LAST week a newsletter came out from the Association of Cricket Officials reminding umpires to be familiar with all rules of the competitions they umpire.

A few weeks ago I had a T20 on Friday, the league match on Saturday, a last-minute 40-over match on Sunday and then a Lancashire Under-15s girls' match on Tuesday.

Unfortunately, the weather put paid to all but the T20 game but there were four different competitions with four different sets of playing conditions and rules to make myself familiar with over a period of five days. Mind you, that was a pretty unusual week.

Just for a start, the number of overs for each bowler changes with each competition, not to mention keeping inside the ECB bowling allowances for junior players. If it rains allowances change again.

Then there are power-plays. A T20 has the first six overs as power-plays with two fielders allowed outside the 30-yard circles, while in Hamer Cup matches the first 10 overs are power-plays with three fielders allowed outside the circles.

If it rains then power-play overs are reduced depending on the number of overs agreed to play at the start.

There are penalties for slow over rates. For some competitions it is six runs added on at the end of the first innings, for every over behind the allocation of time and for others it is five runs per over as you go along in the second innings just in case a result can be reached before the total overs are received.

Overs lost due to rain vary in time allowance from three-and-a-half minutes to three-and-three-quarter minutes.

For leg-side wides, some are called for any ball going down leg side, others aren’t to be called if the umpire thinks the batsman could hit the ball.

A ball bouncing more than twice before reaching the popping crease is called a no ball in local cricket, but if playing in an ECB competition eg the girls' U15s game, then the ball could only bounce once.

I mentioned high, fast full balls, previously, whether all balls over waist height are called no balls – well not in every competition.

So you can see, if umpires are doing several different games there is plenty to familiarise themselves with and to make sure they have the right rules for the right competition.

It would be so much easier if the basic playing conditions were the same, however the competition organisers don’t see that.

For the umpires it’s very much up to pre-match preparation to make sure they get it right on the day.