In close matches we often look to little moments which went,
or might have gone your way, when looking to find the key factor that affected
the result. On Saturday at Caythorpe, we just missed out on what would have
been a big 20 points, and since then, we have done some soul searching to
understand why we did not get out on the right side of a game we thought we
should have won.
While it would be easy to point to a close LBW shout we had
on Martin Dobson, whose stalwart 67 not out saw the home side over the line, or
the five penalty runs we incurred for running on the wicket, our real downfall
proved to be our failure to tough it out for another 20 or 30 runs to complete
our innings. We made some poor decisions, myself included, and we must, and
will get better at playing smart cricket.
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the importance of
making good decisions as often as possible. I feel as a group, this Saturday’s
result is an excellent opportunity to learn and take stock of what that means.
Dominic Wheatley was exceptional on Saturday in his reading of the game and his
shot selection. It was just a real pity none of us could match his application.
That is where we must now learn quickly.
During the week, many people have discussed the
controversial decision making of Sri Lankan Captain Angelo Matthews following
his decision to support an appeal by Sachithra Senanayake for a ‘Mankad’
run-out of Joss Butler who was caught out of his crease backing up. While what
the Sri Lankans did was within the Laws of the game, many people argued that it
was not within the spirit of the game.
 |
| Joss Butler run-out Mankad style |
I think the key to this point is the fact it is a silly law.
How can a batsman be out if no ball has been bowled? There is no doubt that
batsman stealing yards has become an increasing problem, and that is ultimately
cheating, but there must be a more sensible way of dealing with this.
I personally would like to see the umpire ‘call’ batsman for
excessive backing up in the way that they do for bowlers or batsmen running on
the wicket. They could then be admonished with five run penalty, which would
prove deterrent enough for them to do it. They key would be to allow the umpire
to interpret what is taking the proverbial Michael with it and what is
genuinely good backing up. Anyone who watched the replay of the Butler
dismissal from midweek will be hard pressed to say Butler was, to coin a
Baseball phrase, ‘stealing a base’. Yet with the change in the law which has
now moved from allowing the bowler to do it during their action, as oppose to
before their back foot landed, it becomes very hard for a batsman to back up
well and keep focused on the other end.
I will leave you with a thought. If a bowler runs in and
breaks the stumps with his bowling hand during his delivery accidently, with
the batsman out of his crease backing up, is it a no-ball for the bowler
breaking the stumps (recent law change a-la Steve Finn) or could the bowler
then appeal for a run-out?
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