Page:Out-door Games Cricket and Golf (1901).djvu/146

number of drawn matches, for the simple reason that instead of eleven you would have six men a side batting. But experience has shown over and over again that captains will not run the risk of losing a match, and the consequence is, they will not declare an innings at an end till there is practically no danger of losing; and all that the other side have to do is to keep their wickets up till the end. So common is this, that several instances have occurred when it has been mutually agreed to draw stumps before the fixed time. One, or perhaps both sides have a long journey to make before beginning a match on the following day: there is no chance of finishing before the settled time, the play has utterly lost all interest, and nobody is showing any zest in the game. The Oxford and Cambridge matches of 1899 and 1900 are good instances in point. Oxford on the last day on both occasions were many runs ahead, and wickets in hand, and there were two or three hours to play before stumps were drawn. To lose the University match is a blow to any University captain, so great a blow indeed that he will do anything to avoid it. In 1899 if