A sad tale...

...not only because the player that had to be held down clearly has some issues, but also because of the way the league reacted in relation to the umpires that had to call the game of....

More on player discipline...

My County Sussex have been quick to do exactly as I suggested counties would do following the James Foster ban and have demonstrated to all that they take discipline seriously by issuing a statement about how they are disciplining Murray Goodwin. You'll note that there is no actual punishment for Goodwin though - just a verbal ticking off for now.

Interesting view from Derek Pringle yesterday too. He hopes that the push for greater player discipline may bring the umpire back to the centre of the game. Which got me thinking....has the crass implementation of the UDRS by the ICC and national boards led to a loss of respect for umpires? I certainly don't think it can help that players get to review decisions rather than umpires having sole discretion on when to use technology.

And Pringle also raises drinking with umpires after the close of play. That's something that has dropped off in club cricket too in my experience, although I do sometimes share a pint with an umpire or both of them.

Pints or not, it appears that under my watch Steyning won't be retaining the Sussex League fair play award, but I'm at a loss as to what I could have done differently to achieve a 10 out of 10!

Captains and player discipline

The other day I commented on CMJ's piece worrying about a deterioration in player discipline. As I wrote on Cricket Burble a while ago, I don't feel it's fair to saddle the captain with all player discipline issues and I'd like to see umpires challenging individual players that say things out of earshot of the captain.

So interesting then to see that James Foster has been banned for 2 games for persistent discipline issues at Essex. He's guilty of a big breach of discipline himself - the CMJ piece says that he had a slanging match with the umpires in front of TV cameras. But this ban comes as a result of 5 Essex disciplinary issues in the last 12 months - not the specific Foster case.

"The regulations make it absolutely clear that the captains are responsible for discipline on the field and ensuring no repetition occurs."

That is what they say, yes. However, it's simply not possible for a captain to ensure that no repetition occurs - the only way that can be done is through non-selection of the likes of Stuart Broad. All the other counties will now presumably put in place procedures that demonstrate they've taken action whenever a player is reported by an umpire, so they can demonstrate that they've tried to do something to avoid a repeat. But that doesn't really address the issue that the captain could be the best captain in the history of the game, but they still can't totally stop individual ill-discipline.

I'd like to see individual fines and penalties increased, and if the captain is deemed to have encouraged ill-discipline they might receive an even greater fine than the individual in question. While Foster's individual actions have demonstrated that he has set a very poor example, I fear for the precedent penalising the captain for the ill-discpline of his/her players sets. What might it lead to? Use your most dispendable player as captain for the toss and admin potentially?

As a captain in club cricket, I support the umpires wherever possible and do what I can to prevent ill-discipline. But I also know that it's impossible to ensure no repetition occurs. So why have regulations that aren't humanly possible to achieve?

Ponting the most successful captain ever

Despite being named as the worst behaved Australian player over the last 20 years, Ricky Ponting can give himself a pat on the back for having just taken over as the most successful captain of all time with 42 Test wins. Overall he's won 93 Tests which is truly incredible - when he makes it to 100 that really will be something special...

The Burbleterview

Alright, so it's a completely manufactured word, but the Burbleterview has arrived. Paul Graver is a Sunday cricket league administrator and excellent club umpire so he seemed a good person to quiz on the state of club cricket and umpiring. Paul has some interesting views on the use of technology too...you can read the Burbleterview here.

As an umpire, do you feel you would lose respect if technology was used to help you make correct decisions?
"If we use technology to the full, umpires will only have to hold the bowler's sweater. How do you respect a hat-stand?!"

Tidy that room!

Well it's been many years since I've heard those words! But Mark Cosgrove must have those words ringing in his ears as he, and two others from the Aussie academy, have been sent home for having persistently untidy bedrooms.

I can't help thinking that is their own business and the Aussie powers that be have gone nuts?! What do you reckon?