AT THE END of the Test Match at Lord's the
English players applauded Statham as he left the field. 'The practice of the fielding side clapping one of their number is of fairly recent growth, I think, and it seems to me an odd and silly one. No doubt at the end of an innings, as indeed on Monday, the spectators' applause is often chiefly for one man, but it is for the other players as well, so that when they join in the clapping they are in effect applauding themselves. But that apart, surely we should be allowed to take for granted the English players' appreciation of Statham's efforts which after all they had plenty of opportunities of expressing elsewhere? Soon, perhaps, when a bowler takes a wicket he will be given the same bear-hug treatment by the fieldsmen that football players give to each other when one of them scores a goal.
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