LEG-BEFORE DECISIONS

Hawera Star, Volume LIII, 10 March 1934, Page 8

LEG-BEFORE DECISIONS

INTERESTING EXPERIMENT TBIALS ON MAT WICKETS. DEMONSTRATION OF THEORIES. A very interesting demonstration was held on the Wanderers Club ground, Johannesburg, recently to illustrate the possibilities of l.b.w. de-' cisions. This demonstration was of particular interest to cricketers who plav on matting wickets. The demonstration was arranged to try out theories of l.b.w. decisions on matting wickets and five bowlers of different types took part in it. One ot them was E. P. Nupen, a famous riglit-hahd bowler for South Africa on matting wickets, but net so effective on turf! Nupen bowls a large off-break a smaller off-break and a slight legbreak. Another of the five bowlers was N. A. Quinn, celebrated left-hand bowler for South Africa, whose natural ball is one that goes with the arm. and who seldom turns the ball back from leg. Quinn is famous for the accuracy ’of his bowling—a fact appreciated by all who saw his bowling for the South African team in New Zealand two seasons ago. Another of the bowlers was G. E. Gawse, a successful bowler in club competition cricket in the Transvaal. Then there was N. Gordon, who is fast-medium in pace, arid who has a predominating ball, one which comes in from the off. A. H. Gyngell, a young slow bowler with the orthodox large leg-break and googly, completed the quintet. Eueh_ of the five bowlers bowled 31) balls. Because of intermittent rain the pitch was slightly damp, and this fact must have affected the result of the experiment, for on a normal dry wicket more balls, though pitched on the wicket, would doubtless have passed over the top of the stumps. The matting wicket was marked off with white lines, to show the area in which the ball should strike in order to pitch between the line of the wickets—that is, in order to fulfil the first essential of the l.b.w. law.

SPECTATORS OFTEN ERRED. It was rather amusing that although the matting was so marked, plainjy, with white lines, several of the spectators differed about whether or not the ball had pitched between the lines. The main result of the demonstration was that 30 per cent, of the balls bowled pitched between the white lines, and so 70 per cent, did not comply with the first requirement of the l.b.w. law. Of the 45 balls pitched on the wicket 28 hit the stumps, which meant that §2.22' per cent, of these deliveries, or 18.66 of the total number of balls bowled, would have justified a batsman's being given out. Seven of the balls pitched on the wicket—that is, 15.56 per cent, of the 45 which complied with the first requirement of the l.b.w. law, or 4.66 per cent, of the total number howled—passed over the top of the wicket. Ten of the 45 balls pitched on the wicket —that is, 22.22 per cent, of that number, and 15 per 'cent, of the total number howledpassed wide of the stumps. Oil matting wickets the ball breaks more than it does on grass, and it is also much more inclined to pass over the top of the stumps. The slight dampness of the wicket on this occasion would have brought the conditions proportionately nearer to grass. Equally, the results were sufficient to endorse the belief that it is more difficult to give an l.b.w. decision on a dry matting wicket tfian on turf. It was noted that of the 150 balls, bowled .30 hit the stumps without being pitched on the white area.

NUPEN THE MOST SUCCESSFUL.

The experiences of the individual bowlers were very interesting. Many people in South Africa have believed that Nupen appealed too much for l.b.w. decisions. When lie was bowling against the last two English teams in South Africa, his big breaks repeatedly beat the batisman, hit them on the pads, and frequently led to appeals for l.b.w. However, the results of the recent demonstration showed that of the live bowlers concerned Nupen was the most likely to. get players out with the l.b.w. law. Eighty per cent, of the balls he. pitched on the wicket hit the stumps. The figures for the other bowlers were: Gordon 77.78 per cent., Gawse 62.5 per cent., Quinn 44.44 per cent., and Gyngell 44.44 per cent. Nupen was able to hit the wicket with slight turns from off and log when bowling over the wicket, but his big off-break, unless, of course, pitched close up to the batsman’s crease, broke right across the face of the stumps when bowled from over tjie wicket It was remarkable to note, •however, that when he bowled his big off-break as wide of the wicket as possible from round the wicket, fie straightened it out on the white area and hit the stumps three times out of four.

Though Quinn and Gyngell each returned 44.44 per cent, of properly pitched deliveries hitting the stumps, in both cases their figures were improved by balls pitched within a foot or two of the wickets._ CCix his 30 deliveries slow-bowler Gyngell made the ball pass over the top of the stump more than any other bowler.

NEVILLE QUINN’S RESULTS. Bowling round the wicket and delivering his natural ball that goes with the arm, that is, toward the leg, Quinn did riot hit the stumps once, although ■more; than once he pitched on the requisite area. From round the wicket. Quinn obtained decisions by turning the ball from leg, a type of ball he. very rarely bowls, although it is the left-hander’s natural delivery. He straightened it out much as Nupen had done from round the wicket. From over the wicket his “arm’' ball did not go away quite so much and lie was also able to hit the wicket from tliis position. Gordon hit the wicket more than any of tho others, but mostly through balls pitching wide of the off-stump and turning in. One of tlie hardest things to decide in l.b.w. decisions arises when the ball pitches about the space represented on the marked matting by the edges of the white area (remarks Arthur Laver, a prominent Transvaal umpire, in commenting oil the demonstration). It is then that the batsman often receives the benefit of the doubt.

Another point that would be more obvious in diagram than in print, is that though the wicket is nine inches wide, the regulation ball winch is nine inches in. circumference has a diameter of 2.86 inches. That means that allowing .06 in each case as sufficient impact to dislodge the bail, tho batsman has to guard a total width of nine plus 2.8 p]us 2.8. that is 14.6 inches —5.6 inches more than he sees an the actual wickets when he takes his guard!