How fair do you play ?

Stylo

Right..... here we go ...... you're facing some unknown bowler, you're hopeful of avoiding a duck .......... you're feeling pretty good ... there's a bit of sledging, but nothing you can't handle ........... you've scored a few runs ........ you're quite happy the way things are going and suddenly you edge one to the keeper, or slip ......... big appeal .......... do you walk ? you know you hit it but .... do you wait for the umpire ? It is his decision, but you know in your heart or hearts that you ARE out ol chum - so, do you tuck bat and head for the pavilion, cursing the bad ball, the pitch, the fishing outside off stump, or do you stay, rock-solid, waiting for the umpire to tell you ?

To me, as a very keen cricketer, YOU WALK - YOU'RE OUT - but (and there's is some honesty required here) would YOU walk ?

TrueDub

Yes

cgf

Walk

Gyalist

You edge a ball to slip and wait for the umpire to give you out?

djimi

I would walk in almost every situation, unless I am playing against a team who have spent the game going out of their way to cheat (unnecessary calling of our bowlers for wides that clearly arent, not giving lbw decisions that hit the batsmans back leg half way up middle stump, persistant appealing for decisions that are clearly not out, that kind of thing), or for a team who have played the game in very bad spirit (bowlers screaming at our younger players for not giving lbw decisions or for calling them for bowling wides, persistant and nasty sledging etc), in which case they do not deserve my sportmanship. I am aware that the laws and spirit of the game are not at the mercy of my interpritations based on the current situation of the game Im currently playing, but there are times when its just plain immoral to give certain teams or certain members of certain teams the satisfaction of my being sporting towards them. Others may feel it is taking the higher moral ground to not sink to their level, but Im not going to hurt my own team just to make a moral point.

But in 99% of situations I will walk!!!

simonrooneyzaga

Gyalist wrote: »

You edge a ball to slip and wait for the umpire to give you out?

Donald to Atherton, 1998 - Athers literally punched it to 1st slip and didnt walk - wasnt given out either for some silly reason and went on to score 185 not out!

Id walk.

dereko1969

walk nay skip to the pavilion knowing i'd done the right thing, it can be tempting as djimi said not to if the other side has been annoying you but i'd clamber up on my big high horse and feel smug - the thing is if i'm batting my team is already in real trouble!

HonalD

Let's change this to reality - you are Amla (SA vs Eng 2nd Test 1st Day), you see that the catch is taken by Vaughan and the celebrations start, you walk but 15m from the rope, you are instructed to stop by your coach (and selector I might add) - do you a) stop and look back at the umpires to see what is happening, b) keep walking......back to South Africa and don't play again in a Test?

Is this cheating? By the coach, probably - it looked like a bump ball - Was Vaughan cheating? it looked like a bump ball - Shoudl Amla just keep walking, views please? (Apologies to anyone who didnt see it yet - but I'm sure Sky Sports will be crying into their pints tonight showing it again, and again, and again.......:)

djimi

The situation with Amla was a little different as he had been given out and was simply walking away. He was then instructed by his coach and captain to stop before crossing the boundary rope. In that case, it was Arthur and Smith who were blatently cheating. It is not the right of any coach or captain to demand a video replay for something that the umpire has already judged to be out, and it is not fair to put the umpire in that situation. It is the laws of the game that the umpires decision is final, but apparently SA feel they are above the law. It was also the fault of the umpires not to tell SA where to go with themselves. I seriously hope this kind of thing does not become commonplace in cricket, or we are going to see every single wicket contested by the batting captain/coach, and it will get to the point where we may as well replace the umpires with video cameras. It has happened a few times before, and I hope it gets nipped in the bud quickly.

cgf

Errh - he wasn't cheating.

He wasn't actually given out by the umpire, he "walked". It wasn't exactly in the spirit of the game for Nel to come onto the ground and tell him to stand his ground but then again neither was Vaughan claiming the "catch" in the first place. By returning to the crease he posed the question to the umpires as to whether it was a legal catch or not. The umpires then had to consult amongst themselves - during this they referred it to the 3rd umpire for assistance and their collective opinion was that they was sufficient doubt about the "catch" and they could not give the batsman out.

Afaik, the use of electronic equipment to assist in decisions other than runouts was knocked on the head but in this series a number have been referred to the 3rd umpire for their opinion. They need to clear up whether a rugby style TMO forms part & parcel of the umpiring team at tests.

And no, I'm not a SA supporter - I hate their style of cricket

djimi

If he walked then that is a different matter (I didnt actually see the incident on tv, I only heard about it after on TMS); the umpires didnt give him out, and if there was any doubt about the catch then he was right to ask the umpires to clarify. It was not right of Nel to come charging out telling him to go back, but that is not the first time that has happened, and nothing is ever done about it, so I suspect it may become a feature of cricket in future.

I hate the idea of any kind of electronic aids for the umpire. I also hate Sky using things like hawkeye and all that nonsense to analyse every decision the umpire makes. What purpose does it serve other than to discredit the umpire? The laws of the game state that the umpires decision is final, and the more technology that comes into the game, the less this becomes true. It has already gotten the stage where an umpire is terrified to give a run out unless he gets it wrong; do we want it to get to the point where every wicket is referred to the tv umpire? Over rates in test cricket are slow enough as it is...
I would love to see cricket do away with all technology (in test cricket at least) and give complete power back to the umpire. I would also like to see the media banned from using technology to discredit the umpires, but unfortunately in this day and age I cant see it happen. I honestly believe that the standard of umpiring would improve ten fold if every one of their decisions was not scutinised to death.

dereko1969

in fairness the technology especially hawkeye has shown how brilliant the umpires are, if you think about the amount of appeals for lbw most of the top-class umpires get over 95% correct which is fairly amazing - in the test match the other day the tv people were giving out about cook's lbw i think and while it was indeed missing leg stump it was a gee hair away from hitting leg stump so even when they're wrong they're not that wrong

Damo.Smith

you have to walk

djimi

Derek, dont get me wrong, I can see how the technology is a good thing, and youre right, most of the time it does show how good the umpires are, but it is also making them terrified to make decisions in case they are proven to be wrong. When was the last time we saw an umpire use his own judgement to give a run out, unless the batsman is 5 feet out of this ground? If it gets to the stage the umpires can use the replays for catches and lbws and things like that, then they will never make a decision based on their own judgement for fear that they will get torn apart by Skys scrutiny if they get it wrong. Cricket is a human game; batsmen make mistakes, its how they get out, bowlers make mistakes, otherwise there would be no need for an extras column, and we should accept that from time to time umpires will make mistakes too. This does not mean that we should take the power away from them to make decisions. Its the old story, the more you scrutinize and criticize someones mistakes, the more likely they are to make more of them.

I would like to see cricket go down the route of tennis, where you would get 3 appeals per innings, and that is all you can use technology for, be it for run outs, close catches, whatever. I know this was tried before, but properly implemented I believe this is the way forward, both to bring technology into the game, and also to leave the power with the umpires.