to fielding than do the English. It is difficult in Australia to get a side out; to do so at all, you must bowl well, field well, and, very important too, you must not miss catches. On a really difficult English wicket. Mead and Jack Hearne do not require much assistance from the field, they pound away on the stumps, and the ground enables them to bowl men out clean; and on the whole, therefore, I think it may be stated, as a general principle, that Australian out-cricket, by which I mean bowling and fielding, is superior to English, while English batting on all wickets is better than Australian.
What will be the effect on Australian cricket if an alteration in the laws is made that will bring about fewer runs, and no drawn matches, unless produced by bad weather? I venture to think that the effect will be of even greater benefit to Australian cricket than it will be to English. If we had had wet summers like 1879, 1888, lately, it is probable that no demand for cricket reform would ever have arisen; but there is practically no variety in Australian wickets; consequently matches have to be played to a finish, and the bowling, good as it is, is not
