Seventeen
for three, with an hour all but five minutes to go, was getting too
dangerous. So Drummond and Rigby, the next pair, proceeded to play with
caution, and the collapse ceased.
This was the state of the game at the point at which this chapter
opened. Seventeen for three had become twenty-four for three, and the
hands of the clock stood at ten minutes past six. Changes of bowling had
been tried, but there seemed no chance of getting past the batsmen's
defence. They were playing all the good balls, and refused to hit at
the bad.
A quarter past six struck, and then Psmith made a suggestion which
altered the game completely.
"Why don't you have a shot this end?" he said to Adair, as they were
crossing over. "There's a spot on the off which might help you a lot.
You can break like blazes if only you land on it. It doesn't help my leg
breaks a bit, because they won't hit at them."
Barnes was on the point of beginning to bowl when Adair took the ball
from him. The captain of Outwood's retired to short leg with an air that
suggested that he was glad to be relieved of his prominent post. The
next moment Drummond's off stump was lying at an angle of forty-five.
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