HAVING been fine all week, Friday dawned wet and I thought there would be no play for the first of the T20 Dixon matches.

How wrong I was, as by the time the matches started, we had some glorious sunshine for long enough for the grounds to dry out but sadly all did not finish due to further rain or bad light.

My game at Tonge managed to finish in a bit of gloom but it was an exciting match with Tonge needing six off the last ball to tie. Unfortunately for them, it wasn’t to be.

We missed the downpour other games had to contend with as the dark clouds passed largely to the south of us.

Saturday’s game at Kearsley had something in it for everyone.

Runs were hard to come by early on, balls turned sharply, plenty of boundaries were hit, a near 100 runs were scored in quick time and there was a runner for an injured batsman.

It was everything to keep an umpire on their toes and brought out the need for 100-per-cent concentration in deciding when a ball was dead and good positioning when watching for run-outs.

An umpire has to feel safe and do their best to get out of the way of an incoming throw and yet still be able to watch what is going on.

Sometimes it’s not possible and safety comes first. Unfortunately, we don’t have benefit of TV replays but all credit to both teams as reasons for decisions were accepted.

Last week we had one of the more unusual dismissals where a batsman was given out obstructing the fielder.

It is very much the opinion of the umpire if he or she thinks the batsman, while running, deviates from his path to try and protect his wicket from the throw.

If an umpire is sure the batsman has deliberately done that, then they can give the batsman out or if they think he has deliberately run into the fielder to stop him getting the ball.

It all comes down to the umpires’ opinion. The last time I saw an umpire have to make a decision like this was in an Australia Test match where Michael Hussey put his hand out while running and the ball hit it.

The umpires had to decide. Was he protecting himself from the throw or was he deliberately trying to stop the ball from hitting the wickets?

In this case, they ruled in favour of the batsman but the video is sometimes used in the training of umpires for discussion purposes and opinions are often divided – some would give him out, others would say no.

It all boils down to the opinion of the umpires on the day and that’s what everyone has to go by.