Friday 27, February 1998
Too much of unwarranted appealing nowadays
School Cricket review by Premasara Epasinghe
In a game of cricket, an appeal means to ask the umpire to
declare a batsman out or to give some other decision. For
example, we can say "the whole side appealed for a catch," or
"the captain appealed against light" i.e. when the light was not
good enough for the game to continue. When comparing cricket to
other games, the players have the unique right to appeal against
the opposing batsman or question the umpire, whereas in other
outdoor games like soccer, hockey, rugby, football, tennis,
badminton etc or indoor games like table-tennis, boxing or
wrestling etc, the players have no authority or right to appeal
against the referee or question him. Therefore, as far as
cricket is concerned, shall we say, that its more democratic
than other sports. But,just because you have the right to appeal
in a game of cricket, you must not appeal to each and
everything.
It is sad to note that in today's context, cricket be it at
school, club or national level, the tendency of unwarranted
appealing has become the order of the day. It is very important
that coaches and matters take note of this and stop this malady
which is growing at school level.
In some inter-school cricket matches that I witnessed I noticed
that some players appeal just for the sake of appealing.
Sometime, the fielders stationed at fine leg, deep third man,
point or extra-cover ask the question from the umpire for
leg-before wicket (LBW), which is ridiculous, and shows how
ignorant the players are. It is only reasonable, a fielder in
front of the wicket - the bowler and the wicket-keeper, appeal
for a leg before wicket decision.
I think, application, dedication, concentration and complete
impartiality are some important, necessary qualities that makes
a successful umpire. An umpire must be able to remain calm under
pressure. All cricketers and the cricket-loving public, must
remember one fact. Umpires are bound to make mistakes. That's
part of human nature. In all cases, as you are aware, umpires
have to give the advantage to batsmen, if the umpire is anything
less than hundred percent certain. If a batsman is ruled out,
there must never be any doubt at all in the umpires' mind. So,
its nothing but fair that you must honourably agree with the
umpire's decisions. Glancing through Harold Dickie Bird's (the
best known umpire in the world in recent years) book "That's
Out", he writes that it would be a sad day if electronic aids
were introduced to complement the powers of the umpires. Dickie
Bird further states that he frankly just cannot see how such
aids would help with LBW decisions or for instance, bat-and-pad
catches. In case of LBW's, there are so many things to consider,
like the movement of the ball of the seam or through the air and
the point of impact. Electronics might help with close run-outs,
but that is virtually all, adds Dickie Bird. This is food for
thought for all of us.
Royal - Cambrians
Royal registered a thrilling ten-wicket win over Prince of Wales
with four balls to spare. This is incidently the first win for
Royal in the current inter-school season. The Cambrians were
shot out for 125 in their first innings with Umesh Gunawardane
capturing 4 wickets for 54 runs. Royal in reply scored 301 for 8
wickets with their consistent run-getter Jehan Mubrak missing
his century by 8 runs. Thushan Amarasuriya scored a well
compiled 66 runs. In their second innings Cambrians scored 188
runs. Indunil Hithetiya (36) and Chirantha Perera (34) batted
well for the Moratuwa lads.
Ananda - St. Benedicts
Ananda College continued their winning spree when they trounced
St. Benedicts' College by 10 wickets. The architect of Ananda
Victory was Akalanka Ganegama who troubled the Benedictines by
capturing seven wickets for 57 runs in the second innings.
Presidents College Rajagiriya - Raddoluwa MV
In an inter-school cricket match played at the Katunayake Air
Force ground, Raddoluwa MV beat Presidents College, Rajagiriya,
by 148 runs. Raddoluwa MV scored 171 and 130 for 6 respectively.
President's College scored 103 and in the second innings were
bundled out for a paltry 50 runs. W. Pannilawitha had a match
bag of 8 for 47 runs. In batting Raddoluwa MV batsman Chamra
Delpachitra, scored 57 runs.
St Josephs - St. Anthonys Katugastota
Batsman dominated the Josephian Antonian inter-school match with
both sides scoring 594 runs for 13 wickets.
Trinity - S' Thomas MTL
Trinity - S'Thomas encounter ended in a tame draw at Mount
Lavinia. Upeka Fernando, the Thomian skipper scored 72 runs.
Janaka Siriwardane batted well for his 48 runs and paceman N.
Ratwatte bowled well for the Thomians capturing 4 wickets for 14
runs.
Moratuwa MV - St. Thomas Matale
The highlight of the drawn game between St. Thomas Matale and
Moratu Vidyalaya was the century scored by O. Warnapura. For the
Matale Thomians, Nirmal Jayasinghe and R. Chandraratne scored
half centuries.
Wesley - St. Sebestians
In a thrilling match, time saved Wesley, when they had a close
call. St. Sebestians' bowlers dominated the proceedings in
Wesley's second innings and they were 80 for 8 wickets when
stumps were drawn.
St. Sylvesters - Kingswood
Up in the hills the St. Sylvesters' - Kingswood inter-school
cricket match played at Peradeniya ended in a draw. The notable
feature of this match was the century scored by Kingswoodian N.
Rupasinghe.
Holy-cross Kalutara - Rewatha Balapitiya
In the tenth outing this season, Holy Cross Kalutara recorded
their sixth win, which is undoubtedly a very creditable
achievement. They humbled Rewatha MV Balapitiya by 8 wickets.
A century by Sarath Payoe (117) and a fine all-round performance
by skipper Chaminda Ruwan (75 mins and a match bag of 6 for 91)
helped Holy Cross to record this win. for Rewatha MV, L. de
Silva bowled well capturing five wickets for 105 runs.
Source :: Daily News (https://www.lanka.net)