United States or Cook Islands ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
When I was young we always had another fielder, called the long- stop, who stood behind the wicket-keeper. I used to be a thick, solid boy, so they put me as long-stop, and the balls used to bounce off me, I remember, as if I had been a mattress." Delighted laughter. "But after Blackham came wicket-keepers had to learn that they were there to stop the ball.
No ball sliding off the bat, could pass Dunc Robertson, and as for byes they were impossible with Speug as long-stop, for those were the days when there were long-stops.
He is a powerfully built young man, and he didn't seem able to get it into his head that he wasn't playing cricket. Whenever he hit a little low the result was generally lost ball. To save time and damage to furniture Dick and I fielded for him. Dick stood at long-stop, and I was short slip.
"Huzza for old Rugby!" sings out Jack Raggles, the long-stop, toughest and burliest of boys, commonly called "Swiper Jack," and forthwith stands on his head, and brandishes his legs in the air in triumph, till the next boy catches hold of his heels, and throws him over on to his back. "Steady there; don't be such an ass, Jack," says the captain; "we haven't got the best wicket yet.
The chief attraction of this gymnastic feat was the unexpectedness of it all. No one knew where the ball would go if it was hit. Once when he timed his shot a little late he caught the ball just as it was passing him and drove it flying past the wicket-keeper's head to where long-stop would have been. The fielding side was always glad to see Bray's back, and it usually did not have to wait long.
One thing in favour of Penny's ball was that it went straight. But it flew two feet over the head of the batsman, who flung himself upon his face. It pitched opposite Long-stop. "Run!" yelled the batsman, picking himself up. "Bye! Run, you fool! Bye, idiot!" This was addressed to the batsman at the other end, who was swinging his bat like an Indian club and paying no attention to the game.
He pulled himself together on being appealed to, and ran, but it was evident that he could not reach his crease, as Long-stop had accidentally stopped the lightning-ball much to his own chagrin and was hurling it back to the wicket-keeper with all the enthusiasm of acute agony. Our unhappy batsman did what excitable little boys always do flung in his bat and sprawled on the ground.
The Dore gallery indeed proved his Capua, the long-stop to his fame. As a personality the would-be Titian, Duerer, Thorwaldsen and Benvenuto Cellini in one presents an engaging figure. His domestic life makes very pleasant reading.
I'm a human being, not a target. Besides, long-stop will lose interest in the game if he has nothing to do." "They don't have long-stops in first-class cricket," grumbled the Doctor. "You've got no proper pride." Then I said: "Of course, if you are mistaking this display for first-class cricket, it's no good arguing with you."
At the same time the bowlers would get a good rest, and the left-handed artist, who had been acting as long-stop, might reasonably be expected to regain his cunning. True that the midday meal tells most upon the field, which very generally grows sluggish after eating: but the Hillsborough boys fancied that would not matter so much, if they could only separate those two.
Word Of The Day