Mother of God! Dale::If you want to blame their vice-captain then fair enough, but it’s hardly factual evidence, especially as Eddie couldn’t decide whether or not he was injured. I was stood amongst the Birch players with Jon Prior and their public relations bloke, and Jon will verify that there was total confusion as to why Eddie had gone off. As soon as you made them aware in your inimitable style, Eddie suddenly reappeared. It’s quite simple really. Birch might be full of gobby adolescents who appeal after every ball, but that’s for the Umpires to decide. It was no different in the 80s against Hawk Green or Old Glossop, especially as some of their players weren’t averse to the odd public slap. I even remember one junior match when I had to lock all the Whaley players in the changing room and take on the Parker family (thanks Pykey). If you read my piece again you will note that I didn’t actually criticise you. I was more annoyed with the sheep-like mentality from idiots who don’t even understand why cricket relies on interpretation rather than black and white adjudication. As for the Mankad rule, or hutching as it’s known in Whaley Bridge, I stand by what I said earlier. The reason for the grey area is whether the non-strike is deliberately seeking an advantage to gain a quick single, or whether his momentum has taken his bat over the crease. The rule isn’t there for a premeditated strike by the bowler, which in my opinion (and I’m not alone) is what you wre trying to action. My reference to our” Special Relationship” was actually a sarcastic reminder of the night after our Bissenden Final win in 1995 against the same opponents when the Birch lads had the good grace to appear in the Sheps: something which we would never have done if the roles had been reversed. Whaley are losing a lot of friends and if I’m in a silent minority then I’ll find something else to do on a Saturday afternoon.
Posted on: Wed, 13 Aug 2014 16:40:42 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015