Another short game

I have two apologies to make, one for coming up with this write up one week late, the second one for not coming up with an interesting title.

Finally I had a game this season outside St. Bede's 'A' ground that completed. This was in A.M. Jain college 'A' ground on October 9, 2011. I had umpired in this ground once before when I just started umpiring with TNCA. It was a special game. If I remember correctly, I gave 4 or 5 LBW decisions in that game.

I reached the ground around 8:40 AM. The ground was not in a good shape. The ground was uneven. Moreover, the ground had lot of patches of grass and these were very long. Around the boundary, there was more grass and these were really long. In fact they were so long that we were not even able to see the cone that was place to mark the boundary. We had to ask the groundsman to elevate those cones, so that we could clearly identify the boundary.

The game was between TVS MSC and Prem CC. My colleague for the day was C. Jayachandran. I was umpiring with him for the first time. As other colleagues of mine in the past, even he has been umpiring for a long time. The sun was shining hard already at 9:00 AM. So, I was wondering how the day is going to be in terms of heat. Anyway, I was here and there was no looking back. I was in fact happy to have a game and that too outside St. Bede's 'A' ground :).

As the title of the post suggests, this was a short game, not as short as my last game but still short. The game lasted till half an hour after lunch. TVS MSC won the toss and elected to field. It was very slow and steady start from them. They were 27/1 in 12 overs. Their rate of scoring did not improve at all but wicket started falling in regular intervals. Soon they were all out for 90 in the 37th over, one hour before the scheduled lunch time (1:00 PM).

The total to get was less than what was set in the last game, still my assessment was that Prem CC will not go for the kill and bat the session before the lunch and consolidate. My anticipation was correct and they batted the 49 minutes left and score 42 for the loss of a wicket after 13 overs. Though they lost their second wicket immediately after the lunch, but that did not deter them. The batsmen showed some urgency in finishing the game and they reached the target in 23rd over and the game ended at 2:20 PM.

From umpiring perspective this game was not very challenging. There were only couple of appeals but they were not very difficult ones. With the scoring rate in the first innings being low, it was already uninteresting and as expected, in second innings there was no surprise, as the target was chased very easily. But as an umpire we do have to go through these kind of situations without any biases.

Having said that the game had its own interesting phases. Reaching milestones is everyone's ambition in a game. Batting milestones is very difficult in a low scoring games but at the same time bowling milestones are sometimes easy, rather bowling milestones result in low targets. Even here in this game, Prabhu from Prem CC got 5 wickets to bowl out TVS MSC, but there was phase where it was not sure if he would reach that milestone. By the end of 23rd over, he had taken 4 wickets and the team had lost 6 wickets. So out of the remaining 4 wickets he had to take only 1 wicket. Another wicket fell in 26th over but it was not Prabhu who took it. So that left him with only 3 more chances. After bowling 27th over Prabhu had to retire because he was not feeling well. He was out for 14 minutes. He had to spend 14 minutes before he could bowl again. In 32nd over the 8th wicket fell, later in 34th over the 9th wicket fell. That left Prabhu with only one chance. Luckily Prabhu became just eligible for bowling and he came to bowl the 37th over. He finally took the final wicket, that also took his tally to 5 wickets. I think this would have been a good lesson for Prabhu. He could have missed his milestone. Not that it is the most important thing in a match, but in this match he had the opportunity and he should have grabbed it in the beginning and not left it till the end.

There was another interesting phase in this low scoring game. It came too late in the game but it was nerve wrecking (it is definitely exaggeration) for John who was the batsman at crease towards the end of the game. As I said, reaching a batting milestone in low scoring game is very difficult, even for Sehwags and Gilchrists. John was batting at 44 and the team needed 10 runs to win. On the last ball of 21st John was on strike and he played a lofted shot over mid wicket. The ball pitched into the grass around the boundary and it was not very clear if it pitched inside the boundary or outside. Since I was standing at square leg, I was in a better position to judge if it was inside the boundary or not. In my opinion, it had pitched inside and thus I signalled it as 4 runs to my colleague and he signalled it to the scorer.

Now John reached 48 and the team needed 6 runs. 50 for him was still possible. The bowler was bowling from my end. John was at the non strike. The other batsman blocked 2 bowls and then he said aloud that he was going to block the full over. He did the same and 22nd over ended with the team still needing 6 runs to win and John needing 2.

23rd over began with John on strike. Either John was desperate or he wanted to reach 50 with a big hit. It was a new bowler. John decided to go after him. He swung the bat and missed it completely. The next ball as well he swung the bat and missed it completely. Now common sense prevailed and he decided that he will take a single. 3 ball left in the over and the team needed 5 runs and John needed 1 for his 50. The other batsman on strike knew that he had to give back John strike. 4th ball, there was no run taken. 5th ball the bowler strayed towards the leg and batsman somehow got a bat to that and the bowl raced to the fine leg boundary and now both the batsmen on crease were in distress. The scores were tied and the team needed only 1 run and John was stranded at non striker end. The striker was cursing himself. Last ball of the 23rd over, the bowler again strayed, I guess some other time, the batsman would not have chased it, but to endure that it was not a wide, the batsman touched it hoping that it would not cause any issue. But the drama was not over. Even this time the ball went towards the fine leg boundary. There was no fielder, but the ball was travelling with lesser speed compared to the previous delivery. Now everyone on the field knew the situation. Every one was watching the ball to see if it crosses the boundary or not. No price for guessing, the batsmen did not run. It was worth watching the striker's face. At this point of time, the grass at the boundary came as an rescue for both the batsmen on the crease. The ball stopped just before the boundary and the over number 23rd ended with some heart beats.

It was the 24th over, the bowler was bowling from my end. It was a bowling change and John was on strike. 1 needed for his 50 and 1 needed for his team to win. The bowler was bowling for the first time in the game so he was rusty. He bowled the ball and the ball was wide of the off stump and John chased it and missed it. It was too close to be called a wide. The batsman watched me after missing the delivery, the bowler turned back to see what my decision was. On any other similar moment, I would have called this a wide. But this situation was exceptional. I chose not be the hero of the moment and thus did not call it a wide. The agony on the face of John turned into relief. The status quo was maintained. John was now desperate. The second ball was bowled and John played he shot too early and the ball took the top edge of the bat and skied high. The ball went to mid off where there was a fielder, who comfortably took his position to get the catch. John was running towards my end to complete the run watching the fielder, the non striker ran towards the wicket keeper end watching the ball travel to the fielder. The fielder somehow messed it up and dropped a dolly and John reach his well deserved 50 but not before some exciting moments.

Though the game was short, but the last phase of the game gave it some life. My next game is on Oct 16. I am back to St Bede again, but this time it is 'B' ground. I will let you know what happened there. Till then happy waiting.

Shortest game

After so many rain affected schedule this season, I was able to umpire a game today. This is the third game (out of 7 postings) this season that I was able to umpire. This was also the third game in the same ground, St Bede's 'A'. So, I guess I can say that if I am posted in this ground, I can expect for sure that the game will be completed :).

Apart from the fact that I was able to umpire full game on this ground (without getting affected by rain), there is one more thing that I would like to mention about the games that I umpired here. All the three games finished before the scheduled time of close (5:15 PM). Today's game was the shortest of them and if my memory is good then, I think this is the shortest one day game (50 overs) that I have ever umpired. When I say shortest, it is in terms of the time duration. There is one game that comes to mind that finished just after the lunch, but this one wound up even before lunch, 12:46 PM to be precise (Scheduled lunch time 1:00 PM).

When I arrived in Chennai on Saturday morning, I heard that it had rained heavily on Thursday. I saw little evidence of anything like that. I am not saying that it was not true, but what I mean is the water had dried. So I knew that if does not rain on Saturday, I will have a game for sure on Sunday. I know you must be bored of reading similar statements in my previous posts. Even I am bored of writing this time and again. As I hoped, it did not rain on Saturday and I went to the ground today hoping to have a full game.

Every game presents a new situation and this one was no different. It was almost 9:15 AM and there was no sign of my colleague. The match starts at 9:30 AM and the toss had to be done before 9:15 AM. Not that I could not have done the toss alone, but at toss, we need to communicate certain things to the captains and those things needs to be first agreed between us. So I was in a situation where I had to go for a toss without speaking to my colleague. I went for the toss and clarified certain things with respect to the boundaries. My colleague (T. Ranga Mannar) arrived at 9:25 AM. He was stuck because of some cycle race being organized in the neighborhood on occasion of Gandhi Jayanthi today.

Both of us walked into the ground and I took this opportunity to introduce myself and also told him about what I communicated to the captains. He was of a different opinion about what I had spoken to the captains on the boundaries, but then the communication had already been made and he kindly agreed to stick by whatever I had said. In spite of my colleague arriving late, the game started as scheduled at 9:30 AM.

Match Summary is as follows:

It was game between Youth Centre CC and Nelson SC, division 5 game. YCCC won the toss and elected to bat. They scored 101/10 in 29.5 overs. Nelson CC chased the score in just 11.3 overs scoring 107 at the loss of 3 wickets. YCCC innings ended at 11:45 AM and the game concluded at 12:46 PM.

As I said, every match has its own situations and mostly it is different from anything that we would have seen in the past. Thus every match has a learnings for us to take. Even though today's match was the shortest, it had its own share of incidents. In the 6th over, the bowler was bowling from my end. The batsman hit a straight shot and the bowler fielded comfortably. Though the batsman was comfortably in, the bowler threw the ball on the stumps at the wicket-keeper end. The ball hit the batsman on his knees. The bowler apologised, but it was a needless throw. Now this is not something unusual. We have seen such aggression many a time on TV. One of the team member from the batting side, outside the ground, shouted at the bowler for his act. This invoked reactions from the fielders in the ground. I had to pitch in on time and later even my colleague intervened, to ask the fielders to concentrate on the game and not get engaged in things outside the field of play.

After some time when the batsmen were taking a single, in an attempt to runout the batsman, the fielder threw the ball at the wicket-keeper's end. The ball hit the batsman while he was completing his run. I think no marks for guessing that it was a fuel added to the exiting fire. Before any reaction from the batsman, I cautioned the fielder to be careful. After the end of the over, the fielder went and apologised to the batsman and batsman accepted it gracefully. In the same innings, there was another instance when the same fielder, again in an attempt to runout the batsman, threw the ball to the wicket-keeper. The ball was again nowhere close to the wicket and this time, to my relief, it closely missed the batsman. Every fielder on the field was furious. The closing filder shouted at this guy and warned him of a potential confrontation, this could trigger. I spoke to the captain immediately to ensure that the fielder was more careful when throwing the ball at wicktes. The capatin apologised and assured that it would not happen again.

In the 12th over, there was a very confident appeal for LBW from the bowler and the closing fielders. I took 4 or 5 seconds extra to answer the appeal. I replayed the event in my mind and saw that the ball had clearly hit the pad and had it not hit the pad, it would have hit the stumps. In replaying the event, I also realized that I had heard the faint nick. Soon after that, instead of saying 'Not Out', I said it was a bat. Then later I realized my mistake and said, 'Not Out'. I had to answer the appeal first, and then if necessary, explan. One of the fielder, commented 'Sir, please give the decision soon'. I said, I had to give the right decision even though with a delay. The bowler was not convinced, but the closing fielders confirmed that indeed there was a bat. That additional seconds helped me to give the correct decision. I loved it. I was more confident after that decision.

Later in the second innings, in the 7th over, there was a huge appeal when I was at the bowler's end. First it was the bowler who appealed vociferously, then the wicket-keeper who caught the ball, came appealing and running on the pitch till the middle of the pitch. I was a bit confused now. I was not sure what the appeal was for. I thought that it was for LBW initially, but later the way the keeper charged towards me, I was not sure if they were appealing for a catch. But in any case, it was "Not Out". In my opinion, the ball was no way close to the bat and hence there was no possibility of the catch. As far as LBW was concerned, the impact was outside the off stump and the batsman was offering a shot, so he could not be ruled out. While walking back towards the run-up, the bowler asked me if it was the height that saved the batsman. Now I was convinced about what the appeal was for. I told him the reason, though it is not required for me to explain. The bowler seemed convinced. Once again, it was a correct decision from me. When the batsman came to the non-striker end, he said, it was a good decision as his bat was no way near the ball. The batsman was of the opinion that appeal was for catch. So my decision that it was not out for catch was also correct. Though it is not that we can go by his word, but I thought that his statement was genuine. I thanked him.

That is about the key moments for me in this game. The most ironic fact about the game was that it finished even before the lunch. In my previous game, when I called off the game, I was there at ground till 12:30 PM and today the game itself lasted only till 12:46 PM.

My next game would be on October 9, 2011. At this point of time, I do not know the details of the game. As usual, I will keep you updated after the game.