ECB ACO Newsletter - Spring 2013

Laws – queries (continued)If only they’d sat a Level 1 course….How many times have you watched First-Class cricket and thoughtthat? Countless I bet… well we want to compile a list of incidentsto aid our quest to convince First-Class Counties that their playersshould sit a Level 1 Umpiring Course.To get the ball rolling we’ll start with the incident mentionedseveral times in this publication involving Jonny Bairstow duringEngland’s second Test match vs. India this winter.Bairstow’s incident when he played across the line to Ojha andthe leading edge flew to Gautam Gambhir at silly point. Gambhirpouched the offering at the second attempt but replays showed theball thudded into his chest and lodged under the grille of his helmetbefore falling out and landing in his palms.Bairstow tucked his bat under his arm and walked beforeumpires Tony Hill and Aleem Dar could make a decision. As we allknow and according to the laws of the game, he would not havebeen given out, since the ball hit a fielder's helmet. Law 32.3clearly states: "The act of making the catch shall start from the timewhen the ball in flight comes into contact with some part of afielder's person other than a protective helmet and shall end when afielder obtains complete control both over the ball and over his ownJonny Bairstowmovement. However, it shall not be a fair catch if the ball haspreviously touched a protective helmet worn by a fielder. The ballwill then remain in play."Continued on page 13MCC introduces newNo ball LawThe MCC Committee has announced that, from 1 October 2013, thebowler breaking the stumps during the act of delivery shall be called aNo ball.MCC has decided to introduce the new Law - following the latestmeeting of its Committee on Wednesday 20 February - after severalrecent incidents involving England’s Steven Finn repeatedly breakingthe wicket at the bowler’s end during his delivery stride.The Laws are currently silent on this issue, although Law23.4(b)(vi) allows the umpire to call and signal Dead ball if the strikeris distracted.The on-field umpires first ruled the disturbance of the stumps byFinn as a Dead ball during the second Test between England and SouthAfrica at Headingley in August 2012.Since then, there has been a great deal of debate on the subjectwithin MCC, by the ICC, and from the wider cricketing world, leadingto this announcement.MCC Head of Cricket, John Stephenson, said: “MCC continues toact as a robust Guardian of the Laws of Cricket, and must ensure thatit consults widely within the amateur and professional game beforemaking changes that will affect anyone who plays the game.“MCC’s decision today to make the breaking of the stumps duringthe act of delivery a No ball provides clarity to the situation and removesthe need for a subjective assessment to be made by the umpire asto whether the striker has been genuinely distracted or not.“It also ensures that the striker will still be credited with any runsthat he scores from the delivery, and will act as a significant disincentiveto the bowler from doing it.”The MCC Laws sub-committee – which includes former internationalumpire Simon Taufel and ICC Chief Executive David Richardson – andthe MCC Cricket committee have discussed the matter at length. Upontheir recommendations, the MCC Committee has amended the No ballLaw accordingly.The 2000 Code 5th Edition – 2013 of the Laws of Cricket will comeinto force on October 1 this year and will feature the new No ball Law.Finn responded in England’s final ODI against New Zealand inNapier by shortening his run up by seven or eight yards which meant heno longer started on the advertising slogan painted on the outfield. TheBreaking the stumps will become a No ballchange seems to have no impact on his pace as the ball, asusual, screamed through to wicket-keeper, Jos Buttler, standingat least a pitch-length back from the stumps.The cricket media have reported that Finn has been workingon this since before the last Ashes tour but had been resistantto implementing the change outside of practise. It nowseems he has found an antidote to prevent him knocking thestumps with his right knee.There may be a sense of déjà-vu among some of you whoremember a young pace bowler around 1973, with a long,lumbering run and heaving action, in the infancy of a Test careerwho frequently knocked the bails - Richard Hadlee.Hadlee was noted for dislodging the bails with his hand as hebowled close to the wicket – it seems no-one was ever distractedby that….e-mail us at ecbaco@ecb.co.uk 12 contact us on 0121 446 2710