Page:Out-door Games Cricket and Golf (1901).djvu/144

bowled and tire, while the batsmen, thanks to boundaries, can knock up hundreds with little exertion. The rule as originally made was with the intention of benefiting the side that was 80 runs behind. And if you read the "Scores and Biographies," you will find that Mr. Haygarth thinks it worthy of remark when victory crowned the efforts of the side that followed on. But in three days one side scores 450 and the other 530, the wicket is fast and dead true, and the eleven that batted first have been bowling and fielding for six hours, and are called upon to bowl and field very likely for the remainder of the three days. They can have no hope of winning; all that their opponents have to do is to maintain a dogged defence, and the match loses all interest, and what was intended to be a help turns out to be a stumbling-block. These being the facts, it is perhaps not altogether to be wondered at that the side that scored 450 have had to resort to subterfuges to avoid being placed in the unpleasant dilemma of being handicapped by their batting powers. The question of how far it is justifiable to resort to such strategy is dis-