Issue 15 – 06 Feb 24
Mid-season break
I hope that you are all enjoyed your mid-season break and caught up with family and friends.
Veterans Carnival Appointments
I would also like to congratulate Stephen Fildes and Rod Rice for their contribution to the
recent Veterans National Carnivals. Great effort by both members. A special mention to
Stephen for being awarded as one of the Umpires of the Year and being appointed to the
Final.
An historic milestone.
You should have received Michael’s email congratulating Stephen Fildes on his 1000th
umpiring appointment. This is such a memorable mile stone that I have repeated Michael’s
email in full.
Hi Members
On behalf of the Executive, I would like to congratulate Stephen Fildes on his 1000th
umpiring appointment. Stephen will be officiating the Round 16 1st Grade Match Surfers
Paradise v Burleigh at Cambio Group Oval with Rod Rice for the 3rd and 10th February to
bring up this achievement.
We are all aware of Stephen’s umpiring travels but to summarise, these 1000 matches
includes 203 CGC 1st Grade games, 48 QLD County Representative matches, 29 at the
National Masters Championships along with other Cricket Gold Coast competitions/rep
matches and 533 matches in the UK.
Stephen has umpired 8 First Grade Grand Finals (including T20s), 3 Second Grade Finals and
one Grand Final each of Over 40s and Third Grade since my records began in 2010/11. He
has also umpired multiple games with his son Andrew which I believe was a first for the
GCCUSA and one of only 2 father/son combinations to have done it for the GCCUSA.
This is an extraordinary achievement and the GCCUSA is proud of Stephen for achieving this
feat. I hope members join with me to congratulate Stephen.
Stephen, a great effort and congratulations from the Selection and Training Committees.
Member’s contributions.
It is great to see our members beginning to contribute to the
Musings and offer up unusual situations. Here’s a couple from Zac Dawes and Peter Larter.
Zac noticed this unusual situation in the Boxing Day Test, Day One, Australia’s
first innings, the ball before Khawaja’s dismissal?
It was a shorter ball that bounced and the batter was jumping as the ball collected him on the
thigh. The ball deflected away and the batters decided to take a run.
Once the batters had completed the run, the umpire called and signaled Dead Ball.
Zac contacted me as he hadn’t seen it in practice before.
We talked it through and Zac said that he knew that a Leg Bye could be awarded if the ball
struck the batter while either attempting to play the ball or trying to avoid being hit by the
ball (Law 23.2.1)
To his credit, Zac said that he was a bit rusty on when a Leg Bye is not to be awarded and
wanted to be reminded. I pointed him to Law 23.3 which tells us that an umpire shall not
award a Leg Bye if in their opinion, the batter did not attempt to play the ball or try to avoid
being hit by the ball.
If the umpire comes to this conclusion, they then have to call and signal Dead ball as soon as
either the ball reaches the boundary or at the completion of the first run (23.3). The umpire
shall then:
If you are wondering why the umpire waits to the completion of the first run before calling
Dead ball, it is to give the fielding side a chance to run a batter out.
A side bar to this, is the link with the provision of the LBW Law where a batter does not
attempt a shot.
What side do Test umpires move to?
Zac also pointed out that he had noticed that the Test Umpires were moving to the side where
the ball was hit, regardless of whether it was hit in front of or behind square/point.
He wanted to know if umpires at this level are instructed to do this?
I thought maybe it was to do with the TV coverage, but I don’t really know the why. Maybe
one of our members (or our esteemed Patron) can enlighten us.
Bowler blocking your view.
Have you ever have had this situation that Zac and Greg
Douglas recently had. If so, how did you handle it?
Zac had a bowler partially obscured his view during his follow through and the inevitable
happened; there was an appeal for a slip’s catch.
Zac said that he heard something but because of the bowler getting in his way, he couldn’t
see whether the bat hit the ball or not, so he gave the batter not out. Apparently Greg had
something similar happen to him later in the game and he also gave it not out.
We talked it through and I told Zac that he (and Greg) got their decisions spot on. If you
didn’t see it, and you have doubt, then it must be not out.
We then chatted about what to do when the bowler gets in your way. It has been my practice
for years now that the very first time it happens, I speak to the bowler and explain that their
follow through is blocking my view and that I would hate to give a good nick or plumb LBW
not out as I couldn’t see. I even move to be in front of the wicket while talking to them to
emphasis the point.
Most bowlers accept this as they know that they occasionally get in the way and generally it
isn’t the first time they have been spoken to. If the Captain is nearby, I get them to come
over to hear what I tell the bowler. I reckon this makes it easier if you do have to say not out.
You can just tell them that you gave them a friendly and the bowler cannot feign surprise.
At a recent GPS game, Peter Larter had the following occur. A left arm batter came into
bat and he asked the bowler, a spinner, if he was going to stay right arm over and the bowler
said yes. Peter advised the batter – right arm over. As the batter faced up the bowler ran past
Peter but around the wicket. Peter said he instinctively called Dead Ball before the bowler
began his delivery stride.
Bob (Myatt) with whom he was umpiring was happy with this; however they agreed that if
the bowler had gone ahead and delivered the ball it would have been a No Ball. Bob had
previously had this happen to him in a game.
I cannot say I have ever seen this happen, but it certainly shows that Peter had situational
awareness and a good knowledge of the Laws of Cricket (and really quick reflexes), as he
knew that he could call and signal Dead ball when intervening in a case of unfair play (Law
20.4.21)
Peter also raised this potential scenario. A fielder behind the stumps dives for a catch, catches
the ball and then falls onto a helmet which had been placed behind the wicket keeper. The
ball then hits the helmet while still in the fielder’s hands. Peter asked, is it caught, is it five
runs penalty and/or not out? Peter said that there was disagreement between three people
discussing this scenario at the Gabba for the first day of the day/night test between Australia
and West Indies. What do members think?
Players’ Conduct
What did our members think of the four-game ban on Tom Curran following his charging
towards an umpire during the Big Bash game between the Sixers and the Hobart Hurricanes
on 11 Dec?
I believe that CA got it right and his actions deserved the four-match ban.
Wicket down
My younger brother has just taken up umpiring again after a long stint away and is now
umpiring in the Wangaratta and District Cricket Association competition where the
following incident was raised for discussion.
The batter misses a ball which cannons into middle stump pushing it well backwards;
however, for whatever reason, the bails remained in place.
Brad said that this created a lot of chat amongst the umpires in his Association as to whether
the decision should have been out or not out?
Law 29.1 describes when the wicket is broken as;
The wicket is broken when at least one bail is completely removed from the top of the stumps,
or one or more stumps is removed from the ground.
Brad and I enjoy discussing the nuances of the Laws and this one was no different.
I said, that I thought that it comes down to an ‘s’ in the word stumps, making the word plural.
As such, I believed that the bails had to be completely removed from more than one stump.
Brad said that he was in the minority of umpires as he thought that it was out, and placed the
emphasis on another part of the first phrase, being ‘permanently removed from the top of the
stumps. He was more looking at the ‘pub test’ of the bails having clearly been removed from
the top of the middle stump.
Given how the instance has happened, albeit rarely, he would like to have the Law rewritten
to read something like “a bail is permanently removed from the top of a stump. Note there is
no plural. This would not get in the way of the existing rule, which expects bails to be
removed from stumps and not stumps removed from bails, but also caters for the example
cited.
Eventually the letter of the Law won and he now thinks it is not out, although he still thinks it
sucks.
As an aside, I admit that I hadn’t fully realised that the definition of the wicket being broken
allows for an out if a stump is struck out of the ground.
What are your thoughts
On a lighter note, Brad sent me this clip from YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/i5_MD5ErkGs
OVER RATE PENALTY RUNS OR TIME WAISTING PENALTY RUNS
Here’s one that Bob Myatt raised for the Div 1 and Div 2 umpires and those aspiring to be.
No questions, just a scenario that your Training Committee worked through.
You are umpiring a Div 1 game which has gone to the fourth innings of a two-day match
which commenced at 4.10pm on Day 2. You have done your sums and you have informed
both Captains that the following over rates have to be met:
this action or if the waste of time is during the course of an over, direct the captain of the fielding side
to suspend the bowler immediately from bowling.
The bowler thus suspended shall not be allowed to bowl again in that innings. If applicable,
the over shall be completed by another bowler, who shall neither have bowled any part of the
previous over, nor be allowed to bowl any part of the next over. Additionally the umpire shall
inform the batters and, as soon as is practicable, the captain of the batting side of what has
occurred.
The umpires together shall report the occurrence as soon as possible after the match to the
Executive of the offending side and to any Governing Body responsible for the match, who
shall take such action as is considered appropriate against the captain, any other individuals
concerned and, if appropriate, the team.
We do encourage you to also be across Law 41.10 in case the batters waste time.
Bob’s scenario had an interesting twist as together, we did the Surfers v Alberton game
recently and the above situation nearly came to fruition towards the end of Day 1. Fortunately
for us, Alberton were able to make up the over and we finished dead on time.
Questions from the Emerald Isle.
I’ve been chatting on line to Pat Carty who is enjoying
the start of the cricket season over in Ireland. We swapped a few stories and he sent me the
following questions put out by the Leinster CU&SA.
Answers
Next edition of the Musings.
Yours in umpiring and may all your snicks be loud
Your Training and Selections Committees
Bob Myatt, Michael Guy, Justin Cooke and Leigh Buckingham