To catch with both hands, it is well to wait till the ball is just within reach, and then thrusting out the hands well forward, with the fingers extended, to receive it into them as into a bag or net, at the same time allowing the hands to yield, more or less, in proportion with the speed of the ball.

The hands should not be extended too soon, or the arms become rigid and iess able to bear the shock of the ball: it is less easy, too, to correct any error

that may have been made in judging the flight of the ball. A golden rule in all catching is to hold the hands in readiness, and dart them out from the side at the very last moment.

If the ball come in lower than the chest, the hands should receive it as in a cup, palms uppermost, little fingers together and slightly overlapping: if it come above the chest, the hands must be formed in the same manner; but the thumbs must now be brought together, instead of the little fingers, and the fingers must point upwards.

Great care must be taken never to allow the fingers to point in the direction in which the ball is coming, under penalty of risking highly unpleasant fractures or dislocations.

In catching with one hand the same general principles will apply: the ball should be received well into the palm.

The beginner should specially study catching, and indeed all points of fielding, with the weaker hand; the other is sure to go right.

STOPPING.-A ball stopped in mid-air comes under the category of catches, for which instructions are given above. In stopping a ball along the ground, the player must, if possible, get in front of the ball, and, just as it reaches him, draw his heels together as in the position of "attention," and reach down suddenly to it-his hands in the first attitude given for catching, the fingers being pointed to the ground; the very motion of the ball will help to close the fingers upon it. The main difficulty here is to time the ball--a difficulty only to be overcome by practice.

The beginner must also learn to pick up the ball, in like manner, in the right or left hand as it passes him, to run across the path of a ball at an angle, and stoop and pick it up without stopping, to take the ball at halfvolley, i.e., just at the bound within a few inches of the pitch (a very difficult matter), and to throw it in. Many other ways will naturally occur to him in practice. which need not be more particularly dwelt upon here.

One rule of good fielding requires specially to be dwelt upon. When the ball is sent towards any fieldsman, he must not wait for it to reach him, but must run swiftly forward, scoop up the ball without stop or hesitation, and, continuing his run towards the wicket, send it in sharply home. As every second lost in the field is so much added to the batsman's chance of a run, so every second saved is so much taken from it, and so much pure gain to the outing side.

THROWING.

The out-fielders will, of course, throw in the usual way (it need scarcely be described); but the in-fielders should practise a quick, sharp, underhand throw.

In all throwing, there are two objects to attain-one to get the ball in as quickly as possible, and the other to send it in in the manner most convenient to the wicket-keeper; both these requirements are fulfilled when the ball is sent as straight, .e., with as little curve in the air, as possible to the top of the stumps. If the distance be too great to do this with certainty, it should be made to pitch some ten or fifteen yards from the wickets, and so come in a long hop.

Accuracy of return to the wickets is one of the first requisites of good fielding, and should be cultivated accordingly.

All "wild" throwing is to be eschewed; but, above all, let the fieldsman beware of throwing in to the wicket-keeper's toes, which is, of all bad ways, the very worst.

FIELD FOR FAST BOWLING TO A RIGHT-HANDED BATSMAN.

The young player must not think, as it has been too much the fashion of late to think, that good fielding is of less importance than batting; still less must he fall into the habit of those half-hearted cricketers, unworthy of the name, who look upon all fielding as a bore.

Let him bear this in mind, that "a run saved is a run gained."

Now, the very best bat is never sure of making even a single run, while even a moderate field is certain to save a great many; so that, comparing a good "field" and a good "bat" together, the "field" will generally in the long run be found to have been of most service to his side.

Fielding, moreover, is first-rate practice for batting, so that the young player need not suppose that all the time he devotes to the one is taken from the other; while, on the contrary, practice in batting is of next to no assistance in fielding.

Let the young cricketer's first ambition be good fielding and bowling, and the batting will follow as a natural consequence.

In discussing the specialities of various places in the field, the accompanying diagrams, D and E, show the field placed for fast and slow bowling respectively. More than the usual eleven piaces are given in cach, to allow for the changes that may be necessitated by peculiarities in the bowling or batting. LONG-FIELD requires quick running, hard throwing, and certainty in catching balls hit hard and far through the air. To be of any real service, longfield must be able to "cover a great deal of ground," that is, be ready and active in his movements, so as to make it impossible for a ball to pass on either side nearer than 20 or 30 yards, or to make one falling anywhere within that distance a certain catch.

He must stand well out, that the ball may not be hit over his head: no greater mistake can be made than standing too far in. A good field can stand a surprising distance out, and yet save the second run: he is not placed to save the one, and so need not trouble himself about it.

To stand well out, watch the ball, and be ever on the alert, are the chief requisites of a good long-field.

The same remarks apply to all the out-fieldsmen. Cover-point and long leg will find that the ball, when it takes the ground, has a tendency to curl or twist at a sudden angle, and in both cases in the direction of the long-stop; that is, with cover-point, a ball coming to his right, might break away and pass to his left, while with long leg a ball coming to the left might pass to the right. The same holds good of point, third man, the slips, square leg,

and draw.

In all these places, therefore, the player must be on the look-out for this peculiarity, and be prepared to meet it, or the ball will assuredly elude him like magic, and he will find, to his shame and confusion, that he has "muffed" it. POINT. This is one of the most important places in the field; with some bowling, the most important.

A good deal of misapprehension exists about the place and duties of point. The real fact is, they shift and vary with every change of bowling and every change of batting.

With some bowling, point plays close up in front of the bat, with others almost in the place of short-slip, while fine off-hitting, unless the bowling be exceptionally true, will drive him right away out into the field.

Point's distance from the bat must be left to the judgment of each individual player. Some are quicker at catching, and can, therefore, stand nearer