Issue 13 – 3 September 23
Regional Training – 12 – 13 Aug
From your Training Team, thank you everyone for attending the Regional Training weekend
at Cheltenham Park. We hope you got something out of it.
What a joy to have our Patron Bruce Oxenford with us on Day 1. Truly inspiring and he
passed on so many pointers and again illustrated why he was a Test Umpire of the highest
calibre.
Our appreciation to Josh Adie, Ben Farrell and Matthew Skinner from QLD Umpires who
gave great presentations and showcased their various skills and showed why they are at the
top of their game. Who knew that you could get your Doctorate by looking at LBWs .
On a personal level, my thanks must also go to Bob, Michael, Justin and Sam for so ably
helping in organising the weekend and leading us in the field and discussion activities,
especially on Day 2.
The feedback that we got was that you were happy with the content.
Validation. I had a game with Mal Pearson recently and we were talking about the training
weekend and I asked him what he took out of it. Mal said that it was the validation of what he
has been doing that he appreciated the most. This got me thinking and I have to agree with
Mal. I was heartened to have what we teach in our training sessions validated by Bruce, Josh,
Ben and Matthew.
My takeaways from the training were many, including:
- Fair and Unfair play. The phrase that keeps ringing in my ears, said by Bruce and the
others was that you will know unfair play when you see it as it will stand out and hit
you in the face. This got me thinking, have I been over thinking situations and if so,
stop it as I will know when it happens .
- DRS. I now have a better understanding of how the ‘Third Umpire’ works and how it
interacts with the on-field umpires.
- LBW. Josh’s presentation about LBW was very interesting. As part of his Doctorate
studies, he interviewed various elite umpires and asked them what they focussed on,
when shifting their gaze from checking the front foot to the batter’s end. Some looked
at a fixed point on the stumps, others at the batter’s pads; however, all allowed the ball
to come into their vision. His point being, work out what works for you.
It did remind me of when I did my initial training with QCUA way back when. We had
the great Test Umpire Mel Johnson on the training team. Apart from claiming that he
trained on XXXX …., he related that he knew he was on song when he could see the
seam of the ball rotating …. He even said that he only ever had one purple patch when
for just one over, he also saw the gold lettering on the ball!!!! We were in awe
- How teachings have changed. When I first started umpiring, the teaching was that you
had to (must, no option, marked down if you didn’t) move to the side where the ball
was struck. The only exception being if it was hit in the V forward of the wicket and the
mid-off and mid-on were up.
Then the thinking changed to go opposite side to where the ball was hit, regardless of
where it was hit.
Now, we are told, the thinking is, that if the ball goes rearwards of the wicket, you may
move to the side where the ball was hit.
Also it is now more acceptable to just go where your feet take you.
- Working with your partner. The concept of pivoting to face your partner (rather than
just looking) to look for any signals, every time the ball goes dead, is something that I
have now tried to adopt. I’ve now done a couple of games since the training weekend
and let’s say, it is a work in progress as I work on this one . I like the concept so I
will keep working on it until it becomes part of my processes.
- Wide definition and what to look for. Bruce certainly got discussions going with his
understanding of the ICC interpretation as to when the off side wide marker moves.
Bruce argued that the line moves only if the batter makes a significant movement to the
off side before the bowler releases the ball.
My initial thought was how do you know; however, I tried it at an Over 50’s game and
yeah, it was easy enough. With my peripheral vision I could see if the batter had moved
before the bowler’s foot came down.
Bruce also said that the movement has to be significant rather than just a trigger
movement which brings the batter back to a more traditional stance.
Note: This has to be bought back into context with what our ODI Playing Conditions
state, which for the coming season say,
[A] A delivery passing the striker on the off side outside the Off Side Wide Line shall be a
Wide provided they maintain a normal batting position and have not brought the
ball within reach. If, in the opinion of the umpire, the striker has brought the ball
within reach, the Off Side Wide Line shall be disregarded and the umpire shall apply a
general interpretation consistent with the normal operation of Law 22.
You will note that there is no mention of significant movement before the bowler
releases the ball. As such, please continue to work on the thought that if the batter
moves to the off side at any time and brings the ball within their reach that the line
moves.
As always it is pertinent to have at the toss, the discussion with and acknowledgement
from both captains on how the wides will be interpreted and confirm that we
(the umpires) will be consistent in their application for the match.
- Recall of player from the stands. I learnt something which I hadn’t picked up with the
latest change in the Laws of Cricket. Bruce pointed out that a batter can now be recalled
(having incorrectly thought they were out), even if they had left the playing field.
Bruce’s statement does again need to be put into perspective and looked at in
conjunction with the other Laws of Cricket such as 31.7 Batter leaving the wicket
under a misapprehension, which tells us:
‘An umpire shall intervene if satisfied that a batter, not having been given out, has left
the wicket under a misapprehension of being out. The umpire intervening shall call and
signal Dead ball to prevent any further action by the fielding side and shall recall the
batter.
A batter may be recalled at any time up to the instant when the ball comes into play for
the next delivery, unless it is the final wicket of the innings, in which case it should be
up to the instant when the umpires leave the field.’
Also consider 25.2 Commencement of a batter’s innings which tells us:
‘The innings of the first two batters, and that of any new batter on the resumption of
play after a call of Time, shall commence at the call of Play. At any other time, a
batter’s innings shall be considered to have commenced when that batter first steps onto
the field of play.’
As such our batter who has left the ground under the misapprehension of being out, has
to be recalled before the new batter first steps onto the field of play. This limitation is
there to stop three batters being allowed on the field.
I think that what Bruce was talking about would work very well at ICC level where the
incoming batter would be told to wait until a review was completed.
Also, it only applies to those batters who walk. If the umpire has given them out, then
Law 31.7 will not apply. Complicated game this.
- Sense of humour adds to the game.
I have always enjoyed good banter during a game, but I recently fell victim to a clever piece
of humour by Chad Bridge. We were doing the first of two trial T20 games and I again
confirmed that I cannot count to six and had a different count than Chad. I swallowed my
pride and asked the scorers how many balls were left.
Of course, I was wrong and Chad right. We were about to bowl the next ball, when in a nice
clear loud voice (that was heard in Brisbane) Chad says, ‘One nil’. We all had a chuckle and
moved on.
At the end of the innings, it quickly became two nil, when I stated that the next match would
start at such and such a time. Chad just looked at me and said that it was only a change of
innings.
I clawed a point back off him, when the wind blew his hat off, so we ended up two one, but
great fun.
For those interested in how I got my count wrong, it was a boundary where I clicked my
counter as is my process but then had to confirm with the fielder whether it was a four or a
six. Once confirmed, I re-clicked my counter. I self-critiqued, went through my processes,
understood where I got it wrong and corrected.
As to how I forgot that it was only the change of innings …. I put that down to senility .
Start of season
The start of the 20223/2024 Season is upon us, so your Training and Selections Committees
wish you all the best for the season
Yours in umpiring and may all your snicks be loud
Your Training and Selections Committees
Bob Myatt, Michael Guy, Justin Cooke and Leigh Buckingham
