SOME HINTS FOR CLUB UMPIRES PLAYING CRICKET

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 14, Issue 72, 5 December 1949, Page 8

SOME HINTS FOR CLUB UMPIRES PLAYING CRICKET

With the practice of having play-er-umpires in Bay of Plenty club cricket matches being adopted through necessity, the following hints Qn one of the most difficult decisions an umpire in any game may be called upon to give, may be of some help. In answering an appeal for a leg-before wicket it is important to remember that a batsman may be out in this manner from a ball pitching on the off side, outside the nine inch parallel lines which, if not intercepted by the batsman’s person would in the opinion of the umpire have struck the wicket. The last clause is the guiding factor as to whether a batsman should be giver: out or not. Must Break It is obvious, for instance, that to hit the wicket a ball so pitched must break back (that is, must be an off-break), otherwise the sticks would not be hit. Being an offbreak it should be equally obvious that if a batsman plays forward and the left leg (right to a lefthanded batsman) reaches out and intercepts the ball, that no umpire could be certain that the ball would have hit the wicket owing to the fact that it would be obstructed some six or seven feet from the wicket. This. being so, umpires have decided that the only satisfactory method of dealing with such an appeal from an off-break is to limit the l.b.w. decision to cases in which batsmen play right back on their wicket. Then, and then only, can an impire be sure in his own mind that the ball would have hit the wicket, but for the fact that it was obstructed by any part of the batsman’s person, except his hands. The qualification “except his hands” should also be noted, for it applies in another phase of play. Too often batsmen may be seen after a stroke has been made picking up the ball and obligingly throwing it back to the bowler. Strictly speaking, if an appeal was made an umpire would have to give a batsman out for this act. for it is against the rules. It is not likely that such an appeal would be made, but nevertheless in a keen cup match or representative game it is quite possible that such a request would be shot at an umpire. Batsmen would thus be well advised to leave the ball to a fielder, or at least to knock the ball back with the bat. Comments on this point brings up the question as to when a ball is “live” or in play. The fact is that a ball is “dead” when in the umpire’s opinipn it is finally settled in the wicketkeeper’s or bowler's hands, or when a batsman is out or the ball has reached the boundary It is in play immediately after a bowler starts his run. This, point is very important because many players appear to think the actual delivery of the bowl must take place before the ball is in play. First Step This is not so; the ball becomes “in play” immediately a howler takes the first step in his run and, quite legitimately, a bowler may instead of delivering the ball, whip off the bails with ball in hand should the non-striker be backing up too quickly and be out of his ground. Some players have contended that this is not quite a sporting thing for a bowler to do. This contention, however, cannot under any circumstances be sustained, for it has to be remembered that if a non-striker is backing-up too quickly in such circumstances, he is trying to gain an advantage for his side which the fielding side has every right to circumvent if they can.