HECL Rule 19

[Sammy]

Wanted to keep this post separate from Aldo's original post from today as subject title he used may lead to the wrong inference. But the subject on "Umpiring/appealing" he introduced and Paul's reminder on Rule 19 are a useful catalyst.


One of the increasingly irritating “Trendy” habits that has spread from professional cricket through Club Leagues and now down to our league of mostly smaller clubs, is for fielders to appeal for decisions from positions on the field (usually deep square leg!), that they can not possibly have any idea whether it was worthy of an appeal. And then follow this up with the usual “Hard done by” body language and/or the sort of comments that Aldo mentions in his original post – usually under the guise of talking to another playing colleague but we all know it is for the benefit of the umpire.

If you ever ask why someone in such a poor position would appeal, often the response is a) “I am allowed to appeal for anything” and/or b) “I am just backing the bowler up.”

Well for a) this is true. But there is a connection between appealing just because you can and deteriorating spirit within some games in our League. It is made worse when it is followed up with the “Hard done by” histrionics and the sniping comments about the umpire or the club involved – whether these are made directly or, as is usual, in an indirect manner.

For b) – what is it that increases the legitimacy of a bowler’s (or anyone else’s) appeal by “Backing it up”. It doesn’t matter how loud the appeal is, or how many people make it – the decision will be the same. Surely, you appeal when think there is a decision to be judged by the umpire. If you are appealing on the basis of “Backing up” the bowler’s appeal for, say, an LBW decision from square leg then you are, in effect, trying to intimidate the umpire (or “work” the umpire, as I have heard it said) – because you can have no clue as to whether the ball would have hit.

Of course, you can always go back to a) and claim your right to appeal madly, whenever you like, when you have no clue whether the appeal was close or not – and then huff and puff. But this means that there will be a greater number of refusals (by virtue of a greater number of purely speculative appeals) – which then leads to the poorer spirit in our games.


Please let me or you League Rep. know if you come across circumstances which contravene Rule 19.

Mike Sammons
HECL Disciplinary Chairman.

[bearski]

Absolutely spot on Mike, couldn't agree more with everything you have written. I suspect we will veer off onto the "neutral umpires" debate, which is all well and good, but until you have a panel of regular umpires ready to absorb the amount of heat they will get from teams, it's never gonna happen!!

[paul]

couple of things on this one. First a quick update on the umpiring standpoint from the leagues perspective.

As you all know we started running umpires courses in conjunction with the Essex branch of the Umpires and scorers association during the close season. I think we managed to get about a dozen people to attend and most have qualified. We were hoping for a greater turn out and hopefully with more publicity and time next years courses will be better attended. The course was free as the guys from Essex generously donated their time and the league covered their costs and the exam fee. So if your interested in qualifying as an umpire or simply just sitting in on the course please contact me or Fred Farrow who is currently heading up the introduction of an umpiring pool or panel of sorts. The course was fun, challenging and not overly long so get yourselves down there next time. Without umpires we don't have a game and the only way to improve standards is to increase the awareness of the duties they perform.

The leagues committee's view on the way forward and the rational behind running these courses has two aspects. First, as mentioned above to raise standards and awareness of umpiring duties. The best way forward in that regard is to provide an opportunity for anyone involved with the league or member clubs to do the course with the league sponsoring the costs. At least that way it is hoped that all clubs can have some point of reference on the finer points of the laws and their interpretation in their clubhouse. Something that even some fairly established clubs seem to lack on occasion.

Second, with a pool of umpires to draw on we can look to the future and start using the resource we have by sending pairs of umpires out to umpire at selected games. This has already been done in the cup games. This will allow us to encourage others to get involved, demonstrate that we are committed to moving forward as a league and hopefully take some of the pressure off skippers for a day by removing the task of sending his team mates out to umpire for 10 overs at a time.

If any club has umpires that are interested in doing some umpiring please contact Fred Farrow as he has agreed to co-ordinate the early stages of the pool or panel. Failing that contact me for details.

Exactly how we best use the limited resource we have has yet to be decided for a number of reasons. Some of those recently qualified are still playing for example. Also where should we send those that we do have? Any suggestions would be welcome as all input would be welcome when we come to make the decision.

Finally on the specifics of rule 19, the league committee are clear that the spirit of the game and respect for officials is of the highest importance. So much so that it has been tagged on to the league rules.

It is the Skippers responsibility at all times to ensure that his side behaves in accordance with both the laws of cricket and the spirit of the game. In the event of any disputes reaching the committee he, along with the offending individuals or clubs will be held to account. It is vital that this made clear to all Skippers in the league. They will be held equally responsible for any misconduct. Something I don't think all clubs consider when appointing or electing their captains and vice captains. Worth thinking about though.

This isn't to say that disputes don't take place and that events on the field lead to tense confrontations, they do. It is how we as players and captains deal with them that is vital. I don't think listing a catalogue of events at various games is in anyway going to solve the problem, all that it will serve to do is open up old wounds or aggravate existing disputes when what we really need to do is deal with them at the time, in the spirit of the game.

The committee don't want to hear about every little dispute or row, what we want is to see clubs actively promoting good behavior and playing competitively and in the spirit of the game. Sure all clubs have individuals that don't fully appreciate what that means but it is how we deal with them that is important along with showing as much respect to our opponents as we would want ourselves and in particular the umpires that maintains the integrity of our clubs. If we can get that right the league will remain the envy of nearly all others. If a dispute cannot be resolved with common sense, good management by captain and club and is worthy of further action the place to do that is via the committee.

Long rant guys sorry about that, this subject is one that is at the very core of my sporting nature and having grown up through a rugby background and a high standard at that it will remain so.

Carry on....

[Sammy]

but until you have a panel of regular umpires ready to absorb the amount of heat they will get from teams, it's never gonna happen!!

Thanks for the support, Bearski. However, no umpire - whether appointed by a panel or not - should have to deal with poor behaviour and if a panel were to be introduced to our League this should never be an excuse for falling standards. Also, I have a little more faith that we can maintain standards in our league without (or until there is) an umpire panel - but it calls for club officals, including captains, to ensure that these standards are upheld.

There is probably more we can do at a Committee level to help achieve this.

[cricketwilder]

Hi Sammy yes rule 19 looks all very good in our nice little colourfull hand book! I have been playing league cricket from when the HECL league started all those years back not many saturdays go past now without some kind of laughable appealing from square leg, third man or even fine leg! or on the other hand Sammy a laughable umpiring decision happening!!

I think the spirit of the game has been lost even down in the lower divisions of our league!

Our team traveled a round trip of 70miles and some of our team traveled for four hours to play last saturday afternoon for us on the second ball of the game get a SHOCKING umpiring decision! (A clear edge caught behind) go against us! Its not just the umpiring as bad as it was, It was for the batsman just to stand there (with his skipper batting at the other end and say bugger all to him!) is this in the spirit of the game?

This then set the afternoon up to be a non enjoyable game of cricket again! (with both teams CHIRPING at each othe) this then this started the usual appealing from square leg fielders and the likes!!

NOT GOOD!!!!

[rob.glen]

Perhaps you should consider looking at rule 17b.
Can we contact all of the clubs in the 7 divisions to find out how many can regularly provide an umpire in addition the 11 players on the fileld.
If we rely on players to umpire when they would rather be resting on the boundary there will never be an answer to the problem.

[GregAWCC]

Myself and another of our players attended the umpiring course over the winter and it proved to be a bit of an eye openner. People believe they know the rules better than they actually do -- especially around LBW.
This season we have given LBW's when required but more importantly been able to explain when asked why decisions weren't given - they may not agree but at least there is understanding why it wasn't given. Certainly in the games we have played in Div 4 this year there seems to be a better spirit towards giving decisions, even at curcial times than in the past. All's not perfect but I would like to believe that is down to not understanding the laws as much as anything else. Therefore I suggest that clubs take advantage of the leagues courses this winter - the more the people who know he laws the better.

[paul]

Myself and another of our players attended the umpiring course over the winter and it proved to be a bit of an eye openner. People believe they know the rules better than they actually do -- especially around LBW.
This season we have given LBW's when required but more importantly been able to explain when asked why decisions weren't given - they may not agree but at least there is understanding why it wasn't given. Certainly in the games we have played in Div 4 this year there seems to be a better spirit towards giving decisions, even at curcial times than in the past. All's not perfect but I would like to believe that is down to not understanding the laws as much as anything else. Therefore I suggest that clubs take advantage of the leagues courses this winter - the more the people who know he laws the better.

+1

As I said one of the objectives of the course it highten understanding by getting experienced and qualified umpires into our club houses.