in his prime, and this was perhaps the reason. But whatever the cause, slow bowling came to be the prevalent style, and the best way to get wickets was to pitch good length balls outside the off stump, and have most of the fieldsmen on the off side. This then marked another stage of development, because batsmen, to avoid the trap of being caught on the off side, began to cultivate the pull or cross-wicket hitting, unheard of a few years previously, but now becoming easier as wickets improved. In 1878 the first Australian Eleven came to England, and though Englishmen were slow to learn the lesson, they came to realise that variety was the loadstone to look for. Variety of pace, variety of pitch, but no variety in the height of the arm—that was the stamp of bowling that we learned from the Australians, and the first English bowler who brought it to a high pitch of skill was Lohmann.
For the last seven or eight years we have had a series of dry seasons, and the art of making perfect wickets has reached a climax. Bowlers are beginning to despair, there are all styles and all paces, but the bat triumphs, and the beginning
