The cricket match is in many ways a pivotal and seminal moment in delineating and heightening the private personal rivalry ensued between Ted and Trimingham. As Leo excitedly describes, it is "as if a battle were in prospect". The feud between the two in the context of the cricket match, however, serves only as a microcosm of the real duel they face, a contest of chivalry which seems to determine who wins Marian's heart, as Leo perceptively narrates, "but there was something else, something to do with Marian, sitting on the pavilion steps watching us". This connotes that the rivalry of the match itself is only the facade of the true intentions of their 'battle'. To add to this, Trimingham's elegance and poise is juxtaposed to Ted's power and passion, despite his lack of control. The rivalry and antagonism between Ted and Hugh is further alluded to through Leo's explicit distinctions between them, when he depicts them as "tenant and landlord, commoner and peer, village and hall". By listing their dichotomies, Hartley heightens the tensions and prominent sense of competition between the two, making it evident that their differences cannot be reconciled. Leo also maximises the tensions by describing Ted's shirt as 'clinging onto his back'; this refers to the physical strength and exertion he is willing to endure in order to obtain Marian's loyalty, which serves as an indicative device towards the severity of the cricket match. Their personal rivalry is also evident in Trimingham's dialogue; when Leo proleptically refers to Ted's skill, Hugh says that "if he shows any signs of doing that, I shall put myself on". this delineates their personal duel and the desire on Hugh's behalf to not only annihilate Ted, but to do so personally. thus, the ongoing yet concealed hostility adds to the already present tensions of the cricket match although Leo identifies the 'class distinctions melted away', his assertion is subverted when he experiences the dichotomies presented between rich and poor, 'villager and hall, landlord and tenant'. Leo's comparison to the lower class as the Boers is emblematic of the contrasting lack of order and decorum the farmers had (as the boers were not legitimate soldiers) and their success in the previous Boer war, in which the Boers were successful in overcoming the European soldiers through their vehemence. in this way the villagers are depicted as underdogs, as they both become woven into the Maudsleys' family through Ted's impregnation of Marian but also when the divisions in the upper and lower class are initiated by the war, and essentially the aristocracy is overthrown by the new demands on physical potency and strength from men and the new demands on women for work and independence, which is present in the lower class society as their lack of wealth ironically equates to a lack of restraint, frustration and social convention, and thus in that way, the lower class depiction of strength and gaming advantage is emblematic of their u