ball that "would have hit it," could not have been "pitched straight;" and therefore, it is argued the condition "in a straight line from it (the wicket)" should be altered to "in a straight line from the bowler's hand."
And what do we say?
Bring the question to an issue thus: stretch a thin white string from the leg-stump of the striker's wicket to the off-stump of the bowler's wicket; and let any round-armed bowler (who does not bowl "over the wicket") try whether good length balls, which do not pitch outside of the said string, will hit the wicket regularly, that is, of their common tendency and not as "a break."
My firm belief is, that this experiment (with a bowler and a string) will convince any one that the two conditions of being out leg-before-wicket ("straight pitch," and "would have hit") cannot, except by accident, be fulfilled by an ordinary round-armed bowler; and if so, the law of leg-before-wicket should require that the ball pitch straight not from the bowler's wicket, but straight from the bowler's hand.
Objection. "This would make the umpire's task too difficult: you would thus make him guess what was straight from the hand, but he can actually see what is straight from the wicket.
Answer. This difficulty is an imaginary one.
