I umpired "officially" for the first time on Saturday and, apart from calling no ball when a batsman was caught, it was quite uneventful.Except..... having only been peripherally involved in the game over the last few years (cricket tour does not really count) I was surprised at the amount of chatter on the pitch that I suppose is called motivational. At times this bordered on sledging with comments such as "we are amongst the rabbits now" and "shame his shots are not as elegant as his designer pads". I appreciate that times change but it does become rather tiresome and the only thing that really surprised me was that the batsmen just seemed to accept it.
Particularly tiresome are hopeful but pointless appeals and 'catch it' when the balls speeding along the ground.
ReplyDeleteI also love it when the bowler bowls a rubbish ball which gets dispatched and the bowler glares at the batsman.
I'm guilty of the "catch it" thing - I've tried to stop myself, believe me! I think it's come from bowling at a standard slightly above where I should have been for a while (a long time ago!) and that means that you have to try and claim a shot that is off the ground for more than a metre is a moral victory as you stroll off with figures of 1 for 90! I don't have any such excuse any more though....I just struggle to stop myself. It's the cricketing equivalent of Tourettes syndrome....
ReplyDeleteTourettes sounds as if it has something to do with women in the Thames Valley.
ReplyDeleteI am sure that there must be a lot of amusing comments made by bowlers and fielders that could be published such as "I'll bowl you a piano and see whether you can hit that" to a batsman who continually plays and misses.
see whether you can play that!
ReplyDeleteOh bother! That is what I meant to say...
ReplyDelete