idea that the ball is going to be delivered before it really does leave the bowler's hand. But it would be quite beyond the capabilities of the writer to furnish any intelligible hints as to how to bowl this ball; every bowler will with practice find this out for himself.
As a rule, good bowlers of the present day bowl with their arms above the shoulder, and it is a rudiment in the art that the action of delivery should be as high as possible. The high delivery is certainly the most successful where the ground is hard, fast, and true, as then little or no twist can be put on to the ball, and the higher it is made to bound the more chance there is of the batsman making an uppish stroke. In addition to this advantage which the high has over the low delivery, the higher the arm is raised above the shoulder, the more difficult it is for a batsman to judge the pitch and flight of the ball.
With regard to the amount of success that slow and fast bowling meet with, at the present time there cannot be much doubt that slows as a rule are most successful. In saying this not one single word is said against fast bowling; it is indeed very greatly to be regretted that there are not more fast bowlers. They are a race of cricketers that, especially amongst amateurs, seems to be dying out— a fact which must cause the greatest anxiety to all who play the game, when it is recollected that no side, however strong in batting, fielding and bowling, is really complete without a thoroughly good fast bowler. But still slow bowling is generally found to be the most successful. It may be that this is partly the result of the numerous wet grounds which slow bowlers have to assist them during the cricket season, or of there being more slow bowlers than fast. But it is also true that slow bowling is more difficult to play than fast. The advantages that it possesses over fast are as follows:—
First.—The slowly delivered ball describes a curved line in the air both before it pitches, and afterwards to the bat; and balls coming in a curved line are far more difficult to play accurately than those which come quick and straight from the
