1843 ‘Wykhamist’ Pract. Hints Cricket 12 All balls pitching between the first line and the crease..are technically termed half vollies.

1843 ‘Wykhamist’ Pract. Hints Cricket 17 A leg half-volley..may be..‘dropped into’ now and then.

1851 J. Pycroft Cricket Field viii. 168 Every one knows the difficulty of making a good half-volley hit off a slow ball.

1851 J. Pycroft Cricket Field x. 189 If a bowler has half volleys returned to him, by stretching and stooping after them, he gets out of his swing.

1867 G. H. Selkirk Guide to Cricket Ground v. 83 The half volley..requires practice to ensure its being picked up properly.

1870 London Society Nov. 425/1 The mode of playing a ball so well known at tennis, not quite half~volley.

1875 ‘Stonehenge’ Man. Brit. Rural Sports (ed. 12) iii. i. v. §4. 691 Half-volleying consists in playing the ball when close to the ground, immediately after it has been dropped.

c1880 A correspondent says : A half-volley at cricket is a ball bowled up so as to pitch just about the point at which the batsman has a good reach.

1891 W. G. Grace Cricket viii. 233 Occasionally you may get a half-volley on the pads.

1897 Earl of Suffolk et al. Encycl. Sport I. 621/2 Half-volley, a stroke made the moment the ball leaves the ground.

1912 Daily News 11 July 2 A famous half-volleyer.

1960 Times 21 June 16/1 Taylor half-volleyed a return into the net.

1963 A. Ross Australia 63 iii. 76 He played at nothing he did not have to, leaving Davidson to flash the odd half-volley through the covers.

1969 New Yorker 14 June 45/1 Players call it a half-volley drop shot. Ashe reaches down, lightly touches the rising ball, and sends it on a slow, sharply angled flight toward the net.

1969 New Yorker 14 June 45/3 Ashe, moving up, is again confronted with the need to half-volley.