When is anyone in or out in Test Cricket anymore?
You can be Out but then back in, or In and then Out.
Playing Test Cricket has become like taking part in the “Okey Cokey”!!! – “IN – OUT – SHAKE IT ALL ABOUT…..” you do the Okey Cokey and turn it all around – THAT’S WHAT IT’S ALL ABOUT!!
The last several Test Matches have become an absolute farce with loosely framed DRS Rules being Mis-interpreted/Re-interpreted by bemused 3rd Umpires seemingly making it up as they go along!
How difficult is it for a panel of experienced Cricket professionals to sit down and devise a series of DRS Rules that clearly state the way the systems will be reviewed/handled and which devices/decisions will take priority and in what order? Surely given enough time every eventuality can be covered in rulings on prioritisations. Then will then be no/less confusion!
However, given the way that the various technologies contradict each other or fail is it not time to just return to the time tested system of “The Umpires decision is Final”?
Of course the main body against such a move will be the TV Companies – mainly Sky TV – after all – the technology is theirs and at the moment they are actually in many cases indirectly deciding the outcome of the matches. With no DRS Sky TV would actually have to REDUCE the length of their new ludicrously long “The Verdict” programme – and they seemingly wouldn’t like that! Currently the Discussion Programme is just as long as the Highlights Programme – as per one of my previous gripes!
Since no DRS is available in even routine “Non Televised” County Cricket (of all types) then why should Test Cricket/Televised County Cricket be so hugely different?
Lets stop dancing to the “Okey Cokey” and get back to men in white coats!!
Back in the real world of Cricket we are moving towards the last 4 weeks of the SHCL League Cricket Season with our ~Reed 1st Xl and 2nd Xl’s enjoying considerable success and with exciting and interesting end of season run ins.
Lower down the leagues our 3rd Xl have slipped from their early season prominence and must now be relative “outsiders” in the promotion stakes, though not without a chance of recovering into a promotion place. Regrettably, injuries, absences, retirements, summer holidays, and other elements have all filtered down the teams and the 3rd and 4th Xl’s have by definition been the prime sufferers. However, another insidious element of the Football Mafia reaches out its tentacles to grab whatever cash and time commitment it can from it’s loyal fan base at every opportunity. How many of our younger players, who make significant contributions to our lower Xl’s have been absent from Cricket in recent weeks because they have availed themselves of the opportunity to go and watch their Footballing Premier League “Heroes” in action in pre-season friendlies? Quite a few! And who can blame them?
These are the lads that often live and breathe football but are priced out of the market to actually watch it regularly during the season by the obscene charges and costs levied and associated with attending any Premier League (and even Championship) matches these days. One of the few opportunities to go into your teams home ground, or to see just some of the stars play at a reasonable price, is when they are playing “pre-season friendlies”. Of course it is nothing like the real thing but it is the nearest you can get to it if you are a student or from an average family not able to commit around £100 a Head to travel into London and watch your Chelsea’s, Arsenal’s or Tottenham’s playing in the winter!
After the football warm ups, it is back to the full season. – Of course it IS “early August !!” – the Championship has already been running for 2 weeks and next week the main Premier League event starts again! Why close down at all?
The “climax/run in” of the Cricket League Season will hopefully keep sufficient of us interested to honour our League Fixtures to the end, but by Sunday September the 8th those increasingly few non-league end of season friendly matches will be undertaken only by the real Cricket playing enthusiasts.
Anyway – here’s to an exciting end of the season – loads to play for here at Reed – though not an NVC Final in sight this year!!
(This Weekly column is written by John Heslam Club Chairman of Reed Cricket Club. The views expressed in the article are his own and do not necessarily comprise those of the Clubs General Committee)
