IT was nice to finally get cricket under way in the sunshine at the weekend and be out there actively involved rather than watching the various matches on TV.

The sunshine was a little misleading, as by the tea interval umpires were reaching for extra layers and spectators for their coats, hats and rugs.

I witnessed some fine batting where bad balls were dispatched to the boundary and good balls were pushed around in scoring ones and twos, keeping the total ticking over which was in contrast to the first innings when it appeared the batsmen wanted to hit the ball out of the ground from the start, 20/20 style.

Catches win matches they say, and there was an excellent boundary catch from a player, who leapt up to snatch the ball before it went over the boundary, dismissing a hard-hitting batsman.

If you have been watching the Indian Premier League you would have seen quite a few of these catches.

The boundary fielding has been exceptional with players leaping into the air and either catching the ball or deflecting it back into the field of play to another fielder saving a boundary or in some cases, because the ball has not touched the ground, another fielder has been able to catch it and dismiss the batsman.

The law says a ball can be caught after it has crossed the boundary in the air providing the fieldsman had some part of his person grounded within the boundary or whose final contact with the ground before touching the ball was entirely within the boundary.

However, the fielder making the catch still has to be back on the field of play for his catch to be upheld.

We have seen some spectacular efforts to catch the ball as it is about to cross the boundary line, hence the need to palm the ball back to another fielder if possible or palm it back into the field of play and run back and catch it.

A catch finishes when the fielder has control over the ball and his body movement.

Talking of catches, sometimes an umpire may be unable to see if a catch was taken fairly so it is good practice for them to ask their colleague if unsure.

Sometimes they are in a better position to see if the ball carried to the fielder.

It is certainly not a sign of weakness but good umpiring as we do not have TV replays to help us out in grassroots cricket.