Never
happened, rain overnight (so I was told), and heavy rain in the morning meant
the cancellation of this fixture.
The
Countryfile weather forecast for the weekend was spot on – changeable. Even the
Springwatch forecast was the same; I suppose they are both supplied by the Met
Office. It was so changeable the 1st XI game was at home to Sampford
Arundel was played in brilliant sunshine!
So
the second XI have now officially played six games, three of which have been
rained off, and the other three have a “L” in the results column. It was
jokingly said that at the moment the seconds are getting more points for a
rained off game than they do if they play.
So as
it stands Over Stowey II’s are currently the strongest side in the whole
league, making the game against Lydeard
St Lawrence
The
blooming rain prevented Somerset recording a
victory away to “Lucky” Lancashire . Third in
the County Championship
with a game in hand over Middlesex; just Yorkshire
poking their noses in front at this stage of the season. But why can’t the
mighty Set win a T20 game? Glamorgan scraped a narrow win on Friday and with
Hampshire visiting the County Ground on Friday, that is now a must win game.
But first a County Championship game against Sussex
With
rain coming down like steroids for most of the week my attention was drawn to
the dismissal of Jos Buttler on Tuesday, in the One Day International against Sri Lanka
Anyway,
rant over, Jos Buttler’s dismissal. He was given run out backing-up. As a
qualified umpire (level 2) I first thought that Jos was not out as the Sri
Lankan bowler, Senanayake, was in his delivery (if you can call it that, how
bent is his arm?) stride. When the umpire gave him out I was a bit bemused and
it left me scrambling for my Tom Smith’s book of umpiring – a seven mile trip.
Firstly,
the bowler doesn’t have to give a warning; he can just run out the batsman if
he is out of his ground backing-up. The confusion stems from the fact that the ICC playing conditions –
effectively the rules under which international cricket takes place – differ
from the Laws of the game as prescribed by the MCC, the ones which I have
learnt.
The MCC (Law
42.15) states that “The bowler is permitted, before entering his delivery
stride, to attempt to run out the non-striker.” But the ICC’s playing
regulation 42.11, which replaces Law 42.15 in international cricket, states:
“The bowler is permitted, before releasing the ball and provided he has not
completed his usual delivery swing, to attempt to run out the non-striker.” Effectively
Buttler was out, which, for me is a bit sloppy, as he had been warned and
should have done something about it.
I have been
involved in a similar incident some 20 years ago, when I ran out the
non-striker for backing up. It was in a six-a-side tournament held in
Cannington, playing against Cannington. I had noticed before I was due to bowl
that a particular batsman was backing up so far down the track, in some cases
about five yards that something had to be done.
When I came on to
bowl my attentions were going to be ethical and warn him. However, when I
bowled my first ball I deceived the striker with quality off-break, all he
could do was defend it. He then made an attempt to pick up the ball and throw
it back to me, when the non-striker shouted “run”, they both ran and completed
a run, which to me was against the spirit of the game and then all my ethics
went out of the window.
Next ball, as I
started my run up, I noticed that the non-striker was already backing-up out of
the popping crease; I ran in and just took off the bails. By this time the
non-striker was some way down the pitch, I gave an appeal, the umpire, from
Kilve, asked if the appeal was genuine, I replied in the affirmative and he
gave the batsman out.
What
happened next, well a lot of finger pointing, disputing, bat slinging, but I
stood my ground, trying to explain that it’s in the rules, I don’t have to give
a warning and I would have done, but for what happened the delivery before. The
good thing about it was that my team completely backed me up, thankfully.
The
guy was fuming, he eventually left the field of play and the game resumed. I
believe he slung his bat from about 20 yards into the pavilion, and smashing
noises were heard. The player wouldn’t
let it go, and when I was fielding on the boundary he sounded me out, came over
and started “going on one” at me. Basically, I told him to get over it and
check the rules. He has never spoken to me since. That incident is still spoken
about to this day.
Right, time for a cider in the garden, or is it raining, oh well
Thatchers on the sofa me thinks.
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