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I have been reading with interest the issues about sportsmanship and feel that our younger players should be targetted at an early age and taught to respect decisions and not to simply follow what someone does on television. Umpires have a difficult enough time without players seeking to follow what they saw at a test or one day match. If you are out you are out. If you think that you edged into slip cordon you should know yourself what to do but the player who appeals for a leg before off a thick edge is really not doing himself any favours. Umpires do make mistakes. They are of course human like the rest of us but respect for decisions at all levels of cricket should be demonstrated to our young players at all times. Dissent should not be allowed under any circumstance. Teams can simply use report forms to highlight their problems. My other concern would be umpires at junior fixtures. Captains should only allow those who understand the laws and can apply them with a degree of common sense. Captains need to talk to their players and indeed should have a duty of care to ensure that the game is played to the highest level be it a Premier fixture at The Lawn or a 20 over game in Junior 8. So perhaps it is time or anyone with doubts to attend our annual Umpires Training Courses which are facilitated by Keith Smith and Alan Neill who are two excellent training officers and I know that NIACUS are proud of Keith's achievements across Europe and Alan has stepped up to fill the gap left by Trevor Magee and proved himself at a recent course. The ball is firmly in the court of the clubs. Talking on a forum is not the answer. Come forward and learn more about the game and seek to pass it on the the younger members of your clubs.

As Chairman of Cregagh cricket club, i would like to wish Muckamore and Warringstown all the best for the midweek cup final tomorrow night.We are looking forward to the visit of both teams and their supporters to our club. tomorrow evening.

Robert I can't comment but you hardly expect to be fed for nothing. There's a petrol station about half a mile from the ground and you can get a sandwich and a coffee there for just under a fiver.I know some people bring packed lunches to matches and at Moylena we now run a bbq at 1st XI games with burgers and hot dogs on sale at £2 and £1.50.

LOL you certainly seem to like playing against Dundrum by the sounds of it. Fair play to ya for admitting you didn't walk. I have to say that particular scenario is a tricky one, should you walk if the other team don't appeal and think you haven't hit it and continue on with the game? You are right though, it would look a bit odd if you just walked off the pitch! Interesting...

i personally, only know of one time i didn't walk. unfortunately i have to make reference to a dundrum game again.

it was last year at queensway. i nicked the ball, the keeper caught it, i took half a step towards the clubhouse before realising the keeper had immediately thrown the ball to a fielder and the bowler had turned to returned to his mark. not one fielder said a word, so i re-marked my guard and continued to bat. was this cheating??? i know if i had of kept walking my team mates would have given me a hard time.

if a batsman doesn't walk its his choice. i have seen plenty of bad decisions given against batsmen, so why should all umpiring mistakes be in favour of the bowler.
i've been playing for more than 20 years now and this issue has always been with us. so it is harsh to say sportsmanship is dying.

My apologies Stuart, I thought you were referring to me personally nicking one as opposed to the sportmanship of my team and I couldnt recollect that happening.

My original point was referring to individual players and not teams as it's a personal thing. I certainly do not condone any of my own team for not walking when they know they are out, or for appealing for an LBW when the batsman has blatently hit the ball. I know it happens in all teams and I have seen it within my own however I still do not agree with it personally but as I said it is only a personal opinion.

I am by no means calling clubs unsporting as 1 player's decision can't account for the sportmanship of a team.

Finally, the point was raised by myself to listen to other people's views as I am genuinely interested to see how the topic is viewed nowadays. Do not take it as criticism against any particular team or player because a) I didn't name any players/teams and b) it won't change the result.

Thanks though for replying to the topic.

rodney,

where exactly in my post did i say you nicked one???

my point was in response to you questioning the sportsmanship of opposing teams. in one of the matches you speak of i witnessed one of your batsmen get caught at MID-OFF and refuse to walk!!! another of your batsmen basically punched it to our wicket keeper and he didn't walk either!!! both were obviously given out.

the incident you are referring to is not as clear cut as you make out. i was at the non-strikers end so had a very good view. i personally did not hear a nick (neither did the umpire) but this is irrelevent as your wicket keeper, who dropped the majority of balls that came his direction on the day, fumbled the ball 3 or 4 times, rolled over a couple of times, then eventually stuck up a hand claiming a catch. i certainly would not have walked for that.

my main point being that if you are going to criticize other teams for unsporting behaviour, you should make sure your own team is whiter than white.

One more view.

Re Rodney
The problem arises by what everyone watches on TV. No pro cricketer walks these days (apart from Tendulkar) and everyone follows suit.

Hand on heart I was a walker years ago until when ‘fast’ bowling (actually lots of years ago) I got a few obvious caught behinds turned down. (one horrendous chest high inside edge where keeper had to double joint his legs to the leg side to get what was a class catch. Asked why not out the ‘elderly’ official umpire stated that it hit his pad!). Even turned down LBWs can be a cause of frustration (warranted or not)

It should be left to the officials however to decide on all this as in the example quoted by Stuart he obviously was convinced that you hit it and you were convinced you did not. In an era of non walking this can cause ill feeling and considered cheating even though you did not. Your quote of the three matches may have been similar to your own i.e. you thought they hit it they did not.

In a match however where no officials stand, the practice of walking should be automatic.

This will never happen however as more and more junior and senior players are more interested in confrontation and argument than camaraderie and competition.

Sportsmanship died in cricket the day Australian brought ‘sledging’ was identified as a legitimate part of the game. Can understand the humour in some quotes but by and large it’s insults I hear aimed at putting you off. Why walk if you are getting abused? Sad.

Re Ivan

My point was about whether batsmen walk. In terms of bowlers appealing when they know it has hit the inside edge of the bat.... I must say I'm shocked that someone would appeal knowing it hit the bat. That is pure cheating, no other word for it. However if a bowler is not sure then obviously he should appeal and let the umpire make the decision.

I have no doubt that umpires make honest mistakes as sometimes they don't hear or see things players do and vice versa.

I think my point in both batting and bowling is about sportsmanship. It's different with regards bowling and lbws because there is a margin of judgement but when someone nicks it behind and is caught it is plain obvious they are out.

Would have been good to get more views on this one.....

Stuart interesting comment about nicking one at Derriaghy. Your hearing is obviously better than mine as I can assure you I did not nick any ball with my bat. I have never nicked a ball and not walked, it's just something that I feel strongly about.... I feel if you are out, you're out and are not good enough on the day to stay there.

Anyway, I raised the topic out of interest as it has happened in my last 3 games on the bounce, so Taito there is no need to get so defensive as it was not soley aimed at your team.

I would also like to echo your comment on what a great knock it was by your captain on Saturday. I've always found him very solid certainly when playing against us and he is very strong on the leg side as I found out to my detriment on Saturday. I've also mentioned in a previous post how him and Craig Lewis are the 2 best all rounders in the section so I think you'll understand that there are no sour grapes.

Downpatrick were certainly worthy winners on Saturday and were the much stronger unit. We only have ourselves to blame letting you off the hook from 60 odd for 6 to 240. Shows the lack of strength and depth we have in our team at the minute but we'll battle on and see where it takes us.

re Ivan and tea at the Lawn

You were lucky to get fed at the lawn. I was there for a league game earlier in the season and we weren't fed. Dont know what the excuse was, but for a club of their standing within NCU it seems to me they can treat others like this, but then again I didnt offer to pay them £2...

if a batsman edges one to 1st slip or hits one to cover and is caught he walks so what is it with not walking when one is edged to the wicketkeeper? to my mind it is cheating. also to follow on about Derriaghy I had the pleasure of umpiring the Intermediate Cup final on Saturday and they certainly pushed the boat out. John Torrens and his team had everything organised from the group who brought on the covers to the ladies who produced what was almost a banquet. Thanks again.

Good to hear that David and the Woodvale boys got well fed at Muckamore yesterday. I was at the Lawn on Saturday and had a lovely tea with other supporters for only £2. Great idea when you have people there for 6 or 7 hours and have maybe travelled an hour or so to get there. I think the effort a club puts in to the simple things like teas tell you a lot about a club and their respect for the game and the opposition.
On the topic of batsmen not walking is that any worse than a bowler appealing for an lbw even though they know that the batsman has got a thick inside edge? I always think it's better to leave it to the umpires who in my opinion make honest mistakes.

Rodney, i would just like to echo Stuarts thoughts, get over it as i heard you nicked one against Derriaghy earlier in the season and didnt walk. The umpires are there to do a job so why should it be up to the batsmen to walk?? thats why the umpire is standing there. Fabulous innings from our skipper on saturday!!

I would just like to thank Derriaghy CC for their hospitality yesterday, they hosted the final excellently. Great bunch of boys and the final was played in a great spirit.

rodney,
your comments about sportsmanship of opposing teams, i only have 3 words...pot, kettle, black.