CHAPTER IX.
CATCHING, AND CARRYING THE BALL.
Catching.—You may be the best catch of a cricketing eleven, or a base ball nine, but to catch a ball on a crosse is quite a different art. I never yet saw it done in the easiest way, by men who handle a crosse for the first time, though every day you may hear theorists talk of its simplicity. It is easy enough to hold your crosse so that a ball thrown to you may fall on the netting, but the difficulty consists in keeping it, especially if your netting conforms to the regulations. It is an antithesis of catching, that nothing is harder at first, and nothing easier when learned.
To catch with a bagged crosse is no art whatever; to catch and play with the netting flat is the perfection of catching, because it makes your play scientific. It was not unusual before laws were
