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Post by TrueDub on Nov 21, 2008 9:11:25 GMT
However, I still find it extremely hard to believe that any umpire, yourself included, enforces all the laws to the letter in any applicable situation. I mean, do you/should we really give a 1st official warning the first time a bowler touches a bit of the protected area or a batsman runs down the pitch for a second longer than he needs to? Should we give penalty runs if a fielder takes a catch on the boundary, having walked in from outside (I may yet be proven wrong on this law though!)? (EDIT: I was proven wrong!). Do we give warnings the first time we see a bit of time wasting or do we ask to move things along quicker? The laws are clear that we should do the former. There are certainly many other examples where no umpire really obeys the law to its letter and instead has a 'quiet word'. Even Test umpires. You're right, I don't reach for the rulebook the first time these things happen. I have a quiet word & explain why they shouldn't do it again. This is also what I do when a bowler encroaches onto the protected area. A quiet, informal warning is still enforcing the law. If it continues, you then reach for the official sanctions. The impression I got (and I apologise if this is incorrect) was that people were advocating simply ignoring the bowler running on the pitch on an artificial strip, not issuing any sort of warning. This is ignoring a Law, and isn't on, in my opinion. There's no need to start throwing around warnings the first time it happens, but you must at least acknowledge the infraction and tell the offender that next time it'll be official. As regards the embarrassment factor for what seems a farcial warning, you can always make the point that it's a habit the bowler needs to get out of, as he'll be in severe trouble when he next plays on grass. Sometimes you have to apply the Laws despite their inappropriateness. I was umpiring an Under-13 cup final, and on the last ball of the first innings the ball slipped from the bowler's hand and flew straight at the batsman's head. He avoided it easily, and I called & signalled no-ball. The bowler immediately apologised, and I said "I know that wasn't deliberate, but I have to give you a first official warning for bowling beamers". He very nearly burst into tears, & I felt bad, but it had to be done. In the second innings, I had to do the same thing, and you could see the players on the boundary saying "well, that's what he did in the first innings, at least he's consistent". I'm not trying to blow my own trumpet with the above story, simply to point out that you make your own life easier, and your umpiring better, by enforcing the Laws consistently, initially through informal warnings, if appropriate, or through the sanctions written down in the rulebook.
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Post by missingleg on Nov 21, 2008 11:16:16 GMT
...not ignoring the Law altogether, but perhaps not being so keen to enforce it. This whole debate stemmed from the original story that the bowler wasn't damaging the pitch.
What I despirately wish is for umpires to enforce the warning system for beamers, because when I umpired alone last season, I had one of the worst experiences in my short career - and I felt a bit sick at the end. I took a bowler off for bowling his third beamer over waist height (all were in the same over), even though none of the beamers actually hit the batsman, and the captain hated me. I thought I'd ruined the game for everyone. He said a reasonable umpire would have just called no-ball for the balls that flew past his off stump.
Anyway, I suppose it's too inconsistant to enforce this so readily and not others, so I will take your advice.
An interesting thing happened in the India - England ODI yesterday though - Sharma bowled a wild ball at head height but about 4 yards down the leg side and to the boundary. The umpire signalled wides - which I think is because he didn't want to enforce the warning system.
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Post by TrueDub on Nov 21, 2008 13:30:52 GMT
What I despirately wish is for umpires to enforce the warning system for beamers, because when I umpired alone last season, I had one of the worst experiences in my short career - and I felt a bit sick at the end. I took a bowler off for bowling his third beamer over waist height (all were in the same over), even though none of the beamers actually hit the batsman, and the captain hated me. I thought I'd ruined the game for everyone. He said a reasonable umpire would have just called no-ball for the balls that flew past his off stump. I remember you talking about that, and I understand your feelings on it, but think of it this way: if one of the beamers had accidentally hit the batsman in the mouth, and you hadn't given the warning, you might be considered to be negligent. By enforcing this law you're protecting yourself and the players. If the captain doesn't know the laws, that's his problem - I wonder how he would have reacted if one of his team found himself picking his teeth up from the pitch because of a beamer - would he consider this "reasonable"? I think you're doing the right thing, stick to your guns. An interesting thing happened in the India - England ODI yesterday though - Sharma bowled a wild ball at head height but about 4 yards down the leg side and to the boundary. The umpire signalled wides - which I think is because he didn't want to enforce the warning system. Didn't see any of that game, and didn't hear about the incident. There may be some ODI regulation on this, otherwise it's a mistake.
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Post by missingleg on Nov 21, 2008 15:43:14 GMT
Well from now on I make sure me and my partner are agreed that we must enforce the warning law. Funnily, in one my first few games once a captain asked me and my partner to ignore the warning procedure because it was a low division and innocuous slow beamers occur all the time. He was right - there were almost a dozen in the match - the standard of bowling was that poor - one floated about 5 yards over the batsman's head, but my partner called wides because he would otherwise have been on a final warning. He was only 14.
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