Style and Technique
Along with other greats of the Hambledon era such as Billy Beldham and Tom Walker, Small did much to lay the foundations of what can now be recognised as modern batting technique. He was noted for his sound defence but he was also a fluent strokemaker who used his wrists particularly well. John Nyren described him as the "best short runner of his day" and believed him to be "the first who turned the short run to account".
Small rarely if ever bowled but he was "an admirable fieldsman, always playing middle wicket" and "as active as a hare".
It is sometimes said that Small invented the straight bat, replacing the old curved bat in the 1760s after bowlers started pitching the ball instead of skimming or trundling it. It is more likely that he was the first batsman to master the use of the straight bat and that he subsequently manufactured them in his workshop.
Read more about this topic: John Small (cricketer)
Famous quotes containing the words style and, style and/or technique:
“Style and Structure are the essence of a book; great ideas are hogwash.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)
“Style is the dress of thoughts; and let them be ever so just, if your style is homely, coarse, and vulgar, they will appear to as much disadvantage, and be as ill received, as your person, though ever so well-proportioned, would if dressed in rags, dirt, and tatters.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)
“The more technique you have, the less you have to worry about it. The more technique there is, the less there is.”
—Pablo Picasso (1881–1973)