In a posting made earlier this month Brian remarked on the poor behaviour of players in a quarter final of the Heavy Woollen Cup. Perhaps it is the combination of Sundays and cup matches but I had cause to leave a match on a favourite ground last Sunday because of the behaviour of one of the teams.
The match was at Studley Royal and was the North Yorkshire (South) Regional Final in the National Village KO Cup. The visitors were Sheriff Hutton Bridge, winners of the competition in 2005. When I arrived a good crowd was watching the last ten overs of the SHB innings. With the help of some good fielding by the hosts they rather failed to cash in and from 122 for 6 they were all out for 152 in the 39th over.
When Studley began the reply Sheriff Hutton immediately set a new high (or low) for noise levels. Readers may well be acquainted with the sort of thing I mean, the constant clapping, the exhortation to 'work hard lads', histrionic appealing to put pressure on umpires and the dervish like celebrations when a wicket fell. I have seen it before and complained about it in postings but I have never seen it taken to these levels in any form of cricket.
The game itself proceeded towards an exciting finish with Studley passing the 100 mark with five down and plenty of overs in hand. There was a delicious irony in that two controversial moments seemed to go against the visitors: the first when there appeared to be a run out from an excellent direct hit but the umpire had turned his back and the second when a caught and bowled was turned down because of an alleged bump ball and although the batsman appeared willing to walk, in the end he remained at the crease.
Finally and despite the prospect of a really exciting finish, I could stand no more and with any sense of neutrality abandoned, I left for home. Such tactics may be legal, but I would question their fairness and if they are within the 'spirit of cricket' then 'the spirit' needs a rethink. Success in cricket is about the execution of the basic skills of batting, bowling and fielding allied to tactics, field placing etc. What I saw on Sunday goes far beyond this. Would we countenance such behaviour amongst under nines? Sadly I fear some coaches might and would dismiss the complaints of someone of my generation as outdated and of no value.
The close finish that seemed in prospect did occur with Sheriff Hutton Bridge winning by four runs. The victors' own website reports the victory and commends their young spinners 'who performed outstandingly in a hostile atmosphere'. Can't argue with that. They now go forward to the last 32. I'll not be there.
Good to see so many pcws at Weetwood yesterday. Whatever happens in the two finals they will play in the next few days Leeds/Bradford have had a magnificent season. Not only that, yesterday was the second occasion in 2013 that I have applied factor 30 at Weetwood. Climate change sceptics take note.
ps Twitter tells me that Exeter were all out for 150. The scorecard says 158. Either way it weren't enough.
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