I am not sure what it actually means. You have always been able to deflect the ball onto the stumps, and also break the stumps with the glove (or a fielder’s hand ) provided the ball is in that hand. I guess it means that in the latter case the ball has to be in your control (as when you complete a catch) not just bouncing in and out again at the point the stumps are broken.
Not sure that is quite what it says, but that would make sense.
Bruce
I’ve just looked at the Laws and it’s I think it’s for the case where the batters have completed one or more runs and the ball then gets thrown at the stumps and goes for a 4. If this is classed as overthrows then the 4 is added to the runs completed, I can’t find the before and after Law to see what the clarification is.
Generally I like/am neutral to these. I approve of trying to cut down on time wasting, but think it makes the umpires vulnerable to challenge as it is a subjective call.
Thanks. I hadn’t thought of that.
Change 4 (Ball Finally Settled) is one which is sensible, albeit still reads as subjective(?). The ball only going ‘dead’ after reaching a bowler’s hands was always a bit strange to me, and was hardly an incentive to speed-up a slow game, and it kinda meant the batsmen couldn’t go ‘gardening’ in case they were run-out baseball style (if the ball hadn’t gone back via the 'keeper).
As a kid, we were told to keep a new ball away from the 'keeper’s gloves wherever possible, yet most pro-teams seem to delight in firing it back to the 'keeper early doors, including in white ball games. Strange to me.
In the thrash and bash of much modern cricket I think bowling sides now often try to make the ball to go soft as fast as possible. Pitches (and the white ball) etc rarely reward a well-managed hard shiny ball. I note Sri Lanka were warned in a recent ODI for repeatedly deliberately bouncing the ball in to the ‘keeper via very dry wicket ends.
I am not sure that ‘keepers gloves do a lot of harm to a nice new ball though.
Bruce
Perhaps ye olde 'keeping gloves we had at school and club level had surfaces like sandpaper, as per prior exchanges, I’m sure they were very different from the pro-level gloves seen today. And with the white ball, I would have thought sides would want to retain the shine as long as possible, as that’s the only positive feature of white balls IMV. Even a soft white ball gets clobbered to/over the boundary – as the recent India v WI ODI demonstrated. One side gets 405 and loses – although it looked like another small stadium for cricket.
Don’t mention sandpaper!
A very interesting podcast on BBC about the biggest cricket scandals. Worth a listen imho.
I recollect seeing a documentary about the slog which was the old County Championship and how Packer’s influence improved the lot of the journeyman players who, say, didn’t play in SA and/or Australia in the off-season.
One tale I always remember (I think from Mike Brearley’s book?) was when John Snow was bowling and England needed to slow the game down so (allegedly!), he filled his pockets with breadcrumbs and dropped these are he walked back to bowl. Cue a squadron of hungry pigeons, which delayed the game!
Is that John Snow the former England and Sussex bowler? I wasn’t aware he had died.
I don’t believe he has.
Memories. I remember going to this match when I was at school. I remember Snow looked fast to me. I don’t think he got picked that season but he took wickets in the match.
“John Snow, playing for The Rest, bowls to England’s Geoff Boycott during the Test Trial match against an England XI at New Road, Worcester, 29th May 1974. The non-striking batsman is Mike Denness and the umpire is Lloyd Budd.”
Wonderful picture. A real blast from the past there. Lloyd Budd - wow! J.A. Snow is still alive aged 84 according to Wikipedia. Great fast bowler who should have played more for England, although Geoff Arnold and Chris Old bowled India out for 42 at Lord’s in 1974.
Oh, my bad reading of some info 'sites! Amended! Sorry, John.
He was one of my favourite cricketers. A classy rebel!
A very pleasant evening at local wine merchant with special guest Lord I.T. Botham, compered by former BBC sports journo Tom Fordyce and accompanied with some excellent food and samples of the “Beefy” wine range. The Margaret Chardonnay very passable and reasonably good value as well as two very pleasant Otago pinot noirs. No particular revelations from Beef but good to be reminded of an era when English cricket was biting back. Clearly he and Alec Bedser were never on each other’s Christmas card lists. Good to hear some tales about his FIL, Brian Close, possibly Yorkshire’s best captain and certainly the bravest. I also enjoyed hearing that Bob “Dylan” Willis drove a mini - possibly from the back seats.
I think Lord Botham’s interest in wines originally came from his friendship in his young days with John Arlott. It is sometimes the case that tall men choose small things. I had a school friend whose father was 6’8” and he always drove a 1970s VW Beetle!
He certainly credits John Arlott with his love of wine. Brings back memories of TMS. I have one recording of John Arlott from a Chatisma records box set with an excerpt from his “Talks Cricket” recording. Quite bizarre that the record label responsible for early Genesis and Monty Python released serious spoken word recordings.
Arnold and Old were good in typical English conditions but military medium fodder overseas. Snow was a wonderful fast bowler and played a major role in England winning the Ashes in Australia in 1970/71. Unfortunately, like other top notch quicks (e.g. Truman) his face didn’t fit with the MCC types and was he treated badly by the powers that be.
Yes, Snow had successful series at home in 1973 and 1975 but missed out on tours to West Indies in 1973-4 and even more notably Australia in 1974-5 which England lost 4-1. Mike Denness was keen to take him but was overruled by Alec Bedser as Snow was said to be ‘not a good team man’.
