Cheating saddened Jesty

Press, 2 April 1980, Page 30

Cheating saddened Jesty

By

DAVID LEGGAT

The attitude of many players towards sportsmanship and fair play Was one of the disappointments to the English cricket professional, Trevor Jesty, during his season with St Albans and Canterbury. Jesty returned to England at the start of the week to prepare for another season with Hampshire. But he will not take back especially fond memories of certain aspects of New Zealand cricket. “I was very disappointed with ' the cheating that went on, especially with the caught behinds,” said Jestv.. “It puts a hell of a lot of n-essure on the umpires. Thev can never be right. If a plaver is given out, he is not happy: if he is aiven not out, the bowler is unhappy.” . J«»sty was- sneaking generally. of both club and representative play. The anproach was probably msenified for him, by the contrast this would provide after coming from an English county season where a player who does not “walk” is,"very much an exception: According: to Jesty, the number of players in England who’ cheat -can be counted on the fingers — “and the umpires know who they are.” Another, more personal, disappointment for Jesty

was his own form. He played six Shell series matches, and in 10 innings scored only 126 runs at 12.6 and took 12 wickets at 22.9 each. In the senior club competition, Jesty scored 374 runs at 37 and took 17 wickets at 23 apiece. “I have not scored as

many runs or taken as many wickets as I wanted to, both in club and representative play,” he said. He admitted that he felt more pressure was on him to succeed than when he played in England. “When you have played professional cricket, people expect a lot and this puts you under pressure.”

When Jesty arrived, he had no pre-conceived idea of the standard of club cricket in Canterbury. Now he finds it difficult to make a comparison with the standard of club cricket in England; having had little experience of the English league competitions.

Jesty felt that all the representative teams had some good players but added that he would have been surprised had the situation been anything other than that.

. “Representative play is something like county cricket. These players are in line for selection for the test side, so you are not going to get really bad players.” Of the New Zealand test team, Jesty feels the present side is a much better-balanced side than teams of recent years. He suggested this might have

been because' some of the team are playing county cricket, and with the amount of play this involved, a player could only improve. Jesty is another to sing the praises of the experienced Lancaster Park groundsman, Cyril Barnes. The. pitches for all Canter-

bury’s home games were excellent — “very good cricket wickets.” He found it hard to accurately assess other pitches around the country. At Lower Hutt, Dunedin and Auckland, the matches were rain-affected,, and so difficult to judge. Overall, Jesty believed the pitches he played on compared favourably with English wickets. Jesty felt strongly that the Canterbury Cricket Association must change the situation at Hagley Oval and Hospital Corner, where one groundsman’s duties include producing at least nine grass pitches every week-end. This, he said, was far too many.

In England, a groundsman might have two or three pitches to prepare and most club teams have their own groundsman. Another change Jesty believes is necessary is an alteration to the points system in club cricket. There is not enough incentive for batsmen.

“Everything is in favour of the bowler, the batsmen can not get bonus points so they tend to waste time, batting until tea on the first day. Even if they only get 150 they are happy.”

“Another system must

be thought up, perhaps having 60 or 75 overs in the first innings, or if the game is drawn, giving the first innings winner two or three points.” Jesty was unsure whether more one-day cricket should be introduced into the club scene. With no knowledge of wha't the C.C.A. has tried., in the past nor any idea of what is planned for the- future, he felt it was hard for him to suggest how to structure the competition. “We play a lot of oneday cricket in England, so we are used to playing it; But some players do not like it. You have to try and please the players.” Jesty was not impressed with the standard of umpiring. In club cricket it was very poor and in representative matches away from Christchurch it was also below par. “In the representative matches, the umpires seemed to be biased towards the home side while in club cricket they were very inconsistent with their lbw decisions.”

He supported umpires emulating the Christchurch test umpire, Fred Goodall, and going to England.

“Umpiring seven days a week must bring improvements. It is like batting when in form: you see the ball much bigger. It is very difficult then to go back to one in seven days, and if you do not practise, you tend to fall by the wayside.” But Jesty emphasised he thoroughly enjoyed his stay here — despite his own lack of personal success. The St Albans club has invited him to return next, season and at present he is considering the offer.