four o'clock
The first-change pair are poor . And the rest , the small change , are simply the sort of things one sees in dreams after a heavy supper , or when one is out without one 's gun . Time , mercifully , generally breaks up a big stand at cricket before the field has suffered too much , and that is what happened now . At four o'clock , when the score stood at two hundred and twenty for no wicket , Barnes , greatly daring , smote lustily at a rather wide half-volley and was caught at short-slip for thirty-three . He retired blushfully to the pavilion , amidst applause , and Stone came out . As Mike had then made a hundred and eighty-seven , it was assumed by the field , that directly he had topped his second century , the closure would be applied and their ordeal finished . There was almost a sigh of relief when frantic cheering from the crowd told that the feat had been accomplished .