It was only last week T was discussing drawn games' with an old county player, who failed to see why our wickets could not be rolled with a light roller only and heavy ones be done away with.—This would certainly not make matters quite so easy for the batsman, and in the event of wet weather it would be a very great improvement, for the water would not stand on the pitch half the time it docs to-day, owing to the present day heavy rollers causing the ground to sink and hold the wet, thus often preventing play for hours. As Lord Harris writes, the Bovtims divided: (1) those which directly reposals are of various kinds, which may
reduce the chances of the bat hitting the ball, and (2) those which directly increase the eficiency of the bowler. Under the first heading are suggested the heightening or broadening of the or the reduction of width of the bat. Under the second heading, the alteration of the I.b.w. rule and the abolition of boundaries. Lord Harris is exceedingly cautious in his opinions given "Wisden," and if any alterations are to be made he would prefer to see the experiment tried of altering the I.b.w. rule and the abolition of boundaries. I gather that his Lordship would like to see one game played under the above conditions to find how his suggestions would work out. Mr. A. G. Steel, on the other hand, is very strong about the 1.b.w. rule being left severely alone, and we have not forgotten that he was one of the finest slow jowlers in the world, and for that reason alone his opinion should carry very great weight. He is in favour of the hcightening of the stumps and a diminution in the width of the bat. Without in any way wishing to find fault with any suggestions so far put forward, I am' bound to give my views on the subject since under-aking to write this article.
ON Stow nay.
First of all many agitators for reform are not so much disgusted with drawn games as with the unpardonable slow play they have at times to watch, and that too when the game is safe for the two batsmen giving the wretched display. If cricket is to keep up its popularity the game must be played in a more lively manner than is now the case. There are scores of instances when batsmen, without necessarily playing for the gallery or crowd, sacrifice their innings in attempt ing to cheer the crowd up; in other words, they prefer to run risks of being caught whi knocking up 50 in almost nutes,—and yet out, rather how the compilation of 70 or 80-tins. Now there is no doubt we want more dashing batsmen than we have to and Com tain that there ought to be gre inducements offered to batsmen to I feel sure that if we had more fore batsmen there could not be anything the number of drawn games of season. It is somewhat peculiar that a hit over the rail on our English grounds realises the sime number of runs as a mis-hit through the slips to the boundary.
Australia 5 is given for a hit over the rails, and if weare 6 at home for it there would be' many more attempts at big hits than we have seen lately. Some might say it would increase the total, whilst our aim is to decrease the total, but Tid confident that so many would be caught out in their attempt at a sixer, who at present seldom lift a ball, that their average length of stay at the wickct would very considerably decrease and many weary maiden overs would also be less frequent, for bowlers would most assuredly feed the batsmen more in the hope that they would go for the 6. should like to see this experiment tried, for it could not possibly do avy harm and ight do good.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.