WHAT a difference some sunshine makes.

Firstly, it was very pleasant sat at Emirates Old Trafford 10 days ago in the sunshine watching a fine performance by fellow Kiwi Martin Guptill with the bat for Lancashire, scoring a quickfire 72 before being caught on the boundary.

It was a pity the result didn’t go Lancashire's way.

Then Saturday dawned with bright sunny skies instead of the grey overcast days we have had recently.

The banking at Bradshaw had a good sprinkling of spectators all enjoying the cricket and fine weather.

It was a day of big scores for the batsmen with Stuart Hornby reaching a hundred and Eagley professional Agar Salman falling four runs short of his, and there was a good batting performance from Will Shuttleworth.

Recent discussions at matches between umpires and players have surrounded the calling of no-balls for full-pitch deliveries over waist height.

This decision is entirely the bowlers-end umpire's to make, but they could be helped out by their colleague through an arrangement of signals agreed in their pre-match discussion.

The law says any delivery – other than a slow paced one – which passes or would have passed on the full above waist height of the striker standing upright at the crease is to be deemed dangerous and unfair and is called a no-ball.

The umpire has to judge where the player’s waist would be when stood upright and not crouched over his bat.

Also, players' concept of where the waist is differs. It is not where the waist band of your trousers is, but just beneath your bottom rib.

Confusion reigns with the wording 'not a slow-paced delivery'. What exactly is a slow delivery?

Is it one bowled by a slow bowler, or a slow ball bowled by a quicker bowler?

With the rewrite of some of the laws of the game due for the 2017 season it is hoped law makers will see sense and adopt the rule often played in national competitions when any ball, regardless of pace which passes above the waist on the full, is deemed a no-ball. That is so much easier for umpires to work to.

There is now no longer leeway for “sorry batsman, the ball slipped”. By bowling such a ball, not only is it called a no-ball, but the bowler gets a warning for doing so.

Two more warnings would see the bowler removed from the attack for that innings.

So far that’s not something I have had to do, but I have got to the second warning.