Cricket things that annoy you

[sabso]

Umpiring local cricket is more about common sense than adherence to laws. For example in a recent vets game I was umpiring when a bowler broke down 3 balls into an over. The guy who stepped in to replace him is well known to me, good bloke, but a classic white-line-fever, win at all costs type. He doesn't often bowl in games He proceeded to bowl three pretty innocuous deliveries each about a foot over the line. I probably should have warned him after the first one, and then I could have called the second one. But it was a pretty friendly game, I didn't want any agro from him, and I knew he wasn't going to bowl again, so I just let it go. Made no difference to the game. But because I let the first one go, I didn't really think I should call the second, or the third.

Adherence to laws is pretty much the same thing as the elusive “common sense”. Cf yank Supreme Court decisions over time which have enacted/repealed laws materially affecting millions of people’s lives. The kanstatootion being the “supreme law” has created issues so holey that people spend lives and write books arguing the toss over single ****ing words.

Ps “laws not rules” is why I despise a particular part of the rugby fandom, particularly the Welsh ones who would always combine it with “this is not socccccccccer”

 

[PhatBoy]

Adherence to laws is pretty much the same thing as the elusive “common sense”. Cf yank Supreme Court decisions over time which have enacted/repealed laws materially affecting millions of people’s lives. The kanstatootion being the “supreme law” has created issues so holey that people spend lives and write books arguing the toss over single ****ing words.

Ps “laws not rules” is why I despise a particular part of the rugby fandom, particularly the Welsh ones who would always combine it with “this is not socccccccccer”

Rugby: a shame not a game

League has become a growing disgrace since they started adhering to rules like Pythagorean geometric equations.

Policing obstructions that happen miles off the ball where a player deliberately throws himself on the ground because he has been caught out of position by a good attacking play and calling it a penalty by the letter of the law rather than applying a modicum of common sense….
Players collected somewhere near the head by a sequence of events the offender had little if any control over; in some cases because he made contact on another part of the body that was simply too hard and the ball carrier’s head rocked forward.


it’s made it growingly difficult to watch

 

[eddiesmith]

With LBWs, no batsman is ever out in their mind, all like Steve Smith.

Had a proper umpire on the weekend and opposition batsman got hit on the ankle, absolutely plumb and given out. Well he stood there for 2 minutes staring and shaking his head, then after game said to the bowler, ‘oh I got stuck into the umpire last week so it wouldn’t have mattered where you hit me he was giving me out’

Such a sook.

But some clubs you play against when you’re umpiring yourself you know you’re not getting any LBWs against.

 

[Rabish Binney]

With LBWs, no batsman is ever out in their mind, all like Steve Smith.

Had a proper umpire on the weekend and opposition batsman got hit on the ankle, absolutely plumb and given out. Well he stood there for 2 minutes staring and shaking his head, then after game said to the bowler, ‘oh I got stuck into the umpire last week so it wouldn’t have mattered where you hit me he was giving me out’

Such a sook.

But some clubs you play against when you’re umpiring yourself you know you’re not getting any LBWs against

That's the worst part.

As you said, some sides you come up against you just know its not even worth appealing sometimes.

Yet those some teams are the ones that whinge, sook and carry on if anything goes against them.

I wouldn't hesitate to give one of our lads out if I thought it was out. Some of my teammates had the attitude that 'f** 'em, if they don't give them then we wont' but I always had a problem with that mindset, as IMHO taking that stance meant that you were no better than the team that you accuse of 'cheating' (by not giving any LBW's).

That said, some decision you have to make are difficult. I've been fielding at mid off when the batsman has hit the cover off of it, caught by the Keeper and given out by their ump...yet I didn't hear a thing.

Other times, everyone hears a nick but the Umpy.....

 

[Gethelred]

With LBWs, no batsman is ever out in their mind, all like Steve Smith.

Had a proper umpire on the weekend and opposition batsman got hit on the ankle, absolutely plumb and given out. Well he stood there for 2 minutes staring and shaking his head, then after game said to the bowler, ‘oh I got stuck into the umpire last week so it wouldn’t have mattered where you hit me he was giving me out’

Such a sook.

But some clubs you play against when you’re umpiring yourself you know you’re not getting any LBWs against.

By the same token, I was facing a left handed finger spinner bowling around the wicket on a very bouncy deck bowling back a length wide of off, and I went back and a long way across to cover my stumps as I left a ball that would've missed the stumps by half a foot. Ball flicks the knee roll of my back leg, and I hold my position - see, here's where it got me, that's how much it's going to miss the stumps - only for the muppet of an official ump to give me out for a ball that a) was bouncing over and b) was on an entire set of stumps wide of off. "Play a shot, mate!" yeah, but still.

LBW is always going to be a shit rule, because an LBW is an opinion. I played in a one day game with two official umps that had 18 LBW's fall across both innings without it being low and slow.

You get some absolutely shithouse LBW calls at all levels of cricket. People being pissed at being given out for balls they hit have a right to be a bit annoyed.

 

[Rabish Binney]

Was umpiring one day, with one of our U16's who was doing square leg to square leg. He had come up to the Seniors because we were short.

One of our batsman attempted to hit their spinner back over his head, missed and was stumped by at least 2 yards. The young guy said not out and I immediately thought 'oh no, here we go'. I thought about whether or not I should (or even could) intervene and give our batsman out (which he clearly was)

Their captain immediately asked why it wasn't given out and our guy said (and this is no word of a lie), 'sorry I wasn't paying attention'.

To the oppo captain's credit, he said well at least you were honest and that defused the situation.

We we were headed for a heavy defeat anyway so it all worked out OK in the end but I hate to think if the game was close what would have happened..

 

[Rabish Binney]

By the same token, I was facing a left handed finger spinner bowling around the wicket on a very bouncy deck bowling back a length wide of off, and I went back and a long way across to cover my stumps as I left a ball that would've missed the stumps by half a foot. Ball flicks the knee roll of my back leg, and I hold my position - see, here's where it got me, that's how much it's going to miss the stumps - only for the muppet of an official ump to give me out for a ball that a) was bouncing over and b) was on an entire set of stumps wide of off. "Play a shot, mate!" yeah, but still.

LBW is always going to be a shit rule, because an LBW is an opinion. I played in a one day game with two official umps that had 18 LBW's fall across both innings without it being low and slow.

You get some absolutely shithouse LBW calls at all levels of cricket. People being pissed at being given out for balls they hit have a right to be a bit annoyed.

Great point.

Never had to umpire our own games until playing C grade later in my career.

Up until then however, we had neutral umpires and honestly, some of the decisions you would cop (or not get) were astonishing.

In our association, think the Umps got $75 per Saturday for umpiring (which I don't have an issue with) but you suspect some of them only did it to get the $$$ and didn't have a great knowledge of cricket.

 

[t_94]

Self umpired cricket isn’t real cricket. Sign up to play that rubbish then cop the inevitable and don’t complain.
Especially if you pot test cricketers on this forum regularly.

 

[TigerCraig]

I'm not sure what's so hard to comprehend about this rule tbh. It's been this way for as long as I've followed cricket...I never had a problem understanding it.

2017?

 

[eddiesmith]

By the same token, I was facing a left handed finger spinner bowling around the wicket on a very bouncy deck bowling back a length wide of off, and I went back and a long way across to cover my stumps as I left a ball that would've missed the stumps by half a foot. Ball flicks the knee roll of my back leg, and I hold my position - see, here's where it got me, that's how much it's going to miss the stumps - only for the muppet of an official ump to give me out for a ball that a) was bouncing over and b) was on an entire set of stumps wide of off. "Play a shot, mate!" yeah, but still.

LBW is always going to be a shit rule, because an LBW is an opinion. I played in a one day game with two official umps that had 18 LBW's fall across both innings without it being low and slow.

You get some absolutely shithouse LBW calls at all levels of cricket. People being pissed at being given out for balls they hit have a right to be a bit annoyed.

Absolutely you get the good and the bad, it’s why I’ll never walk as you probably cop more bad decisions than getting away with edging one.

Same game and one of their bowlers went up for LBW whilst I was at non strikers end, over the wicket hit him outside leg, on the thigh pad. He stood there in shock when given not out as umpire said down leg, too high, not even close!!!

Highlight of my umpiring career was doing finals for league I also played in, umpired a team I’d played against the week before who had called me a cheat for not giving a batsman out caught behind when it missed the bat by a metre but flicked his shirt down leg side. Biggest regret though was not reporting the matter to the league and having captain and keeper suspended for finals.

But their captain was a left armer and didn’t understand that balls pitching a metre outside leg stump cannot be given LBW…

 

[Rabish Binney]

Self umpired cricket isn’t real cricket. Sign up to play that rubbish then cop the inevitable and don’t complain.
Especially if you pot test cricketers on this forum regularly.

Unfortunately not every comp / association has their own umpires.

And I already said that even with Umpires, there are shocking decisions made.