WHY FLOG A 121 YEAR OLD DEAD HORSE BLUE &
BLACK?
Elsewhere in this souvenir, Ranjit Gunasekera,
former Royal College captain (1968) and a third generation
coloursman, has presented an erudite treatise on the (in) famous
Royal-Thomian match played in 1885 when Royal College was
dismissed for those celebrated 9 runs, and about the ensuing
brouhaha.
If you (Thomians) want to claim a win by citing
what this man said or the other did not, or by quoting contemporary
match reports and so on, let me remind all of you that a result in a
cricket match is decided, as per Laws of Cricket (Code 2000 - Law
21) when: "The side which has scored a total of runs in excess of
that scored in the two completed innings of the opposing side shall
win the match....Section 21.3 (a) goes on to add: "A match shall be
lost by a side which either (i) concedes defeat, or (ii) in the
opinion of the umpires refuses to play and the umpires shall award
the match to the other side...." Finally Law 21.7 "......If the
match is decided by one side conceding defeat or refusing to play,
the result shall be stated as "match conceded" or "Match awarded" as
the case may be." Under extenuating circumstances however (see
below) the M.C.C., as the lawmakers, has over-ruled the umpires'
decision when consulted on this issue. Now, the question is, has any
of the above happened during the R-T of 1885?
However, let me give you an example of a somewhat
similar situation that occurred during the English county
championship in 1969.
The venue was Bournemouth, in June 1969.
Hampshire was hosting Glamorgan, who incidentally went on to win the
Championship that year for only the second time in their history.
Before the game began, both teams were sitting at the middle of the
table. Batting first, thanks to South African 'great' Barry Richards
(80), Richard Gilliatt (114) and Peter Sainsbury (66), Hampshire
skipper former West Indian batsman, Roy Marshall, declared the
innings closed at 337/5, Glamorgan skipper, A.R. (Tony) Lewis, in
turn, declared at the beginning of Day 3, at 270/9. Towards this
total, significant contributions were made by Pakistani Test
captain, Majid Khan (74) and wicket-keeper E.W. Jones (85). With a
slight drizzle intervening, Hampshire were 28/1 in their second
innings when play was suspended due to a persistent drizzle that did
not let up for the next 4 hours, and the light too deteriorated. It
seemed patently obvious that there cannot be any further play
possible for the day.
As expected, even the die hard spectators left
the grounds but the umpires had not officially called off play. Roy
Marshall, the Hampshire captain, may have been misinformed that the
match had been called off by the umpires but, naively, did not
verify this point. The Hampshire players changed and went home. The
Glamorgan players too were about to follow suit when skipper Tony
Lewis, quite by chance, passed umpire Peter Wight, and more by way
of conversation said: "I suppose then it's off Peter". Replied the
umpire: "There's more than two hours to go, the rain is not too
heavy ....it's too early to cancel the match. The rain isn't heavy
and the wicket will be ready as soon as it stops. "Naturally Lewis
was stunned and told his players to change and be ready while the
Hampshire officials tried - in vain - to get their team back to the
grounds.
As luck would have it, the rain stopped at around
5.00 p.m. and the umpires walked out at 5.30 p.m. There would be 30
minutes of play before the official closure and the Glamorgan team
walked out to the middle. Opening bowler Tony Cordle marked his run
up - with no Hampshire batsman in sight! - and the umpire called
'Play'. After that he a formally awarded the match to Glamorgan.
Not to be outdone, Hampshire then lodged an
appeal with MCC, basing their argument on the fact that it was due
to a misunderstanding that they left the grounds and had they even
been there, a result was impossible. After much deliberation, MCC
agreed and overruled the umpires' decision to award the match to
Glamorgan.
In this instance, the M.C.C., cricket's
lawmakers, it was who over-ruled the umpires. In other words, it is
only the umpires who officiated in the game or the M.C.C. who can
decide on the outcome of a match, and that too under extenuating
circumstances.
So why flog a century-plus old dead horse black
and blue? Let's get on with the series and let sleeping dogs lie
(down).
Mahinda Wijesinghe
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