know the score of the first innings in London, before the second had commenced!
But when we say that the old players had little or nothing of the defensive, we speak of the play before 1780, when David Harris flourished: for William Beldham distinctly assured us that the art of bowling over the bat by 'length balls' originated with the famous David; an assertion, we will venture to say, which requires a little, and only a little, qualification. Lengthbowling, or three-quarter balls, to use a popular, though exploded, expression, was introduced in David's time, and by him first brought to perfection. And what rather confirms this statement is, that the early bowlers were very swift bowlers—such was not only David, but the famous Brett, of earlier date, and Frame of great renown: a more moderate pace resulted from the new discovery of a well-pitched bail-ball.
The old players well understood the art of twisting, or bias bowling. 'Lambert[1], the little farmer,' says Nyren, 'improved on the art, and puzzled the Kent men in a great match, by twisting the reverse of the usual way,—that is, from the off to leg stump.' Tom Walker tried what Nyren calls the throwing-bowling, and defied all the players of the day to withstand this novelty; but, by a council of the Hambledon Club, this was forbidden, and Willes, a Kent man, had all the praise of inventing it some twenty years later[2]. In a match of the Hambledon Club in 1775, it was observed, at a critical point of the game, that the ball passed three times between Small's two stumps without knocking off the bail; and then, first, a third stump was added; and, seeing that the new style of balls which rise over the bat rose also over the wickets, then but one foot high, the wicket was altered to the dimensions of
