Cricket, Lovely Cricket!

[Zulus Thousand of em]

ECB Umpires Course Level 1A - Week 8 at Northants County Cricket Club. That's the course where they decide if you are up to going onto Level 2, when the fun starts apparently. That'll be in January, if I get through this one.

I did my Level 1 this time last year and spent last summer as a member of the Northamptonshire County panel. Didn't cock up too much so I thought that I might press on.

We shall see.

[jimbo]

ECB Umpires Course Level 1A - Week 8 at Northants County Cricket Club. That's the course where they decide if you are up to going onto Level 2, when the fun starts apparently. That'll be in January, if I get through this one.

I did my Level 1 this time last year and spent last summer as a member of the Northamptonshire County panel. Didn't cock up too much so I thought that I might press on.

We shall see.

Interesting. The level of umpiring in our league is frankly shocking, especially in the second innings when they are getting tired and hungry and just want to go home. The sad thing is some even admit it saying things like 'The wife's got a steak in the fridge ready for when I get home'. He then proceeds to give ridiculous decisions to end it early. In another game we had a VERY close shout against their pro when he was on 0, which wasn't given. The umpire's words? 'You don't get to see players like him bat every day'. WTF? He then went on to get 98no and win them the game.

Good luck with it by the way!

[Zulus Thousand of em]

Interesting. The level of umpiring in our league is frankly shocking, especially in the second innings when they are getting tired and hungry and just want to go home. The sad thing is some even admit it saying things like 'The wife's got a steak in the fridge ready for when I get home'. He then proceeds to give ridiculous decisions to end it early. In another game we had a VERY close shout against their pro when he was on 0, which wasn't given. The umpire's words? 'You don't get to see players like him bat every day'. WTF? He then went on to get 98no and win them the game.

Good luck with it by the way!

That doesn't sound good. What league is that? We wouldn't last five minutes in the Northamptonshire League if we approached it like that.

Incidentally the league has a Premier Division and 13 divisions below it. Panel umpires, of which I am one, are appointed to the Prem and Div 1. Last season both Darren Gough and Devon Malcolm made appearances, although I did not have the pleasure of standing in games in which they appeared. There's a fair smattering of ex pros in the top two divisions along with some good young Saffers, Aussies, Kiwis, Indian and Pakistani pros.

There are some really beautiful venues too. Oh, and there's Corby.

[Worthy4England]

Interesting. The level of umpiring in our league is frankly shocking, especially in the second innings when they are getting tired and hungry and just want to go home. The sad thing is some even admit it saying things like 'The wife's got a steak in the fridge ready for when I get home'. He then proceeds to give ridiculous decisions to end it early. In another game we had a VERY close shout against their pro when he was on 0, which wasn't given. The umpire's words? 'You don't get to see players like him bat every day'. WTF? He then went on to get 98no and win them the game.

Good luck with it by the way!

That doesn't sound good. What league is that? We wouldn't last five minutes in the Northamptonshire League if we approached it like that.

Incidentally the league has a Premier Division and 13 divisions below it. Panel umpires, of which I am one, are appointed to the Prem and Div 1. Last season both Darren Gough and Devon Malcolm made appearances, although I did not have the pleasure of standing in games in which they appeared. There's a fair smattering of ex pros in the top two divisions along with some good young Saffers, Aussies, Kiwis, Indian and Pakistani pros.

There are some really beautiful venues too. Oh, and there's Corby.

Probably a similar standard to what I play then in the Liverpool Comp. We've got loads of Lancs academy and second teamers, with good overseas pros as well. Most of the umpires are very good, but it's just the odd few that come with the reputation. There's nothing worse as a batsman having an umpire ruin your weekend!

Also, is there a directive that anyone playing the sweep MUST be given out LBW if hit on the pads, regardless of whether they hit it first or where the ball has pitched? It certainly seems so!

I dunno, as a bowler, I always found that removing a couple of teeth used to pi$$ 'em off a little more than being flirted by the umpire.

[Zulus Thousand of em]

Also, is there a directive that anyone playing the sweep MUST be given out LBW if hit on the pads, regardless of whether they hit it first or where the ball has pitched? It certainly seems so!

LOL! No, it's not the case. It's still got to comply with the five W's. I'll not bore you with the ins and outs of the five W's - unless you really want to know!

In my book you are only out LBW every time when you are an injured batsman employing a runner. I want that bugger out of the way pretty sharpish!

[Zulus Thousand of em]

Bugger it! As I've got to know it for the exam I'll give you the 5 W's anyway. It might help me get it into my thick head.

Was the ball a fair delivery?

Was the ball pitching, or if intercepted on the full would it have pitched, between wicket and wicket or on the off?

Was the first interception either the striker's person or equipment and not the bat?

When the striker has made a genuine attempt to strike the ball with his bat was it intercepted wicket to wicket, or if he has not attempted to hit the ball was it intercepted wicket to wicket or on the off side?

Would the ball have gone on to hit the wicket?

So that's four decisions based on fact and one based on speculation with 11 grown men screaming at you - and a batsman studiously avoiding your gaze. No video replays and get it right!

And, as we all know, no batsman has ever, ever been out LBW!

[jimbo]

Bugger it! As I've got to know it for the exam I'll give you the 5 W's anyway. It might help me get it into my thick head.

Was the ball a fair delivery?

Was the ball pitching, or if intercepted on the full would it have pitched, between wicket and wicket or on the off?

Was the first interception either the striker's person or equipment and not the bat?

When the striker has made a genuine attempt to strike the ball with his bat was it intercepted wicket to wicket, or if he has not attempted to hit the ball was it intercepted wicket to wicket or on the off side?

Would the ball have gone on to hit the wicket?

So that's four decisions based on fact and one based on speculation with 11 grown men screaming at you - and a batsman studiously avoiding your gaze. No video replays and get it right!

And, as we all know, no batsman has ever, ever been out LBW!

Seems like a massively over-complicated way of thinking about things - not bad when you've got ages to study a video in an exam style situation but pretty useless on a Saturday when you've got 5 seconds to make your mind up. I believe much of umpiring happens on instinct - usually if it's out it just looks 'right' straight away if you get me.

What does the exam cover? Is it mainly questions on laws of the game and having to apply them to certain situations? Are there video examples of decisions to make?

[Zulus Thousand of em]

Instinct kicks in once you understand the mechanics is the theory. A bit like driving a car. I don't think about it - but there's a hell of a lot going on when I drive. I'm just about getting comfortable with the instinct aspect of my cricket decisions.

You have to know the answer to the first four W's before you go onto number five. That's why any umpire worth his salt pauses for a few seconds before triggering a batsman. He should be considering these points. Plus the batsman gets a warm feeling if he thinks that the umpire has actually thought about it before firing him off. (Even when the umpire gets it wrong.)

The exam is a mixture of the items that you list. There's video situations and photos to make decisions from in it. But you also need to have a pretty good knowledge of the Laws. It's similar to doing the football referees' course in that, having played both games competitively into my middle thirties (longer with cricket) I thought that I knew the Laws - all of them. I didn't.

[jimbo]

Sounds interesting. I've done my level 2 coaching which was a mixture of written, practical and video analysis. Here's a couple of scenarios that happened in our games this season for a little last minute revision!

1) Batsman smashes a pull shot at me at short leg. After crashing into my helmet it loops up to mid on who takes a simple catch.
2) Batsman defends, ball goes to gully. Batsman after a few moments, assuming the ball to be dead, takes a few steps down the wicket to prod down the pitch. Gully still has the ball and throws at the stumps, hitting.

Answers and my thoughts in white below.

1) Was given not out, and shouldn't be out. The helmet I'm pretty sure is an outside interference there for my advantage. Had it hit me on the head without the helmet on it would be out.

2) Was given out, though I'm unsure of the rules. Is this down to umpires' discretion as to what constitutes a 'dead ball'. The batsman only ventured out of his crease assuming the ball to be dead, so should that have been given? This is obviously more of a sportsmanship issue. What powers do you have to intervene?

[Zulus Thousand of em]

Just got back and funnily enough we had a fairly long discussion on the second scenario this evening. Without checking your views in white, I would give the following decisions:

1. Not out. Hitting the helmet, with a fielder's head in it, makes it not out. If you had been in the unfortunate position of not wearing a helmet and the ball had cannonned of your head and it had been caught by another fielder it would have been out. You would probably have been in hospital too!

2. A bit more contentious this one. The ball is only dead when both sides and the officials consider it to be so. Gully does not consider the ball to be dead so technically the batsman should be given out. This is where "fieldcraft" comes in - and that is another subject they attempt to teach us on this course. I would ask the fielding captain to reconsider the appeal and encourage him to withdraw it.

We could have a whole thread on scenarios such as these. We do lots of them on the course. Very interesting, if you're into the game of course!

Did you enjoy the coaching course? I did my Level 2 Coaching Course at Northants CC about eighteen months ago - enjoyed it immensely.

[jimbo]

Just got back and funnily enough we had a fairly long discussion on the second scenario this evening. Without checking your views in white, I would give the following decisions:

1. Not out. Hitting the helmet, with a fielder's head in it, makes it not out. If you had been in the unfortunate position of not wearing a helmet and the ball had cannonned of your head and it had been caught by another fielder it would have been out. You would probably have been in hospital too!

2. A bit more contentious this one. The ball is only dead when both sides and the officials consider it to be so. Gully does not consider the ball to be dead so technically the batsman should be given out. This is where "fieldcraft" comes in - and that is another subject they attempt to teach us on this course. I would ask the fielding captain to reconsider the appeal and encourage him to withdraw it.

We could have a whole thread on scenarios such as these. We do lots of them on the course. Very interesting, if you're into the game of course!

Did you enjoy the coaching course? I did my Level 2 Coaching Course at Northants CC about eighteen months ago - enjoyed it immensely.

Spot on with both the scenarios. Interesting what you say about the second one with regards to the ball being dead. On that occasion it was given out. There may have been more protests had it been a more important stage of the game.

I loved the Level 2. I did it about 4 years ago when it was the old style course. It's been changed recently to a '1 and a half' level course with the removal of the most interesting aspects like video analysis which can only be for the worse. The level 1 has also come down to make coaching more accessible - perhaps the best way would have been to introduce a level below Level 1 to give people the basics to go out and coach before deciding whether to take it any further.

Unfortunately since coming to uni I've not had any time to carry on with the coaching. I had a couple of great years taking the U11s at my old club but now my skills are mainly reserved to critiqueing my own game!

[Zulus Thousand of em]

I got into cricket coaching through my 10-year-old son's interest when he was about 6. He now plays for Towcestrians Under 11's and I coach them along with another Level 2 coach. He is an ex Minor Counties player and his coaching techniques are very good. We have the same coaching badge but I am more than happy to defer to him when necessary.

This is rapidly turning into a thread of its own! I'll move these posts into a new thread later (when I get into the office) and we can carry on banging on about the beautiful game there without boring all the non-cricketers.

The new thread will appear, as if by magic, before 10.00am.

[Zulus Thousand of em]

... and that's magic!

[Zulus Thousand of em]

OK, so I'm happy to post a couple of questions each day, with the answers (and the next questions) appearing on the following day, if anyone is interested. I'm happy to post them whilst people continue to answer them. I'm supposed to know all the answers (I don't!) but this process will assist the learning effort.

So, here are your two for today.

1. The lunch interval has been agreed as 1.00pm - 1.40pm. At 12.55pm it is raining heavily and the captain of the fielding side agrees with you and your colleague that play should be suspended providing play restarts at 1.35p.m.

a) What must you do before leaving the field?

b) Would you allow the lunch interval to begin immediately?

c) At what time would play restart?

2. The batsmen have completed two runs. You call and signal “One Short”. Simultaneously, your colleague also calls and signals “One Short”. What are you now required to do?

Answers here tomorrow!

[superjohnmcginlay]

Thats good but instead of talking about your bad umpiring how about England in South Africa.

Proper stuff doesnt start while 16th December but we're 1-0 up in the ODIs.

[Worthy4England]

I'm sure I've seen scenario 2 a few times over the years where the Umpire has declared the ball dead (without consultation with the fielding team) - if it's fairly obvious that it was dead and the batsman isn't trying to steal a run...

[Zulus Thousand of em]

I'm sure I've seen scenario 2 a few times over the years where the Umpire has declared the ball dead (without consultation with the fielding team) - if it's fairly obvious that it was dead and the batsman isn't trying to steal a run...

That's what I would have done. Sound in the knowledge that the players haven't got a scooby about the Law. Having said that the right answer is the one given earlier.

[Zulus Thousand of em]

Thats good but instead of talking about your bad umpiring how about England in South Africa.

Proper stuff doesnt start while 16th December but we're 1-0 up in the ODIs.

Sod off and start your own thread! You could call it "England in South Africa." Hope this helps.

[Little Green Man]

Thats good but instead of talking about your bad umpiring how about England in South Africa.

Proper stuff doesnt start while 16th December but we're 1-0 up in the ODIs.

Sod off and start your own thread! You could call it "England in South Africa." Hope this helps.

The umpire strikes back.

[Zulus Thousand of em]