Tony Becca
THE SUPREME Ventures Super Cup cricket competition enters its fifth round tomorrow, and so far, so good - especially as far as bowling and batting are concerned.
Based on the number of five-wicket hauls in an innings and the number of centuries scored, the slow bowling and the batting have certainly been impressive.
Not so, however, the fielding.
Headed by Melbourne - the team that dropped a number of catches in one innings against Westmoreland, the team that apart from missing two stumpings, dropped eight straightforward and simple catches while playing to a tie on first innings against the Jamaica Defence Force last weekend, the fielding and catching in the first four rounds of the competition has been poor - so poor that it is embarrassing.
FIELDERS
The question, therefore, is: Why is that so? Why is it that bowlers and batsmen are taking so many wickets and scoring so many runs and fielders can hardly catch the ball?
The answer may be that the teams do not place any or enough emphasis on fielding, and with $10,000 going to the batsman who scores a century, with $10,000 going to the bowler who takes five wickets in an innings and with not even one cent going for good or brilliant fielding in a match, the reason for that may be because there is no reward, no incentive, for outstanding performance in the field.
Right now, the count of centuries and double centuries stands at 12, the count of five-wicket hauls stands at 20 and, with good or brilliant fielding, the count would have been even more in favour of bowling than batting.
While there may not have been more five-wicket hauls, based on the number of dropped catches, there certainly would have been fewer centuries.
The standard of the fielding apart, there is one other disturbing aspect of the Super Cup and that is the treatment of the umpires, not only by spectators, but also by players.
Saturday after Saturday, Sunday after Sunday, the umpires are verbally abused and even though some of them are incompetent, they do not deserve such treatment - and definitely not from players.
BAT/PAD AND CAUGHT DECISIONS
The abuse usually follows leg before wicket, bat/pad and caught at the wicket decisions and although that is how it has been down the years, it is strange that players who appeal for everything while in the field, players who feel cheated when their appeals are turned down, feel cheated when they or their colleagues are given out following a similar appeal when they are batting.
It is interesting, for example, to see not only supporters of a team but also substitutes and emergency fieldsmen sitting in the pavilion at square-leg or behind cover reacting angrily when one of their batsmen is given out or when one of the opposing team's batsmen is given not out following an appeal for leg before wicket, caught at bat/pad or caught at the wicket.
Umpires are not perfect, they are human, and they will always make mistakes. Based on their knowledge of the rules of the game and their training, however, based on where they stand during a match, they are in the best position, better than even the majority of the players on the field, to see what has happened and their decisions should be respected - and particularly so by those who love the game, who play the game and who should respect the game.
