and see if that will answer; it is a small change, and may not do much. But alter at once the law as to leg-before-wicket, and if this is not enough to stop this odious run-getting—and I do not think that it will be—grasp the nettle firmly and cut off a quarter or half an inch from the bat and remove the reproach from the finest of all games, that no decisive results are possible for nearly 50 per cent. of first-class three-day matches. I have heard it said that batsmen will not consent to have their powers of run-getting crippled, that they refuse to allow that any reform is necessary. I refuse to believe that batsmen as a class are so selfish, have so little of the true interests of the game at heart. If true, it is a most melancholy fact. If anybody, of course, is really of opinion that it is immaterial whether a match is finished or not, that person is justified in opposing any reform. The wiser judges must combine and carry out some reforms to enable matches to be finished, or else the great game of cricket will be ruined, and nobody can conceive what a loss this will be to true well-wishers of the game.
