Sticky Wicket September 2012

FIRST MEETING OF THE SEASON Welcome to our first SACUSA meeting for 2012/13

cricket season.

T on ig h t we no t on l y we l c om e m em ber s and g ues t s , bu t m o r e im po r t an t l y i t i s t he f i r s t m ee t i ng be ing p r es i ded o v e r b y ou r i n c om ing P r es id en t T ed B r ans on and a l s o ou r e l ec t ed E xec u t i ve Com m i t t ee . W e l ook f o r wa r d t o h i s ye a r wh i c h s u r e l y w i l l ha ve h i s n o r m a l e n t hus i as m abou t j u s t ab o u t ev e r y t h i ng , no t t he l eas t b e i ng whe r e t o l ea v e m ee t i ng - r ubb i s h !

Up-coming events

12 September - SACUSA Meeting followed by

Grade Bylaws Study

15 & 16 September - State Umpire Seminar

19 September – Grade Bylaws Study

1 October - West End Cup Round 1

6 & 7 October - SACA A, B, C, D Round 1

6 October - Women’s A T20 Round 1

13 & 20 October - Junior Grades Round 1

14 October - Women’s B T20 Round 1

14 October - Ray Sutton Shield Round 1

20 October - Women’s A Round 1

SACUSA Office Bearers

President: Ted Branson

Vice President: Craig Thomas

Treasurer: Lynton Donisthorpe

Secretary: Michial Farrow

Current Committee members:

Max Bartlett and John Ketley

Incoming Committee Members:

Jeff King and Tony Trist

Auditors: Bob Woods and Simon Fry

President Ted in his youth

addressing the team during a

lunch break, or is it Lord Hawke?

Sticky Wicket, on behalf of members, recognises the

work of the outgoing Executive and the huge

contribution of our Immediate Past President Lynton

Donisthorpe. It is welcoming that Lynton’s experience

and untiring work for our Association is not lost, he

being elected as our new Treasurer.

Contacts

Secretary - Michial Farrow 0435 872 215

[email protected]

Sticky Wicket - Tim Pellew 0414 58 58 42

[email protected]

facebook.com/sacricketumpiresandscorers

SACUSA 2012 AGM

On 8 August at (dead on time) 7.30 pm, our AGM was held! A change of venue

for the evening found us at Glandore Oval; home of the Adelaide Cricket Club.

Copies of the Annual Report were distributed to attendees on arrival and will

eventually be available on the SACUSA web site.

Our retiring President Lynton Donisthorpe welcomed the approximately 70 in

attendance, and in particular, our Patron Neil Dansie, many life members and

guest speaker Cate Ryan, the SACA Competitions Coordinator.

13 written apologies were received. It was particularly welcoming to have

members from Adelaide Turf Cricket Association, Adelaide and Suburban

Cricket Association and Para District Cricket Association. (apologies if any

others were there and not acknowledged).

Cate Ryan addressed the meeting and outlined the upcoming SACA season’s

programme, and advised that this season there are 13 cricket carnivals being

held in Adelaide. Note here that there is a need and opportunity for plenty of

umpiring duties for these carnivals so be ready throughout the summer for these

carnivals.

Cate advised that she has been appointed to a position with Cricket Australia in

Melbourne; it will be sad to see her leave her current SACA position that she

embraced so well for 26 hours every day, and we wish her well in her new job.

The meeting proceeded with summaries of the written annual reports prepared

by our President, Secretary, Treasurer and Social Committee followed by the

election of Officer bearers as shown on page 1.

A highlight of the evening was that Chris Hollard received Life Member status.

This was a well deserving and highly regarded recognition of the enormous

amount of time and effort that Chris has inputted to our Association and his

many years of umpiring. Congratulations Chris.

The SACA Umpiring Manager Neil Poulton addressed the meeting and outlined

details of the season-opener meeting held on 23 July, and advised other

mportant meeting dates in our pre-season preparation for another year of

umpiring. Our thanks go to Neil for the huge input he provides to cricket

umpiring/training, with much of the effort having a direct spin-off benefit for

umpires in general and for our Association.

Some minor SACUSA Constitutional amendments were proposed to the

meeting and were carried at a voices vote.

After the ever popular drawing of the raffle and collection of prizes by numerous

members, a wonderful hot and cold choices finger-food supper was provide,

and thanks go to all those in having this supper prepared and provided.

WARNING: Test Match

There is a Test Match,

Australia v South Africa,

at Adelaide Oval (or what

there is of it) from

Thursday, November 22

to 26, 2012. And guess

what, none of the SACA

umpires will be attending

the match on Saturday 24

as they are scheduled to

be umpiring Grade cricket

that day. Other

Associations will shortly

advise their programmes.

WARNING: Australia

Day

There is no international

cricket in Adelaide on

the Australia Day

weekend, Saturday 26

January. Now there’s a

first!

SACA Grade cricket is

scheduled for that day

so all umpires are

expected to be

available.

Wine

There is still some SACUSA wine available at $120 /dozen. This wine from one of our sponsors St.Johns Road is outstanding and is tremendous value. Contact President Ted Branson if you want some, or some more!

I use the camera to surreptitiously film each ball, Rudi, so I can check a decision!

What cricketer has a higher Test match batting average than Sir Donald Bradman? A. In 1948, West Indian opener Andy Ganteaume

hit 112 against England in Trinidad in what turned

out to be his only Test innings, and thus ended with

a Test average of 112. In this match , all four

openers –Ganteaume, George Carew,

Jack Robertson and Billy Griffith – got hundreds in

a high–scoring draw.

Call-up? No, cool-down

Last season, one of our regular but ageing Panel 3 umpires was telephoned early on the last Saturday

morning of the season by our SACA Cricket

Umpiring Manager, Neil Poulton, whose opening remark was “I just had an umpire drop out of A Grade”

My heart leapt: Paradise was in the wind; I could die happy; Nirvana was at hand!

I thought in a mille-second “yes, my shoes are clean and my gear is pressed and ready to go, albeit hours

earlier than my regular match start time.”

Neil continued, “I’ve moved your partner X to B Grade and Y to A Grade. Z will be your new partner.”

Hope Springs Eternal!

Scorer Tom Palmer

Older umpires and scorers, or should it be those who have been around for quite or a long while, may

remember Tom Palmer, who was a very long time A grade popular scorer for University Cricket Club. Tom

passed away a couple of weeks ago. We offer our condolences to Tom’s family.

Scoring While updating some scorer training material a scorer, Tony Izzard, noticed an error in the scoring section of the new (2010) edition of Tom Smith’s Cricket Umpiring and Scoring. The second bullet point on page 247 states that: If the striker is out Caught when running and they have crossed to change ends the entry will be w‘ The underline under the w has been omitted. Notchers’ News is advised that the omission has already been identified by the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is flagged up as an issue to be addressed at the next reprint. In the meanwhile scorer instructors are advised to tell all those attending courses. Readers may wish to make a manual amendment to their copy of Tom Smith’s Cricket Umpiring and Scoring (2000 Code. 4th Edition 2010). Tony believes that the whole section on underlining merits a review and would like to see the following included in the text:

Underlining is used when the batsmen are not at the ends as expected from the scoring record entry. The above article is reprinted from the June 2012 issue of English publication Notchers’ News. Scorers may

be interested in this publication that can be accessed at

www.notchers.co.uk

Spirit of Cricket

In the 2000 edition of Laws of Cricket, many revisions were made by the MCC, the recognised sole

authority for the laws and amendments.

One notable inclusion in the 2000 edition was the Preamble defining the Spirit of Cricket.

Now, how about the following as a bit of history:

By order of the Committee of the MCC (dated June 20 1892) was an inclusion as an appendix to the Laws

entitled, Instructions to Umpires. The instruction concludes:

“Umpires should not allow themselves to be unduly influenced by appeals from such of the field who were

not in a position to form a judgment on the point appealed upon, or by tricks – such as throwing up the ball,

on appealing for a catch at the wicket, without waiting for the decision. Umpires, being the sole judges of

fair or unfair play, should remember that such devices are obviously unfair, and are not in accordance with

the spirit in which cricket should be played.

Umpire Registration Benefits

Umpire Member Benefits Card

Cricket Australia Accreditation Renewals

JLT Cricket Insurance Premium Paid

Discount on Cricket Australia

Accreditation Courses

Access to training materials and

seminars

Season Ticket to all Ryobi Cup matches at

Adelaide Oval

Access to Cricket SA corporate health plan and

associated discounts

from BUPA

Discount on Internet from Internode

10% Discount on bicycle accessories

from all Standish Cycles Stores

10% Corporate Discount on

Membership to Goodlife Health Clubs

3 Day pass to Goodlife Health Clubs

Cricket Umpire Killer A report from a Bangladash newspaper of an incident 30

Jan, 2012:

Nazrul Islam, 15, ran onto the pitch during an amateur

game in the remote northern district of Kishoreganj and

started an argument with the umpire, who took one of

the players' bats and hit the teenager. Islam showed no

serious injury from the blow during the game on Friday

but suffered an internal haemorrhage overnight and

died in the hospital the following day, local police chief

Mosharraf Hossain said:

"The two argued over a not-out decision by the umpire.

He accused the umpire of bias. At one stage, the umpire

became angry, took a bat and hit the young boy on the

head,"

The umpire was being sought for questioning but he had

gone into hiding, the police chief said. (surprised!!)

ANSWER OR OPINIONS SOUGHT Leg Side

LBW

Why is an LBW not out for balls pitching outside

the line of leg stumps? Maybe a reason could be

that, as we all know, it is harder for a batter to play

leg side shots than off side shots, and thus possi-

bly a reason is to prevent “deliberate” leg side

bowling, and/or, if it is harder to play leg side

shots, it may be easier for a bowler to hit a batters

pads in front of the stumps, particularly from a left

hander bowling over the wicket.

What are your opinions, or alternatively, does any-

one actually know the answer?

Interestingly:-

The Official Laws of Cricket of 1894 includes:

The STRIKER is out - …. If with any part of his

person he stops the ball, which in the opinion of

the umpire at the bowler’s wicket shall have been

pitched in a straight line from it to the striker’s

wicket and would have hit it: - “Leg before wicket.”

Tough for off-spin bowlers!!

No Ball Puzzler Here’s a situation which gives pause for thought; from a limited-overs international. The bowler is bowling right arm round the wicket. He bowls a front-foot no ball, and the umpire signals a free hit for the next delivery. The striker has not changed so the field must remain the same. The bowler says to the umpire,'I'm bowling over the wicket.' The commentators were of the opinion that he should not have been allowed to do so.

Comment. There is nothing in the playing regulations to deal with this specific situation and it does seem a bit unfair because it amounts to changing the field. (ie bowler is now in a different location! Some umpires argue that [the fictitious] ‘Law 43 — Common Sense’ should apply and allow it. What would you do? With thanks to David Duffy for this comment from the Leinster Cricket Umpires and Scorers Association(Ireland) newsletter.

John (Keg) Ferguson

Keg passed away recently after a short illness. Bill Penley recalls:-

John Ferguson was Sturt's A Grade captain in my first A Grade match. It was one of those stinking 43 degree

days and we were expected to wear collar and tie regardless (in those days). Vern Bell was my partner and

we went out to set up the stumps on Unley Oval and assess the conditions. I decided that I would begin at

the southern end due to the northerly wind that was blowing and that Jeff Kowalick, Sturt's quick would want

to bowl down wind.

When we reached the race we met Keg who took one look at us and said "Get those B... ties off. I want com-

fortable relaxed umpires not dinner guests”. We obliged instantly.

With the usual 5 minutes to go we walked out on to the ground to be followed by the fielding team, Sturt. Jeff

Kowalick came out of the race looked towards the middle and headed straight for me; he was going to open

into the wind. What a lovely chap he was, he introduced himself, handed me his cap and congratulated me

on my first A Grade match.

The game went off without any real problems until Vic Cristofani, East Torrens captain, came into bat. To put

it mildly Vic was different: he specialized in antogonising bowlers, frustrating fieldsmen and upsetting field

placings. He would bat a foot outside leg stump and slash balls over slips or even cover. Then he would bat a

yard out of his crease or outside off stump. He took strike differently for every ball. He really had Kowalick at

his wit's end as to where to bowl the next ball.

Then all hell broke loose. Jeff came into bowl but bowled without passing me and the ball was directed head

high at Cristofani. He took evasive action but was struck on the thumb and the ball went for 4. Next thing Vic

is coming down the pitch waving the bat ready to connect Kowalick and I became the meat in the sandwich.

Vern had called "No Ball" for a throw and was also coming towards me to speak to Kowalick and advise him

that he was on report.

Fergie came to me and asked if he could take Kowalick off and I responded that he had to be injured. "Will

you accept mentally disturbed as an injury?“ was Keg’s quick reply. One cannot argue with a well respected

lawyer on that issue so Kowalick was sent to deep mid off and Dennis Childs bowled the last 2 balls of the

over.

It didn't finish there! Next day’s Sunday Mail headline "New umpire orders State bowler out of attack". That

morning the phone rang about 10.30 with Neil Blundell, SACA Assistant Secretary, calling to inform me that

Sir Donald would like to have a word. There was a Shield game at Adelaide Oval at the time and I needed to

come to the Committee Room. I was unable to tell him what had led to the problem because it began behind

me but he congratulated me on the way it was handled and that what I said confirmed Mr Bell's account of

the event. From memory, Jeff got suspended for the rest of that match and one more.

Fred Godson and Max O'Connell returned from Shield duties next round and I returned to B Grade.

I played with University in a C Grade grand final against Prospect. Keg made a ton as opener. We won by an

innings! Ed.

Switch Hit From Ian Chappell, former captain of Australia writing on Cricinfo: ‘In addition to disadvantaging the bowlers, the switch hit could unfairly help the batting side win a tight Test match. By swapping at the last moment, a batsman could induce a no-ball under the maximum- two-fieldsmen behind-square-leg law to gain victory without hitting the ball or the bowler knowingly doing anything illegal.‘ Comment. Well, actually no it couldn’t, Ian, because the leg and off side are established by the striker’s stance when the bowler starts his run up [Law 36.3, Smith p 195].

Woof

An old Irish farmer's dog goes missing and he's

inconsolable.

His wife says "Why don't you put an advert in

the paper?"

He does, but two weeks later the dog is still

missing.

"What did you put in the paper?" his wife asks.

"Here boy" he replies.

Did you know?

Only once has a South Australian cricket team hosted

a first class match against a visiting touring team away

from Adelaide Oval. The venue, of all places, was

UNLEY OVAL!

The match was South Australia against Lord Hawke’s

Eleven in March 1903. Lord Hawke’s team was all

amateurs and it toured officially as the Marylebone

Cricket Club.

The match was to be played at Adelaide Oval, but the

match was abandoned as the oval had been booked

for the 28 March 1903 by the League of Wheelmen for

cycle racing.

(For those who are unaware, Adelaide Oval used to

have a cycle track around the field just beyond the

boundary. My (Editor’s) grandfather used to tell me

about his visits, with good crowds in attendance, to

watch the cycling when cricket was not on).

Upon hearing of the cancellation of the eagerly

awaited match, the Sturt Cricket Club offered to host

the match. The League of Wheelmen complained to

the SACA claiming that the match would take patrons

away from their event. SACA allowed the match to

transfer to Unley Oval.

The club erected marquees and seating to supplement

the existing grandstand, with seating for 1000 people.

6000 attended the 4 days of the match from 27 to 31

March. (No Sunday play in those days). Local

residents enthusiastically supported the event.

Scores were:

MCC 553

South Australia 304

South Australia follow-on 454

MCC 108

South Australia won by 97 runs, with Sturt player Harry

Hay (originally named 12th man) taking 0/70 and 9/67.

I guess you didn’t know!

One of our umpires in the off-season (with a red

jacket so he can be found if he falls!) looking from

6oo metres, in Switzerland, for a cricket field.

George Giffen played in

the Unley Oval match

Sober Call

During the 1950s, it was customary for the West Indians to estimate the runs to be scored from a shot. It was not, therefore unusual for the batsman to play a shot and call, ‘Come one’, Come two’ or ‘Come three’. On one occasion, under a blazingly bright Caribbean sky, veteran captain, Frank Worrell played a leg glance and set off, calling ‘Come three’ to the young Gary Sobers.

With the deep fine leg fielder emerging from the backdrop of a densely packed crowd, as the batsmen crossed, Sobers was heard to say, ‘Go back two!’

Thanks Bob Eldridge for this story. I guess you were there, Bob, to witness this!

New Accredited Presenters

Saturday 1st of September brought together some of our umpire coaches & umpire coordinators from 3 associations to spend the day working through the Cricket Australia, Presenter/Facilitators course. Conducted by Denis Burns, Cricket Australia’s Umpire Educator. The group was introduced in detail to the new training materials embedded in the Level 2 Umpire Program courseware. After a long day culmi-nating with a short presentation by all the participants the coaches continued into the evening with dinner at The British Hotel. – Neil Poulton

Paddy shouts frantically into the phone

"Baby’s coming; her contractions are

only two minutes apart!"

"Is this her first child?" asks the Doctor.

"No", shouts Paddy,

"this is her husband!"

Pollock, by Mexican

artist Gabriel Orozco

(Mexican Art???)

Umpire Administration Officer

It is with pleasure that I announce the appointment of Cheryl Barnett as SACA’s new Umpire Administration Officer. Cheryl has had a long involvement in cricket and with the SACA in various roles including a placement as a Women in Cricket Officer last year. Cheryl’s primary role will be to keep us all organised, ensuring availabilities are done on time, match paperwork is completed, umpires are paid on time and take control of the ever growing SACUSA My Cricket database. Cheryl participated in the State Umpiring Forum earlier in the year as a representative of Western Suburbs Junior CA and as such already has an excellent understanding of the structures which exist in umpiring. Cheryl is planned to commence next Monday 17th of September. – Neil Poulton

The journey of a new umpire

Many things have changed in the way umpires are recruited into umpiring and their road to standing in their first match. The majority of new umpires this year have got their start through the SACA website submitting an online form for more information about umpiring. These new candidates first receive in the post a flyer about umpiring, a DVD containing our TV advert and interviews with Simon Fry and Steve Davis. They also receive a registration form for the next level 1 umpire course and a list of dates to choose from to enrol in the course. Upon attending the 3 hours introductory course, the umpires receive a Level 1 umpire manual, laws of cricket book, interactive training CD and a ‘Match Day’ DVD. The new umpires also their first umpiring shirt. The green shirts which are becoming common place out on the ground and help signify an umpire is learning the craft and we should all be understanding to this process. From there the new umpires this year have undergone another 6 hours of additional laws study including a 50 question, open book exam to bring them up to speed. Add to this association By-Laws study nights & this weekend’s seminar a new umpires will go through over 25 hours of formal training before they step on to a game. It has been a steep learning curve for our rookie umpires, now as we transition from pre-season to in-season they need to learn about My Cricket, Paperwork, Votes, Ground locations and most importantly get to know their new friends in you their fellow umpires. If you see a new umpire at a meeting, or are lucky enough to umpire with one, remember what it was like when you started

Spud

Well, a Girl Potato and Boy Potato had eyes for each other and finally they got married, and had a little

sweet potato, which they called 'Yam'.

Of course, they wanted the best for Yam.

When it was time, they told her about the facts of life. They warned her about going out and getting half-

baked, so she wouldn't get accidentally mashed, and get a bad name for herself like 'Hot Potato'.

Yam said not to worry; no Spud would get her into the sack and make a rotten potato out of her!

But on the other hand she wouldn't stay home and become a Couch

Potato either.

She would eat properly so as not to be skinny like her Shoestring Cousins.

When she went off to Europe, Mr. And Mrs. Potato told Yam to watch out for those hard-boiled guys

from Ireland and the greasy guys from France called the French Fries.

And when she went out West, she must watch out for the Indians so she wouldn't get scalloped.

They sent Yam to Idaho P.U. (that's Potato University) so that when she graduated she'd really be "in

the Chips".

But in spite of all they did for her, one-day Yam came home and

announced she was going to marry Richie Benaud.

"Richie Benaud!!!!, they cried. They were very upset and told Yam "You can't possibly marry Richie

Benaud because he's just ... “just a COMMONTATER!"

Ouch!