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Division 2: Old Belvedere v Cork County

Sunday morning was warm and pleasant, not so warm that I wished I was going to Park Avenue, but with a forecast for no rain, unusual for a day out in Cabra.  I got to the Oval just as the Cork County boys were arriving, and they told me of the knee injury to Bruce Koch which will keep him out for a few weeks at least.

Even in the good times, Cabra was a dump, but one with a nice tea and good company in the bar afterwards.  Now, it's a complete tip, a demolition site unfit for habitation.  It's a shame, particularly because I've no idea what purpose is being served by the continuing existence of the club.  I can't remember the last young player brought through to Senior standard.  But I digress.

Playing in Cabra is not easy, and more difficult when you're without your best player, but Banksy was there, and it was he who opened from the Castleknock end after Old Belvedere had won the toss.  It was the usual Cabra pudding requiring the usual Cabra tactics – stop the straight ones and look to put the bad balls away.

Sajjad Zaidi and Syed Ali did this successfully for a dozen overs until Ali missed a straight one from Sidarth Joshi and was lbw for 17 out of 26.  Zaidi lasted three more overs before departing in similar fashion to Banks.  Abu Baker and Asim Aftab batted carefully until drinks at 72-2, although Aftab might have been caught low down at mid wicket by Darren Fogarty for 17.

Immediately after drinks Baker, 24, wafted Andy Wootton to Matt Reed at cover.  Simmi Singh, Belvo's best bat, used his feet beautifully to get yards down the pitch to play even defensively.  Aftab is block or hit.  He was dropped behind the wicket when 33, one of those that sticks or doesn't, should have been run out on 45 and dropped again by Madden on 46.

After reaching fifty he swung George Barry to Nicky Murphy for a battling 54.  Yousafzai didn't last long, slogging Barry to Fogarty for 6, but Hilal Asad added 25 with Singh until, one short of his fifty and with two overs to go, Singh wandered down the track and was stumped by Madden.  Asad was bowled for 14 as Belvo closed on 191-9, a good score on a pudding with a very slow outfield.

Barry took 3/44 and Wooton 3/53, but Banks was very good value for his 1/17 and so too Joshi with 1/29.  The required good start for County didn't happen: Madden lbw and Duggan bowled in Rajesh Chawla's second over.  George Barry led a charmed life, dropped twice on 7 (once by Singh of all people) before being bowled by Chawla for 12.

Ross Durity had been batting very well through this opening period, scampering his singles and cover driving the odd half volley.  Darren Fogarty, universally known as Foggy, looked good too, and the pair hauled County right back into the match, reaching 106-3 off 30 overs.  At this point the Munstermen needed to accelerate the scoring to take the pressure off the later batsmen.

But off spinners Yousafzai and Singh didn't allow them to do this, strangling the game so that the 35 over score was only 118.  The fielding was noisy, with eleven man appeals every time the ball hit the pads, cover and mid wicket convinced in the straightness of the ball, no different from what you'd get in Inch or Sydney Parade.  But it was different, more intimidating, a subject I'll return to.

In the 37th over Fogarty missed a straight one from Singh and had to go for 29 out of 126.  In his next over Singh took a smart return catch to dismiss Joshi, and Belvo were right on top when Baker bowled Banon for a duck.  County needed 62 off the final ten overs with four wickets left, and hadn't a mission of getting them unless something extraordinary happened.

Belvo got noisier and noisier, and Singh got more and more convinced of the straightness of his off breaks.  When he got a decision over Andy Wooton at the umpteenth time of asking, words were exchanged and the Cork skipper was a far from happy bunny.  Matt Reed was immediately bowled by Singh (“See, I told you they were all straight!”), bringing in Keith Banks.

Banksy is an old soldier, and no mug with the bat.  Durity was still there, still batting fluently, and once he marched down the track and drove Singh over the sight screen.  The sun was setting low over the northwest, and shining straight in the batsman's eyes when facing from the Castleknock end.  The umpires took the players off the field for twenty minutes, and things calmed down a bit.

Back out again, Banksy ran himself out for 6, County still 30 short with only three overs to go.  Durity and Murphy got their side past 172 and so gained a fifth bonus point.  With eight balls to go and still needing nineteen, Durity straight drove Singh, took the easy one and turned for the non-existent second.

Murphy sent him back, but the throw hit the stumps with Durity still out of his ground, run out for a brave and excellently compiled 87.  Singh finished with 4/45, Chawla with 3/29, but just as important to Belvo's well-deserved victory were Asad's ten overs for 27 and Yousafzai's ten for 26.  They kept the pressure on Durity and Fogarty, and the pressure told.

But were some of Old Belvedere's antics fair?  As far as I'm concerned, the answer is a big No.  Exerting pressure and being aggressive can be perfectly fair, but where I get exercised is when the aggression and pressure are directed at the umpires.  Again, the umpires have to expect and accept pressure, but not when it amounts to disrepect.

The problem is how much aggression and pressure amounts to disrepect?  There is one particularly annoying tactic often used against umpires, which is the double (or treble) appeal: when the finger doesn't go up after the first “How's that?” there often follows a second, and sometimes a third.  The Laws of Cricket state that an appeal covers all forms of dismissal, and thus is to both umpires.

Just one appeal from one player is enough.  Several players might have a good enough view to demand a decision, so the choral appeal has to be tolerated.  But nobody has to appeal more than once.  So I suggest the following addition to Law 42. Unfair Play: Excessive appealing is unfair.

More than one appeal from one player in relation to one delivery is excessive and therefore unfair.  Should a player appeal more than once on the same delivery the umpires shall caution the fielding side.  A further transgression will result in a final warning.  Thereafter, each transgression will cause five penalty runs to be awarded to the batting side.  That particular problem: solved.