National squad needs a dose of Cup match passion

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 3: Kevin Hurdle didn’t even bother looking back.

He had heard that ominous clatter of stumps that signaled his departure.

The crowd’s celebrations had drowned out umpire Steven Douglas’s call of no ball so Hurdle headed for the changing room.

Realizing the Somerset player couldn’t be bowled off a no ball a quick thinking Jason Anderson tore towards the stumps.

From the wreckage of wickets he picked up a piece of timber and clattered the ball against it appealing for the run out.

Eyes quickly turned to the square leg umpire, Richard Austin, who walked in calmly in the face of more frenetic and desperate appealing from the St George’s side and a partisan home crowd.

“Not out,” said Austin calmly, despite the players crowding around him and cries to the contrary.

It’s not easy being an umpire.

“You have to know all the laws of the game before you go to the middle and in that circumstance Hurdle had left his crease under the misapprehension he had been bowled,” said Austin who has worked in the police force for nearly 30 years.

“A batsman can’t be out if he leaves his crease under a misapprehension like that. It’s in the laws.”

The two men in the middle faced a barrage of passionate appeals almost every time the ball struck the pad.

There were cries of disbelief and wild gesticulating from on and off the pitch as the appeals went unrewarded.

But Austin and Douglas came out of the epic encounter knowing they had done the best they could.

Douglas, who works as a technician for Digicel, said: “You expect to get criticized because not everyone is going to be happy with the decision you make.

“You’re out there in the sun for 90 overs a day and you just try and remain focused and calm.

“There’s no point in looking back at decisions. You make the decision on what you see and hear and there’s no changing you mind.

Appeals

“There’s always going to be a lot of noise in the middle at Cup Match and this year was no different.

“We don’t want stop the players expressing themselves and I did not feel that anyone overstepped the mark.

“But there is a line you don’t cross and I think everyone was aware of that this year.”

Austin, who has umpired the last four Cup Matches, added: “I think you know the appeals are going to be louder and the passion is going to be greater at Cup Match.

“But I did not feel the players went too far over the top.

“There was a good feel in the middle. Of course it’s competitive and tense but that’s Cup Match”.

This year’s Cup Match was the first year Austin and Douglas had been paired up to take control of St George’s v Somerset show-piece.

But both have a wealth of experience in not just national but also international umpiring.

The pair met up last night, score cards in hand, to look back on a game that will be remembered for many years.

Douglas said: “Cricket was the winner this year.

“It was a great game with some great performances from both sides – especially by some of the young cricketers.

“If these players could inject the same kind of feeling for the national squad we would not be where were are now.

“The only thing that I would ask the players to consider is the over rate.

“It was very slow sometimes and it did take a long time in between overs and for fields to be set.

“But having said that we got a result and that is what everyone wanted.”

Austin added: “I think the game was played in the right spirit.

“I think it should debunk the myth that you need three days of cricket to get a result too.”