Stoddart's Cricket Team.

Feilding Star, Volume XIX, Issue 59, 7 September 1897, Page 4

Stoddart's Cricket Team.

Th. July number of the 'Windsor « of ipecial interest to cricketers, nno» it hM.n articl. from the penof Mr C. B. Fry dealing with the members of Stod« dart's team, who will be sailing in afew dLVs for Australia. It is quite evident that he regard! the Indian Pnnce as a tower of strength and looks to him to astonish the natives. He says. —The brightest fignre in the #ncket world today is Ranjisinghji, whott we all love for his supple wrist, silk shirt , and genial ways. Viewed as a cnoketer he is decidedly a subject 'or •pprocias tion-except to bowlers. He .make" •normous scores with the consistency Jo dear to the British heart, and makes them by such original methods. There is little of the old school about Rangi. But then he is a genius and none the worse for it. There is that inbjs strokes which baffles the most carettl analyst. One feels inclined to say,' with a cer; tain profane cricketer: • Come, Kanjj this isn't cricket ; it's infernal juggling! , But, fortunately, it is cricket, and the Terv best. No one ever wants him to stop Betting runs. It is so •*»*»« *> wonder what is coming next, and there is no waiting. Even bowlers find a sneaking pleasure in seeing him spoil Jbeir analysis. Th«y w »nt to discoTer how he does it. Fielders do not imnd scouting out, as W.G. calls it, for hours when Ranji is in. He provides fun and and new sensations. As for the man in the crowd, be has come many miles for this, and is proportionately pleased. From the average batsman's point of view Ranji is a marvel and a despair. • Yes, he can play,' said someone once ; • but he must have a lot of Satan in "So one baa a keener eye for what is good in other people ; the better they play the more he likes it. He is a cricketer to the tips of his slim fingers, and an artist with an artist's eye for the game. With the stroke that scores four to leg when the ball was meant to go over the bowler's head he has no sympathy. He is very amusing re the robfeet of what he calls • cuts to leg.' Apart from their value to his side, Ranji s big innings please him in proportion as each stroke approaches perfection. He has a wonderful power of sight, which enables him to judee the flight of a ball in the air an appreciable fraction of a second sooner tban any other bats man, and probab'y a trifle more accurately. He can, therefore, decide in better time what stroke is wanted, and can make sure of getting into the right position to make it. So be is rarely caught, as most of us are, doing two things at once- moving into an attitude and playing the ball simultaneously. Many of hie innumerable strokes were learnt from other plsyere, but in process of being thought out and practiced have improved past recognition. This lspartly due to his natural powers— eye, quickness, and elasticity- and partly lo bit haired ol leaving anything betakes up before bringing it to the highest pitch of which he » capable. At present be is engaged upon a new stroke that makes his friends' hair stand on end. Before the season is over be will have scor«d many a hundred runs with it. 'Aeif b« b«an'» enough strokes already,' sighs William Murdoch. RaDJi has made a science of taking liberties. Of Stanley Jackson, who is expected to do preat things, he writes :— •• He known most things about cricket. He and Lionel Palairet, two rival university captains ol a year or two ago. stand out a bead and shoulders above the younger generation ol batsmen, with the exception of Ranji and Archie Maclaren. Jackson is undoubtedly the best allround cricketer of the day, and probably is the very best batsman on a sticky wicket now that Arthur Shrewsbury has given up playing regularly. Some people might offer Hay ward as a serious rival in all-ronnd excellence, but the Surrey professional is not quite as good a bat, and no better a bowler. Like Ranji, Jackson is very safe in his back play, and can use it as a means el scoring as well as of defence. He ia clever in placing tbe ball away to the on-side both with drives and wrist strokes. He does not use tbe ordinary stroke forward mncb, though be stopa many difficult balls with a " half-cock " stroke— something between back and forward. His driving is exceptionally clean and fine. Few players score more rapidly than he, though his style is very safe,