Recalling a batsman

[missingleg]

Yesterday in the county championship at Leicestershire it was reported that a batsman was given out lbw and then recalled after crossing the boundary rope when the strikers end umpire told his college there was an inside edge.

Assuming this was reported accurately, I would like to ask the following:

1) can you really recall a batsman who has left the field?
2) do you ask your colleague what he thought of your decision?
3) if you're the one being asked, are you honest to him or do you stay quiet?
4) I know we consult over fair catches/bump balls/wicket fairly down/leg byes but should we consult over lbw and caught behind?
5) has anyone reversed a decision and how did it go down with players/captains?

Would be very interested to explore best practice here.

[tippex2]

1) Under Law 27.8, if the fielding captain wishes to withdraw an appeal, he must do before the outgoing batsman has left the field of play. However, if an umpire wishes to change his decision unilaterally (Law 27.9), the Law only states that he must do so "promptly", rather than giving a specific deadline.  One assumes that the incoming batsman had not yet stepped across the boundary to commence his innings (Law 2.10).

2) & 3) When meeting up after giving a batsman out my colleague and I will often exchange a word about the decision, particularly if the batsman appeared unhappy. I wouldn't lie to a colleague who asked my opinion, but I'd make it clear the limitations of my view from the striker's end. For example, I might say "I heard 2 noises", but I wouldn't outright say that I thought he'd got the decision wrong.

4) Nothing wrong with exchanging information, but I'd be reluctant to change a decision unless my colleague was 100% convinced that I'd blown it. Surely we consult pre-emptivley with regard to LBW when signalling to our colleague when a batsman's batting well out of his ground??

5) Can't recall changing an LBW or caught decision - I've changed Run Out decisions when I've put my finger up on the basis of the ball hitting the stumps before realising that the bails hadn't come off, but that was without consultation.

[nazmulahsan]

I agree with tippex2. Here I would like to add my experience. When I go to officiate a match, I do discuss with my colleague before going to field. We both agree that we will use some secret signals. When I stand on striker's end, if I hear any sound from bat then I start tapping with my fingers to other hand fingers. If my bowler's end umpire collegue is confused about if the ball has touched the bat first then he looks at me and with my secret signal he makes correct decision. Similarly I take his help when I stand at bowler's end. That helps to make correct decision.

[bjmajor]

nazulahsan, it certainly sounds like you try to work as a team out there with your umpiring colleague.

This season was to be my initial foray into umpiring. Unfortunately I only managed two games. With a very young family (I am only 30 and have an 18 month old daughter) the time commitment at this stage was just a bit too much.

In the games I did experience though it was clear to see that team work between umpires is essential. Constant eye contact with each other after every ball is also very important.

As a new guy I was obviously rather nervous initially and in my very first over I think I encountered two LBW shouts and a shout for caught behind. The LBW shouts were fine as I was confident they were both missing however the caught behind I gave not out, much to the chagrin of the fielding side. I hadn't heard a noise, and didn't see any noticeable deflection. I did look to my colleague to see if he had heard anything (before giving my decision) but he was staring at the ground!

There were a couple of other instances where some teamwork would have been appreciated but due to a lack of concentration from supposedly experienced umpires this was not forthcoming.