24 DECEMBER 1948, Page 4

Two cricket balls figured prominently in Tuesday's papers. One was

hit ; the other wasn't. The one that was went for a six, and landed 98 yards beyond the bat on a lady's head. It turned up in the King's Bench Division on Monday, when Mr. Justice Oliver declined to give the lady damages. As it may yet go on to a higher court I refrain from comment. That ball was hit somewhere near Manchester. The one that wasn't hit was bowled in the South African Test Match at Durban. It was the last ball of the match and one run was needed to win (" There's a breathless hush in the close tonight," and all that). Gladwin tried to hit it, caught it on his thigh instead, and with a leg-bye resulting England had won the match. A historic finish, but not surely a very glorious one. "I - made up my mind to put my body ih the way," Gladwin asserted afterwards. Well, that is one kind of cricket, but not the only kind. Catches, moreover, seem to have been dropped right and left, which is another reason why England won. Catches, of course, ought not to be dropped ; but neither ought they to be offered.

* * * *