It would be great if more umpires got involved with this thread.
I'm back...
Real life isn't exactly in the best of situations to be giving away a book at the same time lol...but I do still have the book, and honestly, ContrarianUmp, you've actually legitimately won it. If you'd like it (it's not in the best of conditions, you can PM me to arrange).
You questions have already been answered, but if I can give my own opinions...
1. A ripper of a leg spin bowler, who is turning everything a mile is bowling over the wicket and pretty much over the stumps bowls a fair delivery. The striker takes a step forward and the ball hits the striker on the toe in line with middle (on the full). It goes through to the keeper and the keeper dislodges the bails with the batsmen outside of his ground. The keeper and the bowler both appeal to square leg. What is your decision?
Out, LBW. Any ball that strikes the batsman on the full is to be considered as going along its original trajectory, spin or seam negated. The first potential fall of wicket is the one to be given out, in this case LBW.
2. The striker plays a pull shot and the batsmen take off, the shot goes straight to the square leg umpire, he tries to get out the way but cant and, out of habit or a sense of protection, catches the ball. The square leg fielder asks the umpire if hes ok, grabs the ball and throws it into the keeper. The batsmen have made good their ground and shout "No" for the next run. The bowler appeals to the umpire. What is your decision?
As stated. The umpire is considered part of play.
3. The bowler bowls a ball from well behind you, taking both you and your colleague by suprise. Its come in at a bit of an angle that suggest it might have been bowled from quite a wide position, but you don't know, its marginal. The striker is surprised, but plays it off with a solid defensive shot. What, if anything, should you do?
The bowler is well within his right to deliver the ball wherever he pleases after his runup has started. However, the back foot no ball rule is applicable nonetheless. The bowling crease is considered to be an infinite line on either side of the pitch. However, you cannot ask for a TV review to confirm this. I would say you warn the bowler unofficially that what he is doing is contrary to the spirit of the game and that it could be considered unfair play and that you will call a no ball each time.
Even with replays though, it would be hard to confirm if the bowler has a straight run-up. Bowlers in the past who had an almost 45 degree run up, or some spinners nowadays who run up at an angle...that would be more difficult to ascertain. Either way, I would speak to the bowler about it and tell him that while it breaks no Law, it does not allow you to be totally partial to what he does.
4. The striker deliberately pads the ball away, the keeper goes up for LBW and the ball rolls past him. You turn down the LBW appeal and the batsmen complete a run. What do you do?
Dead ball. A batsman must either be attempting a shot or taking evasive action before running a leg bye.
5. A right handed batsmen takes his stance as normal, while the bowler is running in he switches to batting left handed. The bowler bowls a fair delivery that pitches outside the left stump (looking at them), hits the striker in line with the left stump and you are convinced it was taking out middle stump. The keeper appeals. What is your decision?
Out. End of discussion.
6. You stuff up and allows a 7th ball to proceed. You realise your mistake as the bowler is delivering the ball. What do you do?
Let the ball be bowled and then call over. In this scenario, once the bowler has started his run-up, your call of dead ball only means that he has to deliver that 7th ball again.
Okay...onto mine...
- In a one-day match (same ball used at both ends), the field is wet and the ball has taken a beating from the batsmen. You call for a replacement before 20 overs are up. Unfortunately none of the replacement balls look in similar condition. They are either way too new or way too old. There is no way that the match can continue with the current ball. What do you do? (Rudi Koertzen, while one of my favourite umpires EVER...was faced with just such a scenario and made a decision that...well...it WAS technically okay...but I did not agree with it...)
What had happened was that Koertzen was unhappy with the condition of the balls. All of them were way too new to be considered. And the other balls weren't of "similar wear". Koertzen went to the boundary and began bouncing the ball on the concrete until he was happy that it was of "similar wear". He caught a lot of flak for it, but technically he was not defying the Rules, because the final judge of the ball is the umpire. Not a popular decision though.
See: ICC Standard One Day Match Playing Conditions Rule 5-3 (Ball becoming lost or unfit for play)
- Batsman A and B are at the wicket with 5 overs to go and 8 wickets down in a limited overs match. They are both tail enders and they require some 60-odd runs to win the match and the series (which is currently tied at 2-2). Batsman C, one of the team's stars, has retired hurt earlier and by all reports, is fit to return at the fall of the next wicket. He has a reputation for massive hitting and given similar situations in the past, has proven himself to be more than capable of scoring that much that quickly. Batsmen A and B, while they may get the odd boundary, are in no way scoring near the required asking rate so far. Batsman A clearly gets a yorker that hits pad-first flush in front of the stumps. Nobody appeals. The next ball, batsman A gets a clear nick to the wicketkeeper, who takes it cleanly. Again, nobody appeals. In the next over (run rate now nearing 20) you see a top edge skied that no fielder makes any attempt to catch. Can you intervene?
One of the batsmen should retire out, but if they don't, you can't intervene except to give the fielding captain an official warning about the Spirit of the Game and what constitutes fair and unfair play. The match referee will be involved, of course. Also, it can be considered time wasting by the fielding side and 5 penalty runs can be awarded each time it happens.
- The old ball is 80 overs old but is reverse swinging all over the place. The light is good and the seamers are fresh. Naturally, the bowling team declines the offer of the new ball, as while they have not taken a wicket as yet, the batsmen are both clearly troubled to cope with the swing. Things move along, with the movement not letting up. At 105 overs, the bowling team still refuses to take the new ball. You request a change of the old ball with one of comparable wear and tear, and choose an appropriate one. But the batsmen are just as much in trouble. While the bowling is not overtly dangerous as such, there is still a significant risk to the batsmen in your opinion. You state as such to both your colleague and the fielding captain. The captain still refuses to take the new ball. What now?
If, in your opinion, the batting is at risk, then you can call play off due to poor conditions. Simple as that. You would take the bowling and batting skill into consideration, but at the same time if there is risk of significant injury to either batsmen or the fielding team, play would need to be halted.
- A batsman hits the ball into the outfield, where it trickles to a stop. Before the fielder can reach it, however, a dog runs across and grabs the ball and takes it clear across the boundary. That standing batsmen, in between fits of laughter, ask for a four. Is it? (TOO easy...I have to give ONE at least that people can get correct.)
Dead ball.
- A high-tension match between two rivals is being played. You are the third umpire, thanking the Creator for your time in the box for finally not being out on the field. The standing batsman misses a ball, and you lean back to relax some more until, at the end of the over, one of the television producers asks that you listen to a replay. The replay is that of the same ball that the batsman had missed, where the wicketkeeper clearly addresses the batsman and says more than one racist statement to him, heard via the stump mic. The batsman laughs it off, and the wicketkeeper seems to be laughing as well. No further statements along those lines are said up until that point, and the batsman does not seem to hold any animosity to the keeper. Your two standing colleagues and neither of the other fielders seem to have heard the exchange. In fact, it can almost seem as if it was a joke between the batsman and the keeper. It looks like a joke, as they hug at the end of the over. Can you do anything?
Report immediately to the match referee and inform your on-field colleagues. Whether in jest or not, it may have been heard by TV or radio fans, and even if it was not...it was enough to be picked up on the stump mic. There is NO place for racism in ANY sport, and the Laws clearly state this.
- The batsman skies the ball. A fielder runs under it and manages to get his hands onto it, but has to juggle. In the process, the ball hits his chin and runs down under his jersey and between the jersey and his body, whereupon he grabs it and pulls it out at his waist. They appeal. Is it out?
Out, caught. The use of the clothes was not intentional.
- The last ball before the drinks break is a peach of a delivery, beating the outside edge by the slimmest of margins. During the break, the replays begin showing on the big screen in the ground and the batsman actually seems to have hit it with a very fine edge, which was collected by the wicketkeeper. As the bowler stands at his mark to begin the next over, the fielding captain walks up to you and calmly asks you, "How's that?" The ball in particular is very much dead and has been for about two minutes. What is your response?
Not out. A drinks break is an official break, and must be called as "time" by the umpires. Anything that happened before time was called no longer counts.
- A wicketkeeper is standing up to the stumps for a medium pace bowler. The ball spits out of a rough patch on the pitch and heads straight for the batsmans's neck area. He initially tries to get on top of the bounce but pulls away at the last minute, realising the extreme bounce. The motion causes him to stumble out of his crease. The wicketkeeper collects and breaks the stumps and appeals for stumped. Is he?
This one is tricky. But he is not out. The Rules state that short pitched bowling, no matter the speed, is to be considered dangerous, and any batsman taking evasive action from it, even if he steps out of his crease, is not to be out stumped. It takes a bit of reading more than one Law, and it takes a bit of interpreting, but that's how I see it.
- The batsman hits a ball from a spinner, which goes into the air. The wicketkeeper is closest to it and calls for the catch. The batsman, off-balance, swipes his leg at the ball, thinking that even if the catch was dropped, the ball would have hit the stumps and knocked the bails off and as such he would be protecting his stumps. The batsman does not hit the wicketkeeper in any way, neither does his attempt stop the potential catch from being taken. The ball falls through the keeper's gloves but the stumps remain undisturbed. He appeals, saying that the batsman's leg swipe distracted him. Do you give the batsman out for obstruction?
If you believe that the batsman was trying to protect the stumps from being disturbed, then not out. It would really depend on how close the wicketkeeper was to his leg and if it really did look like the catch would have been taken if not for the leg swipe.
- A bowler refuses to take a run-up, instead just bowling the ball from the crease with one stride (and being the slowest ball you have ever seen). The batsman steps nearly halfway up the pitch but misses, and the wicketkeeper calmly takes the bails off. Is he out stumped given there was no preparation for a run-up?
A bowler is not obligated to take a run-up, but the batsman must indicate that he is ready for the delivery. Once that happens, he is out.
EDITED.
