The Umpire Neville Cardus
(1934)
The umpire at cricket is like the geyser in the bathroom; we cannot do without it yet we notice it only when it is out of order. The solemn truth is that the umpire is the most important man on the field; he is like the conductor of an orchestra. If first slip misses a catch the error only involves a personal fallibility; we say, “Hard luck” and first slip begins again. If the umpire falters, everybody in the game is drawn into the range of mortal frailty; we do not say “Hard luck!” to the miserable man in the white coat; we even add to our gloating over his fallibility the imputation of stupidity or malice prepense. If a batsman misses a half-volley and is bowled, the crowd laughs or, at the worst, calls the guilty one an ass. But the umpire who errs as that is likely to be regarded as unfit for his job. His fallibility can be reported at Lord`s; nobody reports to Lord`s the cricketer who in the excitement of the moment runs his partner out.
All day long, ball after ball, the umpire must keep his mind intensely on the game. The players are free to enjoy relaxations. Some of them indulge in a good sleep while their side is batting. When rain falls and stops play, the cricketers can forget the match for a while. The umpire enjoys no release from responsibility; until the match is over, or until weather causes an abandonment, he is obliged to watch, watch, watch-either the play or the pitch or the groundsman. The amount of concentration he is expected to perform every day is almost an abuse of human endurance. What a great country this would be if every man, whatever his station, concentrated half as much on the smallest detail of his work as an umpire is compelled to do, from high noon to dewy evening of a cricket match!
The umpires are the Dogberrys of the game. We see them as essentially comic characters. Whenever a batsman swipes to leg, and hits the umpire in the small of the back, how the crowd roars! If the wind blows the hat off the umpire`s head, laughter holds sides. The reason for the humour which comes out of the activities of the umpires is a matter of deep psychology. For the simple fact is that no man can sustain with dignity the semblance of infallible judgement. Man is born to sin and error; and when he wears the robes of virtue and wisdom and law and infallibility all rolled into one, the gods infect us with their merriment.
“How`s that?” shrieked the whole field was brilliantly out. “Wait a minute” answered the umpire, “Who did it?”
It is of course, to country cricket we must look for the really comical Dogberry of the crease. I remember Old George in the days when we used to go on a jolly tour through Shropshire. The custom was for each side to bring its own umpire, and at the beginning of every match old George made a point of meeting the other team`s umpire over a glass of ale in the pavilion.
“Now look” “ee” “ere” he would say, it is for yew to luke after yewre business and oi`ll luke after mine!”
Once on a time a cricket match was about to be played between two village clubs of long and vehement rivalry. An hour before the pitching of stumps a visitor to the district walked onto the ground and inspected the wicket. He was greeted by an old man, a very old man. The visitor asked for information about the impending battle, and the ancient monument told him.
“Is your team strong in bowling?” asked the visitor.
“Ay sir not so bad” was the answer.
“And who gets most wickets?” asked the visitor.
“Why sir oi do” was the reply.
“Heaven” said the visitor, “surely you don`t bowl at your time of life?”
“No sir oi be the umpire.”
But in the highest realms of county and Test cricket the umpire, though frequently the source of humour, is seldom allowed to share in it. A crucial blunder might mean an end to his livelihood. He deserves all the help he can possibly be given. Is not the job difficult enough in itself without the addition of embarrassments which are the consequence of our hastiness and temper? I appeal to every lover of the game to think of the umpire always to bear always in mind that, like the backwoods` pianist, he is doing his best in threatening circumstances.
English cricket today is fortunate to be under the supervision of umpires as fine and courageous and clever as Arthur Morton (a rich), Frank Chester, Hardstaff – to name but a few. Chester is a joy to watch; he delivers his decisions sometimes with immense irony. I have seen him signal a snicked boundary by means of a gesture of regal disdain, as though to say, what a stroke! I am compelled by law to rule it worth four, but I reserve the right to say what I think about it.
I have seen Chester give a batsman out with a finger suddenly pointed to heaven, dramatic in its announcement of ruthless finality. And I have seen him turn his back on a bowler`s manifestly absurd appeal for leg before wicket – turn his back with the air of a man consigning another to some place outside the pale of all sense and decency.
Arthur Morton is not spectacular; he believes in the conservation of energy. But county cricketers know well, and revel in, his comments at the wicket, many of them delivered out of the corner of the mouth. “I wish you`d keep quiet,” he once said at the agony of a Lancashire and Yorkshire match; “it`s like umpiring in a parrot house.”
Parry is the umpire who bends himself into a right angle for every ball when he is standing at the bowler`s end; he takes on this terrible burden of physical discomfort so that, as he thinks, he can get a better sight of the ball in a leg before wicket mix up. Merely to look at him for an hour is to go home suffering from lumbago. They all of them are worthy of our applause, the men who serve the game by standing – and waiting for the end of the long long day.
The following books and publications are essential reading for all umpires;
Tom Smith's Cricket Umpiring and Scoring (New Edition 2022) Weidenfield and Nicholson.
The complete guide to the laws of cricket, their interpretations and application, and fieldcraft for umpires.
Laws of Cricket (Pocket Law Book) MCC.
A pocket size reproduction of the laws of the game, which should be carried at all times.
Wisden Guide To The Laws of Cricket Don Oslear.
A clear guide to the practical applications of the laws by a former international umpire. Provides actual examples from games in which he stood.
You Are The Umpire John Holder and Paul Trevillion.
An Illustrated guide to the laws by former international umpire John Holder. Gives you match situations and asks what would you do? Also gives you the answers.
League / Competition Handbooks
Always familiarise yourself with the rules of the competition in which your are umpiring.
ECB/ACO Newsletter ECB
The magazine of the Association of Cricket Officials. Essential reading to keep you up to date with what is happening at every level of the game.