Sheffield Cricket Lovers' Society Year Book 2023

9 Coats Umpires work in pairs, which has its points but I often wonder if it’s a classic case of over manning. One is positioned behind the non-striking batsman and makes the decisions in play. The other umpire stands roughly at square leg but will move position if they are interfering with play. The ‘second’ is there primarily to offer a second opinion, particularly if they had a better vantage point of the incident. As an avid student of the game, every day is a training day, but I really can’t see the point of two umpires. Other sports with two officials doing the same job are there for a good reason; because the pace of the game requires it (e.g. basketball and ice hockey). With the exception of bowls it would be impossible to find a game slower than cricket. The umpire at square leg is essentially ‘the spare’ offering advice where necessary. As a callow youth watching the game, I soon learnt that umpires had a repertoire of signals that looked more like a freemason’s greeting. But of course they gave the appropriate instruction to the scorers. Wagging fingers were always a good sign; a hovering finger side to side was a four whilst furiously rotating fingers held aloft was a six. I recall a strange fascination with umpires shifting stones from one pocket to the other; a primitive method even then for counting balls in an over. The advent of digital technology has transformed the umpire’s role. No longer is he the infallible judge of the game’s laws. On the face of it, new technology and cricket are not ideal bedfellows. There has been an cont’d on pg10