Game 1

My first game of the 2010/2011 season and it was not too bad. On the plus side, I was authoritative with my voice and I think that leads to confidence. I used my second ball counter well and got in to a routine with one counter in my left hand and the other in my right. I liked the old counter which has the little levers to push down because I could physically feel the count.

Errors; I got the no-balls right, though a few close ones could have gone either way. My first error was when I did not see a ball that hit a guy's foot, bounced up and then hit his helmet. I saw it as a full toss that was at the body and called it as a no-ball, which it wasn't. Or it was, but at the foot not the body.
My second error was in positioning. I'd just had the thought that my positioning was pretty good, when a ball was hit straight up and on the off side, so I sprinted to that side to see the catch. I glanced up to see that I had the trajectory wrong and I was almost under the ball, so I ran back to my original position where I was able to see the catch being dropped. Would the guy have caught it if he did not have to look at me? Who knows.

All in all, an ok first game. But I need to spot things like full tosses and understand what is happening better.
Game 1 of 24.

Aussis School

The first game of the season. I have my black trousers, I have my long johns on, I have my hat, my sunscreen, the over counter, the ball counter, notebook, jacket, shirt, tie.
A game between King's School Dunedin and Downlands College, Brisbane. So my first international!
A full report later.

New Rules

The MCC rules for playing were given out to us yesterday, and there were a couple of changes. Most are unlikely to influence club cricket or the level of cricket that I umpire, but one rule is that the bowler cannot go over an imaginary line that runs from middle stump to middle stump. Only a few bowlers can even do this, but it is one to watch for.

I hope to be able to umpire quite a bit this summer, and have my gear ready. I was even given an old over counter that my dad used to use. And my sons gave me some bowler's markers which I must put my name on.