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What Shall We Do Now? 109
that any number can play, dividing into two sides. One side fields out in likely places for the ball to go. The others take the bat one by one, place the ball in the socket, and hit the trigger. The ball then springs up, the object of the batsman being to hit it as it falls, as far as possible. The fieldsman who picks it up then bowls or throws it at the trap from the spot where he stands, and the batsman has the right of moving the trap so that the least possible surface is exposed to the fieldsman's aim. (Sometimes, however, it is arranged that the contrary shall be the case, and the trap turned broadside on.) If the ball hits the trap the batsman is out. Otherwise he goes on hitting the ball again until the fieldsman's aim is correct. Each miss of the fieldsman scores one to the side that is in, but if the ball is caught by one of the fieldsmen before it touches the ground the whole side is out, even if the first batsman sent the catch. As the trap is small and throwing straight is not very easy, it is sometimes agreed that the batsman shall call out the number of bat's lengths which he will grant to the fieldsman who is about to aim ; and if the ball stops within that number's distance from the trap he is out.
" Hockey " proper, with special clubs and a hard ball, has its own rules and requires a field ; but a garden variety, played with ash sticks and a hollow ball, is sufficiently exciting. As few as two players can take part, although the game is then rather too exhausting. " Rounders," on the contrary, requires several players : enough on each side for two or three to remain in the base while four or five others are running round. For the rules of " Rounders " proper, as of" Cricket " and " Hockey," you must seek other books, but it may be said here that the best kind of ball for an ordinary small garden game is an old—last season — lawn-tennis ball from which much of the bounce has gone, and that it is better to use a stump to hit it with than a racket. To hit a ball with a racket needs very little skill, whereas to hit it with a stump demands a true eye. Almost as good a game can be had by |
Hockey and rounders. |
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