Law 43 December, 2014 R.I.P. Phillip Hughes (1988-2014) (see report, page 7) In This Issue: • From the Editor • … And the Vice-President • From the Desk of the Umpiring Manager • Two First XI Debuts – Adam Hawking & Scott Olufson • The Annual Cup-Day BBQ • Meet our New Panel Members (cont’d) • The Crockett Shield Mission Continues • Social Cricket – VCAUSA vs ACS VCA Umpires’ & Scorers’ Association Newsletter Vol. 21 No. 4, 2014-2015 season Page 1 Law 43 Magazine of the Victorian Cricket Association Umpires’ and Scorers’ Association Incorporated. Cricket Victoria is acknowledged for the printing of hard copies of this Newsletter. CONTENTS From the Editor .…………………………………………………..3 Umpire’s Job More Complicated Than a Player’, Says Willey.4 A Little More on “Chucking”……………………………………...4 ... And the Vice-President …..…………………………………...5 From the Desk of the Umpiring Manager ………………………6 R.I.P. Phillip Hughes ……………………………………………..7 Two First XI Debuts – Adam Hawking & Scott Olufson .……..8 The Annual Cup-Day BBQ ……………………………………..10 Meet our New Panel Members (cont’d).……………………….11 ECB to Target Female Umpire Development………………....12 The Crockett Shield Mission Continues ……………………….13 The Well-known Reverend Cricketer…………………………...13 Social Cricket – VCAUSA vs ACS ……………………………..14 VCAUSA Calendar……………..………………………………...16 VCAUSA COMMITTEE OF MANAGEMENT PRESIDENT: GERRY SCHEMBRI VICE-PRESIDENT: ALAN MCCARTHY SECRETARY: DAN BOMFORD IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT & TREASURER: TREVOR FINLAYSON COMMITTEE MEMBERS: LUKE EDWARDS, JAN HOWARD & TONY VENTURA OTHER OFFICE HOLDERS AND CO-ORDINATORS BADGES & ACCESSORIES: GLENN CUMMING LAW 43 EDITOR: TREVOR FINLAYSON SOCIAL ORGANISER: JOHN COLLINS HISTORIAN: BILL ELLEMOR MISCELLANEOUS APPOINTMENTS: DARRELL HOLT CURRENT LIFE MEMBERS J.R. Collins (1976) W.H. Howieson (1979) K. Allday (1980) G.M. Thies (1981) G.J. Bugge (1987) D.N. Bomford (1989) C. Andrews (1990) R.C. Bailhache (1994) D.W. Holt (1995) N.J. Grant (1997) D.L. Byrne (2000) R.F. Francione (2001) L.J. King (2002) W.R. Ellemor (2003) P. Hooper (2005) A.L. Eldridge (2006) J.L. Collins (2010) J.A. Howard (2011) CORRESPONDENCE AND CONTRIBUTIONS: ALL CORRESPONDENCE TO THE SECRETARY DAN BOMFORD, PO BOX 2692, MOUNT WAVERLEY 3149 VCAUSA WEBSITE: http://vcausa.vic.cricket.com.au Volume 21 Number 4 2014-2015 Page 2 FROM THE EDITOR What a terrible few weeks for our great game these last few have been, with the injury and death of Phillip Hughes. Both Michael Clarke and James Sutherland summed things up appropriately with their remarks about the “Spirit of Cricket” in their respective tributes at the Funeral Service in Macksville on Wednesday, 3rd December. There is no doubt that the “Spirit of Cricket” has taken on a new dimension, over and above all that is written in the Laws of the game itself, with this tragic accident to such a young man. This month’s front cover image and the accompanying one in the comments from Gerry Schembri and Sahan Weerasekera, following their match in Ashburton on Saturday, 29th November, are typical of hundreds of similar images which were taken at cricket matches around Australia during that weekend. In the regular column now shared by our President and Vice-President, Alan McCarthy reflects on Easter 2015. This month, given recent events, the regular Umpiring Manager’s column is an interesting and thoughtful reflection which I am sure you will enjoy reading. I should like to thank Adam Hawking and Scott Olufson for their reports on their respective 1st XI debuts. Clearly Adam had one of those days which happen in cricket matches where the majority of decisions occur at one end while Scott enjoyed the “luxury” of the new Ernie Cropley “Pavvy” at Melbourne University, and managed to avoid a parking fine! Law 43 also congratulates Scott on his selection to travel to Christchurch as part of the 2014-15 Victoria-New Zealand Umpire Exchange. Those who attended the Annual Cup-Day BBQ and those who did not should enjoy reading the report on the event and the introductions to our 13 new Panel Members continue with two more “bios”, from Vivek Kumar and Matt Robertson. Only two new Panel Members have yet to be introduced to readers of Law 43 and we should be pleased to print these two “bios” in the January issue, should the relevant persons care to “put pen to paper” or “fingers to the keyboard” over the Christmas-New Year break. The column concerning the Crockett Shield is continued, this time with some interesting history of the match itself. Clearly with the match results since the inception of the interstate game in 1931, at the critical stage of Victoria, 19, South Australia, 18 and one Draw, it is not difficult to appreciate why Easter, 2015 will be such an important occasion. You are referred to the Association website for the booking form for Easter 2015, if you have not yet completed one and sent it in, (vcausa.vic.cricket.com.au/files/1555/files/VCAUSA Easter 2015 Booking Form.pdf) and you are reminded of the deadline for the 10% “Early Bird” discount on the costs of all functions, being 31st December. Also of some relevance to Easter 2015 is the report on the Social Cricket match against the Australian Cricket Society on Sunday, 9th November. Thanks to Tony Ventura for the text and to our “budding cricket photographer”, Damian Herft, for the accompanying images. Volume 21 Number 4 2014-2015 Page 3 May I wish all readers a very merry Christmas and a prosperous 2015. Trevor Finlayson ----------------------------------------------------- UMPIRE’S JOB ‘MORE COMPLICATED’ THAN A PLAYER’S, SAYS WILLEY Englishman Peter Willey, who played at Test level for his country, says he “didn't realise how complicated the game was” until he took up umpiring. In a wide-ranging interview with the ‘Cricinfo' web site this week, first-class umpire Willey, who will reach the England and Wales Cricket Board’s (ECB) current compulsory retiring age before the ECB’s 2015 season, stated that “when you're playing, you bowl, you bat, and you don't realise what's going on,” and that today’s game is “getting more complicated, with television replays, different competitions, and everything.” In Willey’s assessment, the County game is run very well, “its lovely to umpire in” and “the players respect the umpires 99.9 per cent of the time.” “You get the odd [player] who questions your decisions, but we stamp on them straightaway,” he said. He indicated though that players would rather be given out by former professional cricketers who have taken up umpiring “than by what you might call ‘amateur’ umpires. Having played, you can see things building up, you can have a quiet word and stop things before it gets stupid.” However, he conceded, “Those blokes [the ‘amateurs’] have done well, because it's been twice as hard for them to reach [first class] level than any ex-professional cricketer.” Willey expressed the view in a wide-ranging interview that if a ball pitches outside leg stump and it’s going to hit the stumps the batsman should be out. He also mentioned the issue of bad light, saying, “If we [play] in poor light and somebody gets hurt through trying to keep 30,000 [spectators] happy, it's a bit unfortunate on the bloke whose career might be finished.” “It's all right sitting in the stands and grumbling, but they haven't got to face a bloke bowling 90 mph.” According to him “the hardest decisions to give out are bat-pad” and that “years ago, when we had the horsehair leather, the sound was very different [and] the ball hitting the pad now sounds similar to it hitting the bat.” In the tenth of his twenty-five Tests as an umpire, a match between England and South Africa at Old Trafford in 1998, Willey said he wasn’t sure about one of the Playing Conditions that applied. Standing with New Zealander Doug Cowie, Willey said, “No one [was] sure how many overs were lost with a change of innings - whether it was the one in progress plus two, or that over and one more. I asked the third umpire, [Englishman David Constant], and he hadn't got any idea, so I said to [England lower-order batsman Angus Fraser], ‘For god's sake, just bat it out, because we could have a bit of a cock-up here.’ There could have been phone calls to the [International Cricket Council] and everything,” said Willey. (from Playing the Game, No. 1454-7054 24th October, 2014) --------------------------------------------------- A LITTLE MORE ON “CHUCKING” The Australians have what might be described as a more cynical approach to umpiring – at least that is my experience on the 1958/59 tour when our batsmen were given no protection at all against the ‘suspect’ deliveries of Ian Meckiff, Gordon Rorke and Keith Slater. I vividly remember one conversation in which one of us drew attention to Slater’s action and an Aussie official grinned, “Well, at least he’s chucking straight, isn’t he, mate?” (comment by the late Fred Trueman in The Wit of Cricket Compiled by Barry Johnston, ISBN 978 0 340 97889 4 (Hodder & Stoughton Ltd., London, 2010) p 95.) ------------------------------------------------------ Volume 21 Number 4 2014-2015 Page 4 … AND THE VICE-PRESIDENT Veep Speak The global appeal of cricket was never more fully demonstrated than with the outpouring of grief around the world at the tragedy of Phillip Hughes’ death on the field. The flowers left at cricket grounds, bats lined up with caps perched on handles, young cricketers wearing black arm bands and ceremonies before matches, all showed that we are united in our sorrow at the passing of a young man doing what he loved.