By Karen Knott

Once again the rain came late in the afternoon and had umpires and scorers having to resort to reducing targets by using the Duckworth Lewis method. Hopefully we will get a week where there will no rain hence no calculations. Some players seem to think DL is worked out on run rate, there fore if you come off it is a case of seeing how many runs are deducted according to the over rate. DL works on percentages and number of wickets lost so the more wickets you lose the par score increases rapidly. This gives the batting side an idea of what is required at certain overs

I have been asked a couple of questions over the past couple of days regarding incidents in games. One was “does a ball that hits the helmet count as one of the over”? Yes it does, You do not get an extra ball if the ball hits the helmet which has been placed on the ground behind the wicket keeper and in line with both sets of stumps. As soon as the ball hits the helmet it becomes dead and the umpires will issue 5 penalty runs to the batting side. Any runs completed by the batters before the ball strikes the helmet shall be scored together with the runin progress if the batters have crossed at the instant of the ball hitting the helmet. I have seen the ball being returned from the outfield hitting the helmet, hence batters are entitled to their runs. The only reason an extra ball would be allowed was if a wide or no ball had been called before the ball hit the helmet.

The other question was “can a fielder wear any protection on his hands”?. The only person allowed to use gloves is the wicket keeper. Other players, if they want to tape up fingers or have some sort of protective covering on their fingers, must seek approval of the umpires to be able to do so.

This Saturday my view of the game was from the score box as I helped a club who had no scorer. One thing I noticed was the scorers have a good view of the pitch and where umpires stand but to see where the ball is going to the boundary is not always possible as the opening in the box is not wide enough to see. However,it was clean and tidy, unlike a scoring experience back home in NZ which was we had to clear out the opossums first who seem to have taken up residence in the box!!

Never a dull moment there