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[A-Swing-And-A-Miss]

I know many of you might play in leagues where umpires are provided for you, but just pretend they weren't.

So if the opposition offers you an umpire for the match do you accept? Or do you says that two of the batting team should umpire the match?

I ask this because it seems that whenever the opposition offer one of their own umpires he is horrifically biased, in most cases you are more likely to get an LBW given for you by the opposition batsmen than the umpire they provided...

[jonpinson]

It works the other way too though, if the umpires are provided by the batting team in each innings, from my experience you end up with a farcical situation where there is little point appealing if you are the bowler because it just won't be given out.

It was one of the reasons I and some others from my team gave up playing in the league because it just didn't sit right with us that in order to not be at an automatic disadvantage every game, you had to effectively cheat. Also factor in that if whoever was umpiring at the time did give a decision, an lbw for instance, it could lead to heated moments within your own team, it didn't make for a pleasant playing experience.

[rp27]

At our team we accept if one of our own guys is umpiring and gives us out, it was a joke yesterday though as we had one guy absolutely plumb LBW 4 times, and every time the umpire didnt explain why it wasnt and merely said "it's just not out"

[jonpinson]

It is a blight in the lower leagues for sure and led to every ounce of enjoyment being sapped out of the game.

What do you do? Incur the wrath of the opposition (yet furthering the ambitions of your team) by giving nothing out, or incur the wrath of your own team by playing fairly? Not a nice situation for anyone to find themselves in, let alone a young kid who only played because he loved the game, in a team of adults which was true in my case.

[A-Swing-And-A-Miss]

Our team don't really have any problems with being given out by team-mates. Personally I prefer having my team-mates umpiring while I am batting, because I can trust them to not cheat.

Whereas most supposedly "neutral" umpires are "triggerfingers" will give you out as soon as the ball hits the pad, no matter how bouncy the pitch is/how far the ball was going past your leg stump/how far out of your crease you were etc...

[mattcoll12491]

This is one thing I don't understand and it annoys me. If you're having to cheat to win at Sunday league cricket, then that's just awful. It's not as if there's money to be won or anything. Fair enough if the batting sides umpire makes a mistake, they are not qualified umpires but to repeatedly turn down 'plum' LBW appeals due to being biased is bad.

[jonpinson]

Our team don't really have any problems with being given out by team-mates. Personally I prefer having my team-mates umpiring while I am batting, because I can trust them to not cheat.

Whereas most supposedly "neutral" umpires are "triggerfingers" will give you out as soon as the ball hits the pad, no matter how bouncy the pitch is/how far the ball was going past your leg stump/how far out of your crease you were etc...

Then you are lucky in that your team understands the rules and fairness. I think the problem my team had was we were new to the league and we had a core of talented players who believed the team should be playing in a higher division. Ambition was more important than enjoyment to some and unfortunately the rest of us, decent players but no ambition as such except to play cricket, got caught up in it.

[rp27]

This is one thing I don't understand and it annoys me. If you're having to cheat to win at Sunday league cricket, then that's just awful. It's not as if there's money to be won or anything. Fair enough if the batting sides umpire makes a mistake, they are not qualified umpires but to repeatedly turn down 'plum' LBW appeals due to being biased is bad.

The worst example of this for me was a full toss the batsman missed, hit him about halfway up his back leg and he was stuck in his crease, it was just pathetic, we won in the end anyway though

[A-Swing-And-A-Miss]

Ohh and another thing I want to add, surely if nobody appeals for an LBW apart from the Bowler who puts in a half-arsed appeal then there is a 99% chance it is not out? As this happened twice, not even the wicket keeper appealed and yet the umpire had his finger up faster than you can say "Out"....

[roco]

I was given out before anyone appealed last season by the oppo ump?

Each team provides a "qualified" umpire for the game in our league but some you know you have to hit it or else which is annoying as our ump was voted best in the league last year as he is unbiased and just gives what he sees no matter which team or person is batting

[Bez013]

It is such a difficult subject, played a few games last year in a cup competition where umpires are not provided so it is up to the batting side to do it.  I'm not playing in the competition this year as there were so many cheats in it last year.  I believe in fair play and will give my team mates out if I believe they are out.

I was bowling and the batsman clearly nicked behind to the keeper, it was a big edge and visible but the umpire (the oppos wicket keeper) didn't give it and the batsman didn't walk. 

Later in the innings there was an LBW shout against the same batsman and we barely appealed because we didn't think it would get given but the umpire (they had swapped by then) gave it out, the batsman looked properly annoyed but the umpire said "sorry mate but you were plumb and I'm not a cheat" the batsman took a long time to leave the field.

[charlie15]

We played in a friendly at the end of last season, normally we'd put two of our guys in the middle when we bat, but the oppo had an old chap who liked nothing more than spending his Saturday afternoons umpiring.  Fair enough I hear you say, but what really worried me was when he poked his head around the corner and uttered the immortal words "I'm getting on a bit and the hearing and eyesight isn't what it was, but I'll give it my best!"

His best was a litany of dodgy decisions ranging from 50/50 shouts to giving me out as the Keeper whipped the bails off as the ball passed over my stumps, being unsure whether I was bowled or not I asked the keeper and the close fielder all of whom said nothing, so I walked, our guy at square leg couldn't believe it, but what could I do!