Adair was absolutely accurate as a bowler, and he had dropped his first
ball right on the worn patch.
Two minutes later Drummond's successor was retiring to the pavilion,
while the wicket keeper straightened the stumps again.
There is nothing like a couple of unexpected wickets for altering the
atmosphere of a game. Five minutes before, Sedleigh had been lethargic
and without hope. Now there was a stir and buzz all around the ground.
There were twenty-five minutes to go, and five wickets were down.
Sedleigh was on top again.
The next man seemed to take an age coming out. As a matter of fact, he
walked more rapidly than a batsman usually walks to the crease.
Adair's third ball dropped just short of the spot. The batsman, hitting
out, was a shade too soon. The ball hummed through the air a couple of
feet from the ground in the direction of mid off, and Mike, diving to
the right, got to it as he was falling, and chucked it up.
After that the thing was a walk over. Psmith clean bowled a man in his
next over: and the tail, demoralized by the sudden change in the game,
collapsed uncompromisingly. Sedleigh won by thirty-five runs with eight
minutes in hand.
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