without altering his action, altered his pace; while Palmer was the first of fast bowlers who had the capacity of making the ball break from leg—his natural break, like Spofforth's, being the usual one from the off. To these two bowlers I think cricketers generally will give the credit of being the pioneers of that great development of the game which may be said to be a recognition of the fact that more than mere dry precision is required to get batsmen out on good wickets. A. G. Steel, who began playing first-class cricket in 1878, Giffen, Lohmann, and many others have successfully adopted the same tactics; and it may be noted that while in the old days every bowler belonged to a class—fast, medium, or slow—to classify them now is difficult, for many bowlers seem to be able to bowl all three paces. Haigh, the Yorkshireman, seems now to be the best changer of pace without change of action. One thing, however, is obvious, and that is that the invariable slow bowler seems for the present to be extinct, unless Tyler be the
Page:Cricket (Lyttelton, 1898).djvu/31
This page has been validated.
BOWLING
27
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/29/Cricket_%28Lyttelton%2C_1898%29.djvu/page31-1024px-Cricket_%28Lyttelton%2C_1898%29.djvu.jpg)