Association of Cricket Officials Issue 29 | Page 15

Four Balls, 92 Runs The Bails Stay On In a bizarre innings that lasted just 17 minutes, Axiom Cricketers chased down the target of 89 set by Lalmatia in a league match in Dhaka, Bangladesh. In protest to ‘poor umpiring’, the four legal deliveries, out of 20 balls bowled, included 65 wides and 15 no balls. The record for most runs off an over in a First Class match goes to the unfortunate Robert Vance, who conceded 77 runs off an over in 1990 playing for Wellington against Canterbury (New Zealand). Aside from the umpires tiring from repeatedly lifting their arms, scorers – how would you deal with a 17-ball over? (Every scorer’s nightmare.) In even more bizarre circumstances, a recent match in Melbourne saw the bails manage to remain intact while middle stump was uprooted. Jatinder Singh from Moonee Valley turned around to the fateful noise of the ball clattering into his stumps to see his middle stump gone, but the two bails intact. The Bails Are Off In a rare victory for Afghanistan over West Indies, the main news from the ODI was the lack of bails for much of the game. Strong winds across St Lucia forced the umpires to decide to remove the bails in the 20th over of the Afghan innings, and they were not replaced until the 10th over of the West Indies’. Law 8.5 states that: ‘The umpires may agree to dispense with the use of bails, if necessary. If they so agree then no bails shall be used at either end. The use of bails shall be resumed as soon as conditions permit.’ Law 28.4 describes how it is the umpire’s decision as to whether or not the wicket has been put down. Has this ever happened to you? We’d love to hear if the wind has ever forced you to play without bails or if the weather has had a bizarre effect on your game. Law 28.1.b states that: ‘The disturbance of a bail, whether temporary or not, shall not constitute its complete removal of the stumps’, which would suggest that because the bails had remained intact the batsman should be given not out. However, the first line of Law 28.1 confirms that: ‘The wicket is put down if a stump is struck out of the ground.’ After much deliberation, the umpires on this occasion correctly gave the batsman out. Fraser Stewart (MCC Laws Manager) went on to say that: ‘The problem was caused by the wicket being incorrectly pitched, either by its positioning or the size of the equipment. A wicket comprising three stumps and two bails of the correct size (of 21.9 centimetres) would mean the situation could not happen. The ends of the bails resting on the middle stump should not be touching. If a mistake in setting up the wicket has been made, the umpires need to apply fairness and common sense to reach the correct decision.’ Tethered Bails Records Tumble for Yorkshire Duo Under the new Laws code, tethered bails may be used as a safety measure so long as they do not impinge on the normal ability of the fielding side to dislodge the bails. They were used for the first time at Lord’s on 15 June in the MCCU final, which saw Cardiff defeat Loughborough. The new contraption is said to consist of the off and leg stumps having two holes drilled down with a piece of cotton grounding the bails down, so that they can travel no further than eight centimetres. The idea behind the Law change was incidents such as Mark Boucher’s career-ending injury back in 2012. In the last issue we reported on a young Indian batsman, Mohit Ahlawat, and his 300* in a T20 match. This time we have a record which is slightly closer to home. In a third wicket stand of 459, Jack Allman’s 258 and Harry Cullingford’s 206 took the Pudsey St Lawrence Second XI from 66-2 to 525-3 in their Bradford League game against Brighouse. Was it enough? Brighouse declared after just one delivery to forfeit the match! This record, which stands in a club that features names such as Sir Len Hutton, Herbert Sutcliffe and Martin Crowe, will certainly be hard to beat. email us at [email protected] contact us on 0121 446 2710 15