FAST ONES IN THE SLIPS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 6, Issue 135, 23 January 1942, Page 4

FAST ONES IN THE SLIPS

Sir,-Cricket seems to be the only sport capable of defying the war. Here is a little diversion for enthusiasts which I read in a recent issue of London Calling. Can any Listener reader improve on these cases?---COBAR (Wellington). "A famous cricketer, noted for his wonderful catches in’ the slips, was once asked how he had attained such proficiency in fielding. He replied, ‘Oh, it’s quite simple. I used to get the village lads to beat the hedgerows and then I caught the sparrows and any other birds that came out. It was ideal practice for fast ones in the slips.’ Before you dismiss that as the joke it was no doubt intended to be, it may surprise you to learn that fielders have really caught birds instead of balls during actual cricket matches,"

said Frank W. Lane in a broadcast to the Forces the other day. "During a match in Australia, some years ago, an out-fielder was taking it easy when he was suddenly jerked wide awake by a cry from the bowler. The fielder saw a dark shape coming towards him and made a wild grab. He caught ‘it’ all right; but it wasn’t the ball, it was a bird. C. B. Fry has recounted another occasion on which a bird was caught instead of a ball. Fry says that W. L. Murdoch, the famous Australian captain, told him that during a match in the provinces in 1886, Tom Horan was fielding at third man when a batsman slashed at the ball and missed and the keeper took the ball close to the wicket. Tom Horan saw a ‘something’ flashing past his ear, made a sudden grab and caught a swallow. In this letter Fry adds: ‘I fancy the swallow tale is also told of Vernon Royle, the famous coverpoint, who played for Lancashire. I know it is quite possible to catch a swallow. I nearly did so once at Lord’s.’ In addition to acting as unofficial balls, birds and other animals have on occasion taken part in a number of other cricket matches, Roberts of Sussex once sent down a very fast ball which collided in mid-air with a swallow. The bird was killed and the batsman was clean bowled. The umpire, by the way, decided that the fact that the ball had struck the swallow did not constitute a no-ball. "A magpie once took the offensive against a cricket eleven. The bird had its nest in a tree near the pitch and it evidently objected to the intrusion of the players. It attacked the fielders and bowlers and pecked their scalps with such severity that the game was in danger of being suspended. Another match was interfered with, not by birds but by a horde of frogs. It was during a match in South Africa. After the match had been in progress for some time the umpires noticed that the balls from a fast bowler were behaving in a most unorthodox manner when they came off the pitch. Investigations showed that the balls were pitching, not on the grass at all, but on the backs of a mass of green frogs that had invaded the pitch."