He has stolen three byes in the first ten minutes, and Jack Raggles is furious, and begins throwing over savagely to the farther wicket, until he is sternly stopped by the captain.

It is all that young gentlemen can do to keep his team steady, but he knows that everything depends on it, and faces his work bravely.
The score creeps up to fifty; the boys begin to look blank; and the spectators, who are now mustering strong, are very silent.

The ball flies off his bat to all parts of the field, and he gives no rest and no catches to any one.

But cricket is full of glorious chances, and the goddess who presides over it loves to bring down the most skilful players.

Johnson, the young bowler, is getting wild, and bowls a ball almost wide to the off; the batter steps out and cuts it beautifully to where cover-point is standing very deep--in fact almost off the ground.
The ball comes skimming and twisting along about three feet from the ground; he rushes at it, and it sticks somehow or other in the fingers of his left hand, to the utter astonishment of himself and the whole field.