Gowser wrote:Andrew Wright decided to become the centre of attention during the start of our innings overnight. He held up play no less than 5 times in the 8 overs we had to face overnight, at one stage was told to "F**k off" directly by a bowler after being called for a no ball (which he deliberately ignored). He gave no warnings at all during this. With 2 balls to go he called the opposition captain over and talked to him for a good couple of minutes and i believed he was given a warning for his teams behaviour at that point. Cove were probably going over the top with the sledging, but Andrews lack of intervention and constant hold ups were far more distraction to the batsman than any of the banter. If you are going to hold up play, do something about it or let it go in my opinion. Disgraceful umpiring that only penalised the batting side.
Doesn't sound like Andrew Wright!
He umpired a 20/20 game last year or the year before with me representing plympton umpiring also. He was right from the first ball being the centre of attention and the players from both sides just wanted to get on with the game. His constant hold ups, especially in the second innings where "crowd participation" got a few from the WYC side a bit riled, were unnecessary and simply added fuel to the fire. His handing out of a 5 run penalty in the game was rediculous.
In footy, when it looks like players are going to get heated most GOOD umpires will get the play moving asap so the players stop worrying about arguing/fighting and get on with the game eg at a stoppage they will bounce/throw the ball up asap. Holding the game up does not help and it is the same with cricket IMO. 2-3 minute delays to talk to someone just gets the rest of the players more fired up.