Page:Out-door Games Cricket and Golf (1901).djvu/71

fed; the stamp of master was by no means high; we never washed in hot water; and our cricket was invariably played on rough wickets. We may have gone to the other extreme now, but that is the way of things generally in these days. The playground where I first learned the elements of eleven-a-side cricket was more like a hayfield than a cricket ground. Our knowledge of the rules was by no means perfect, and was the constant cause of disputes, even to the extent of pugilistic encounters. At the leading private schools now there is a beautiful smooth wicket, perhaps a professional bowler, and very likely one or two masters who have played for the University. There is drill and method in the choosing of sides, and the boys get systematic coaching. The mere fact of good wickets being the rule at private schools is a change of the first magnitude; I can say with truth that, taking all my school-days at a private school in Brighton and at Eton, I never played on what would now be called a first-rate wicket till I got into Upper Club or the top game at Eton. There are still, in the case of public schools where such a lot of cricketers