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.