THE only cricket we had in the Bolton League over the weekend was the T20 quarter-finals played on Friday night.

There were no games on Saturday due to the league giving clubs the option of playing a full match or postponing them until July 29. All clubs decided to not play which was a pity as a nice fine day for cricket was lost.

A few weeks ago I commented on player behaviour. While it still appears to be a problem at some clubs, it’s been nice to witness and hear about acts of sportsmanship at some games.

A young fielder caught the ball on the edge of the boundary and then admitted he may have stepped on the boundary line. He wasn’t quite sure but all credit to him he indicated he thought he had so instead of a dismissal, six runs were awarded. If a fielder's foot or any part of his body with ball in hand touches the inside edge of the boundary it is either four or six depending if the ball bounced before reaching the boundary.

We don’t get many batsmen who walk when they have hit the ball but its pleasing to see some still do, rather than staring back at the umpire.

One young bowler was surprised to see a batsman walk on appeal. He said he hadn’t heard anything but the wicketkeeper obviously had and appealed.

All credit to the batsman he headed to the pavilion. Caught behind can be a difficult decisions at times as we don’t have the benefit of hot spot or other replays to help us.

Then there was a case of a team only having 10 players on the team sheet. They started to field with 10 players when a player arrived expecting to watch the game but was soon sent home to get his kit as the opposition captain had agreed he could be added to the team sheet and take a full part in the match.

The captain didn’t need to as he could have said he could play as a substitute which would mean he could only field. A good act of sportsmanship.The only drawback for the team was the player couldn’t bowl until he had been on the field of play for the number of minutes he had been missing.

Our game owes much of its appeal and enjoyment to the fact it should be played not only to the laws but also the spirit of cricket . It is nice to see people participating in this way.