out betraying the change by my action, and this few fast bowlers can do; and if a man takes liberties with me, I can send in a very fast one as a surprise; or I could not defend myself against a hitter." As to stepping in, Clarke's elevation was such that you could not judge him till very late; and he could foil you by a twist and a ball pitched a little wide, and then there was a case of stumping made easy.'
In Daft's Kings of Cricket there are also some very human reminiscences of the old man:—'I was well acquainted with William Clarke, who for years kept the Trent Bridge Inn and Ground. He was, as most people know, Captain and Secretary of the famous All England Eleven, before George Parr succeeded to both these offices. Clarke played until he was quite an old man; and as he had only one eye (the sight of the other having been destroyed at fives), George Parr used to say that in his latter days he played not by sight but by sound. The old man was very queer-tempered in these days, too (as I have since found to be the case with most of us cricketers as we grow older), and was consequently a considerable trial to the patience of many of the younger members of his elevens . . .
'Clarke's delivery was a peculiar one. He came up to the crease with the usual "trot" which nearly all slow under-hand bowlers adopt, but instead of delivering the ball from the height of, or between, the hips, he at the last moment bent back his elbow, bringing the ball almost under his right armpit, and delivered the ball, thus, from as great a height as it was possible to attain and still to be under-hand. He was by this delivery able to make the ball get up higher and quicker from the pitch than he would have done if he had delivered it in the same way as other lob-bowlers. I have often heard old cricketers say that they have received many balls from Clarke which got up quite "nasty" from the pitch, with a lot of screw on them. He seldom bowled two balls alike, and could vary his pace and pitch in a wonderful manner. He was able to detect the
