Umpires and Umpiring???????????????????????????

[paul]

Well said Sammy. Right on the button. One look through our score books over the last few years will reveal that we give far more than we receive in terms of decisions. That however doesn't stop the oppo moaning if they don't get what they appeal for. This very act drove one member of our club who shall remain nameless to reply to constant wingeing, with the comment "Give it a rest guys if I wanted to listen to wingeing all day I'd have stayed at home".

Give the Umpires a break. Make their life easier and play the game in the proper spirit.

[andrewshields]

And where exactly are these umpires going to come from? This issue has already done the rounds at league committee/AGM level. There aren't any. We all have to do as honest a job as possible.

edited by: andrewshields, Jul 05, 2004 - 04:06 PM

[andrewshields]

Alex, I know exactly where you're coming from. But I think most clubs will tell you that while it would be great even to get a formal umpiring set-up for Div 1, it won't happen. It's a problem in all leagues, not just ours. Anyway, our old buggers just want to sit and drink or, in the case of our 79-year-old, still try and play!!

[Stokesy29]

I've played in the Shepherd Neame league with neutral umpires and from my experience they make just as many bad decisions.
As for moaning about the umpiring maybe we should look at the batsmen who know when they have nicked the ball or been caught out of their ground. By standing their ground when they know they are out, they are putting unfair pressure on their teamates who end up being stuck between a rock and a hard place. They give out there mate and they face stick from their team or they give not out and have the oppo accusing them of cheating. As a bowler I've had a couple of blatant caught behinds this year given not out and I know which party I'd accuse of cheating and its not the umpire.
Refreshingly though I think a majority of batsmen are still honest shame the same can't be said for everybody.

[Sammy]

The problem is less to do with the umpiring and more to do with attitude of fielders.

Often you will see "Hawkeye" on Channel 4 "Prove" the umpire to be wrong - and these are the world's best! What chance for the umpire's in village cricket then. How many times do you hear the bowler or wicketkeeper say "How did that miss the stumps?" when the ball goes just past off stump. Had the ball have struck the pad no doubt both players would have claimed the decision as "plumb" and perhaps the umpire would have given it out - that's cricket.

The focus should be more on fielders appealing for absolutely anything, when clearly there is no way it could be out, and even worse, then moaning like hell at the umpire (or just in general) when the umpire correctly says "Not out! - I have heard this called "Working the umpire". This is no different to diving in football.

All you can hope for from umpires in non-professional cricket is for honest, impartial decisions. After this, we should expect acceptance of the decision, without dissent or the usual signs of dispair (from batmen as well as fielders). Captains should be responsible for ensuring that those umpiring are doing so on a strictly impartial basis (whether they are players or a dedicated umpire) and that decisions are accepted by players, on the basis that they were given impartially. Teams playing in our leagues should only be accepted on the basis that this is explicitly agreed. Village cricket can only work on this basis.

Let's face it, for every "Plumb" appeal from a bowler/wicketkeeper, the batsmen thinks it was drifting down the legside. I know that's what I think and I bat and wicketkeep!

[bearski]

I totally agree with Andrew, this subject has been doing the rounds now for a while and as most teams seem to struggle to put 11 players out each week, to then find someone to umpire as well is damn near impossible. I think having neutral umpires won't help either, in my experiences of a few games in Division 3 of the Saracens a few years ago for Cottered, the umpiring was worse than if it had been done by the players themselves. I find neutral umpires sometimes try and impose themselves on a game to the detriment of the match that they are officiating in. I actually find that when one of our non-participants umpire in a match they actually seem more biased to the opposition as not to appear biased to their own team!!

[thomaswp]

A friend of mine told me at the weekend that they have one umpire from the league who does both ends and the batting team provides the square leg umpire. But that still leaves the situation where you don't get stumpings. I am tired of looking back to the back foot after appealing and seeing that it is **still** out of its ground.

Sadly, I know I am a shocking umpire and doze when at square leg, and probably missed one stumping at least a couple of seasons ago. As a paid up member of the wicket-keeper's union that is pretty unforgivable. :oops:

[djbbb]

having played essex league cricket, when we was in it, the umpires there were very hit and miss. You had a few younger guys who were trying to step up a level in umpiring and several older guys who were in for the money/to get away from the wife for the afternoon. The standard varied from excellent to extremly poor but the on field sledging and general arguements were far worse than in this league and never stopped by an umpire.
Also bear in mind that its not easy to umpire at any level, i do more than my fair share of umpiring and try to be as fair as possible but remember the batsman is the one who should get the benifit of any doubt.

[alexfrancis]

This matter has been irritating me all season. I see that in one of the league reports that the decisions of an umpire has caused uproar.

We also had the same this week and due to three bad decisions including an LBW that would have hit all three every day of the week and a caught behind that made splinters in the batsmen bat and a stumping that the batsmen had crossed? The fact that the oppo team were going to definately lose and were trying to pick up bonus points probably had a big part to play. They did pick one more point up in the end?

I being a keeper get first hand of most decisions and can see the whether it as in line or if his foot was over the line? I find it incredibly annoying that some blatent decisions are not given. These decisions can change the course of a game and even worse the result.

Has the league ever looked in to getting umpires because frankly some of these decisions are beoming stupid? :-O :-O

edited by: alexfrancis, Jul 05, 2004 - 04:00 PM

[alexfrancis]

That is why there are umpiring courses. Do you not have old players that still come and watch who would become part of a panel and for a fee umpire on a rota base. I know that we would look in to that to make sure the game was played in the spirit that is is meant too?

[alexfrancis]

That is a shame, i think now the league is expanding and looking to get a 6th division we should not give a cop out like no one wants to do it. Ultimatley our cricket will suffer.

If that is the end of this disscusion then nobody can really moan about the umpires again because we have given in to trying to sort something out?