midday
The dinner-bell rang , the pair were not separated , and the score stood at 50 . `` It will be a match yet , '' was the general opinion on the Weston side , and their opponents also thought that the affair did not look quite such a certainty , and agreed that they must not throw a chance away , though they hoped much from dinner , which sometimes puts a batsman off his play , the process of digestion inducing , especially in hot weather , a certain heaviness which impairs that clearness of brain necessary for timing a ball accurately . At the same time the bowlers would get a good rest , and the left-handed artist , who had been acting as long-stop , might reasonably be expected to regain his cunning . True that the midday meal tells most upon the field , which very generally grows sluggish after eating : but the Hillsborough boys fancied that would not matter so much , if they could only separate those two . But `` those two '' had a due sense of their responsibilities , and ate a very moderate meal , which they washed down with nothing stronger than water . They also played very careful cricket on first going in again , and risked nothing until they had got their hands in . _ Item _ , Crawley had mastered the left-handed bowler 's favourite ball , and by playing very forward hit it away before it took the dangerous twist .