Barbados: Police Lose Match, Team Upset With Umpires (5 October 1998)

5 October 1998

Police Lose Match, Team Upset With Umpires

by Philip Spooner

After a day of hot battle, play ended controversially with Police protesting the outcome of a one-sided affair.

The difficulty surrounded a decision by umpires Dalton Holder and Richard King to inspect the pitch 15 minutes before they had originally scheduled, and this led to an outcry by the lawmen.

After dismissing Police for 108 off 35 overs, St. Catherine sped to 51 for three off 12 overs, when a sharp but heavy shower at 3:15 p.m. led to an hour-long delay.

The rain caused some damage, with a puddle forming at the northern end of the pitch.

The umpires then informed the teams that they would inspect at 4:30 p.m., but revised this and went out 15 minutes earlier.

They then decided that play would start at 4:30 p.m. and based on calculations, St. Catherine would need just one more run off seven overs.

This caused some anger in the Police camp, with captain Leslie Reifer being upset that he was not informed about the inspection which led to the early restart.

He then informed the umpires, opponents and match referee Michael Lewis that his side would lodge a protest.

On the field, Police were in trouble from the start when Dayne Maynard grabbed two wickets in the first three overs.

They never recovered fully and only 28 off 56 balls from Reifer, and 20 in 84 minutes by Rudolph Clarke, lifted the score on a pitch which appeared two-paced.

Both batsmen sustained serious injuries. Clarke was forced to retire hurt after he received a painful blow in the box off Victor Skeete, while the veteran Reifer pulled a hamstring and could not take the field when St. Catherine batted.

Maynard had four for ten off seven overs, while the strongly-built Skeete snared three for 20.

St. Catherine started their innings in sun-bathed conditions, but after an hour the rain stepped in.

By then Gregory Jones (18) and teenager Patrick Browne (19) had added 35 for the first wicket at a run-a-minute.

Medium-pacer Alvin Campbell intervened with three for ten, but the controversy stole the afternoon.

Spartan beat Yorkshire by 14 runs
BDF beat YMPC by 22 runs
Empire beat Maple by 8 wickets
Wanderers beat BCL by 6 wickets
BET beat Banks by 90 runs
Carlton beat BRC by 7 wickets
Pickwick beat Wotton by 34 runs

Source :: The Barbados Nation (https://www.nationnews.com/)