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 Cf yank Supreme Court decisions over time which have enacted/repealed laws materially affecting millions of people’s lives.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 Cf yank Supreme Court decisions over time which have enacted/repealed laws materially affecting millions of people’s lives.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.

 

[Breretonisahood]

Latest Wisden World XI 2024 has 5 Poms. From the 4th ranked test team??!! That’d be like Freo providing half the all Australian team (no offence meant to Freo fans). Does Wisden even pretend to be impartial? Is it even relevant anymore?

 

[cricketnut14]

Latest Wisden World XI 2024 has 5 Poms. From the 4th ranked test team??!! That’d be like Freo providing half the all Australian team (no offence meant to Freo fans). Does Wisden even pretend to be impartial? Is it even relevant anymore?

the all australian tean is different - all 18 teams play 23 home & away games and approx 900 players eligible.

england always play the most games each year.

 

[big_e]

Latest Wisden World XI 2024 has 5 Poms. From the 4th ranked test team??!! That’d be like Freo providing half the all Australian team (no offence meant to Freo fans). Does Wisden even pretend to be impartial? Is it even relevant anymore?

Wisden has never pretended to be impartial - it's an English publication that has always given more credence to the English game. That they've picked five English players should surprise nobody.

 

[t_94]

Unfortunately not every comp / association has their own umpires.

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

Yes, and those comps that don’t have them are wheelie bin cricket.

 

[Rabish Binney]

Yes, and those comps that don’t have them are wheelie bin cricket.

Bit hard to get Umps in country cricket comps.

 

[PhatBoy]

Latest Wisden World XI 2024 has 5 Poms. From the 4th ranked test team??!! That’d be like Freo providing half the all Australian team (no offence meant to Freo fans). Does Wisden even pretend to be impartial? Is it even relevant anymore?

Have you actually looked at the figures of the players selected, or just had a whinge based on the rankings of the teams they play for?

the test rankings are not even based on what happened in 2024. They are based on results across multiple years.

England had a decent enough year, went 9-8, and the guys that made that Wisden side have been debated ad nauseum on this site:

Duckett joined Jaiswal as the best of a bad bunch as the second opener.

Root picks himself, he averaged 55 and hit 6 hundreds in 17 tests.
Brook picks himself. He averaged 55 and hit 4 hundreds in 12 tests.
Jamie Smith averaged 43 in his first 9 tests, struck at over 70 and kept beautifully. His only rival was Rizwan who averaged 44 - but Rizwan’s average was cushioned by one big unbeaten score at the start of the year (170* against Bangladesh) and he didn’t pass 50 in his last 9 innings.


Which brings us to Gus Atkinson.

Atkinson had not played a test match before 2024.
He now has 52 wickets at 22, 3 five wicket hauls, and a test century.

If you can make a reasonable argument as to why they are in a Wisden XI based on their nationality and not on their output, I’d be interested to hear it.

 

[Rabish Binney]

Wisden has never pretended to be impartial - it's an English publication that has always given more credence to the English game. That they've picked five English players should surprise nobody.

Wisden lost me when they named WG Grace (test average of 32) as one of the openers in the test team of the century.

I’ve already gone on about it on a different forum.

Understand the impact he had on early cricket in England but it is the test team of the century, not the ‘who had the most influence on cricket XI’

The fact that Gavaskar was overlooked as the other opener with Jack Hobbs was disgraceful

 

[sabso]

Wisden lost me when they named WG Grace (test average of 32) as one of the openers in the test team of the century.

I’ve already gone on about it on a different forum.

Understand the impact he had on early cricket in England but it is the test team of the century, not the ‘who had the most influence on cricket XI’

The fact that Gavaskar was overlooked as the other opener with Jack Hobbs was disgraceful

People justifiably label trumper a great despite averaging 39, the whinging Aussies just go ‘but muh different era’ when the average is mentioned.

I’d have had Hobbs and Herbert sutcliffe opening but grace is an all time great.

 

[Dubai Quacker]

Wisden lost me when they named WG Grace (test average of 32) as one of the openers in the test team of the century.

I’ve already gone on about it on a different forum.

Understand the impact he had on early cricket in England but it is the test team of the century, not the ‘who had the most influence on cricket XI’

The fact that Gavaskar was overlooked as the other opener with Jack Hobbs was disgraceful

You try opening on a pommy wicket that hasn’t been covered, is damp & a lovely shade of emerald green.

I’ve done it. Good luck surviving.

The thing about Dr G is how much he stood out above his contemporaries. Which, in my view, is the mark of greatness.

In any event, we all know that John Dyson was robbed.

 

[Rabish Binney]

You try opening on a pommy wicket that hasn’t been covered, is damp & a lovely shade of emerald green.

I’ve done it. Good luck surviving.

The thing about Dr G is how much he stood out above his contemporaries. Which, in my view, is the mark of greatness.

In any event, we all know that John Dyson was robbed.

Yeah we all know his influence on cricket in the early days

No one disputes that

But he doesn’t deserve to be in the best test X1 of the century.

 

[sabso]

Yeah we all know his influence on cricket in the early days

No one disputes that

But he doesn’t deserve to be in the best test X1 of the century.

*XI

 

[Dubai Quacker]

T20 teams putting their most damaging batsman at 6 or 7.

 

[31550]

Yes, and those comps that don’t have them are wheelie bin cricket.

Another thing that annoys me is the elitist attitude towards grass roots, park and community cricket. The vast majority of cricket lovers and cricket players never play at a level which warrants or can afford professional umpires, yet they are the ones who provide the income for professional players and umpires, pay their subscriptions, support club sponsors, attend fundraising events, pay the council rates to maintain grounds and facilities, attend working bees, coach and umpire the kids and drive them to games, etc. etc. Then we get pissed on by elitist snobs who tells us we aren't playing 'real cricket'.

 

[BrownYouGun]

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..

Pretty poor having the u16 out there tbh. I remember doing it when I was about 12 and giving a bloke out stumped when I wasn’t watching because of the pressure of being appealed. No idea if he was in or not but he seemed to think he was, but a junior shouldn’t ever be sent out to umpire even at square. Get them to do scoring if they need to do bits to help out

Opposition captain sounds like a good bloke, some of the shit blokes masquerading as cricketers out there wouldn’t be so forgiving