Declaring on 18-1

[claretburns]

A title deciding cricket match in Pembrokshire is drawing some attention as Carew, leading the table by 21 points, declared on 18-1 to stop Cresselly winning any extra batting or bowling points.

They chased down 18 within 2 overs but only won 20 points meaning Carew won the league. Whilst not breaking any laws within the game it has drawn criticism for breaking the "spirit of the game".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/wales/41074513" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[ClaretTony]

Interesting point that they have actually, in effect, deliberately lost the game. Shocking thing to do in any case.

[Hendrickxz]

Pembrokeshire you say? That's in Wales innit? Mmmmmm

[UpTheBeehole]

Right ***** trick

[NottsClaret]

Should possibly have batted first.

[Braindead]

Them's the rules.

Not saying I agree, but clearly it is a well-exploited loophole.

[Rileybobs]

The problem is captains get criticised for declaring too late all too often. 18 is a fairly solid score to defend but clearly wasn't quite enough in this case.

[scouseclaret]

Just not cricket!

[CleggHall]

What would Christopher Martin-Jenkins make of it?

[tybfc]

They would have still won with 18 if they had been playing Rawtenstall.

[SonofPog]

The opposition won the toss and put them into bat, giving them the op to do this, certainly not cricket but could have easily been avoided.

[fatboy47]

admirable captaincy.

i played under a captain in the bacup sunday school league back in the 70's who would have made this guy look like a philanthropist.

[TheFamilyCat]

I'd be interested to know the BP system and why they chose to declare on 18-1?

Presumably they could have batted longer and lost more wickets and still denied the opposition full points?

Or did they just want to get p*ssed?

Edit: just read the full story on the link; read it on the Sun story linked yesterday which didn't go into such detail, unsurprisingly.

[Falcon]

The team in 1st had got themselves into this position by being 21 points better than the team in 2nd over the course of the season. They are within their rights to play the final game however they choose.

Also, as someone above has said, the 2nd placed side could've batted first if they were worried about this 'trick' being used.

The only ones I feel sorry for is the supporters who had turned up for a day's entertainment in an exciting winner-takes-all battle but had to make do with 4 overs of a non-competitive knockabout.

[TheFamilyCat]

Do you reckon Cresselly agreed to a beer match afterwards?

[tybfc]

Why didn't they just declare on 1/0 and totally take the p###

[Devils_Advocate]

Not as straightforward as it seems this one. The way the pts system works in that league it is far easier to get bonus points bowling first than batting first which is probably why Cresselly bottled it and took the easier option hoping Carew would play ball

Cresselly would have needed to get 240 runs if they batted a full innings just to gain 1 bonus point on Carew and had they been bowled out for say 100 they would have relatively lost 3 bonus points in the 1st innings and then would have had to ball Carew out for less than 40 to win the league

[IanMcL]

The opposition won the toss and put them into bat, giving them the op to do this, certainly not cricket but could have easily been avoided.

Served them right then!

[Malvern claret]

A similar thing happened nearly 40 years ago in the Benson and Hedges Cup. Somerset would qualify from the group stage and go into the knock out stage if the lost no wickets against Worcestershire. Brian Rose declared the Somerset innings after playing out one over at 1-0 (a no ball!). Worcestershire duly won and refunded the price of admission to all fans. Brian Rose had rung the TCCB the day before to ask if his action would be legal, he was told it would be legal but there would be repercussions. A few days later Somerset were thrown out of the competition and the name of Brian Rose disappeared from the list of those being tipped for the England captaincy, although he did continue to play for England.

As an aside I went on cricket tour with BGS in 1963 where we played Weston Super Mare GS. We had them 6 or 7 wickets down when a diminutive 13 year old, we thought we would knock him over easily but we were very wrong! Two years later we went back and the now 15 year old opened the batting. He was some player! After the game our teacher, Norman Renardson, said that we would hear a lot more of him in the future. His name- Brian Rose

[Renardson]

Hi to You who made this comment!
Your teacher Norman Renardson, was my dad.
Can’t believe you mentioned him here - it sounded just like the type of thing he would have said!

[box_of_frogs]

The opposition won the toss and put them into bat, giving them the op to do this, certainly not cricket but could have easily been avoided.

Nail on the head. If they’d lost the toss, then thems the rules. But they gave them the opportunity.

[Foulthrow]

Hi to You who made this comment!
Your teacher Norman Renardson, was my dad.
Can’t believe you mentioned him here - it sounded just like the type of thing he would have said!

How have you found this 3 years later????

[Leisure]

How have you found this 3 years later????

Possibly by using the Search facility??

[lakedistrictclaret]

I prefer 17-1.

That's our goal difference in the eight matches against the four teams we've done the double over this season.

[Bordeauxclaret]

How have you found this 3 years later????

You mean you don’t search for your dads name on here every three years??

[Malvern claret]

Hi Renardson, like others I was amazed to see this thread come back.

Your dad never actually taught me but he was in charge of both the football and cricket teams. I remember him as a left arm fast bowler and a goalkeeper when we played the staff team. He was a ‘top bloke’ who was in charge when he needed to be but was always prepared to have proper conversations with us.

Apart from rating Brian Rose he also rated the Clitheroe RGS centre forward very highly, but then most of us thought Martin Dobson could play a bit!!

[IanMcL]

Interesting point that they have actually, in effect, deliberately lost the game. Shocking thing to do in any case.

or deliberately won the league!

[Vegas Claret]

Pembrokeshire you say? That's in Wales innit? Mmmmmm

shoud just do a Cardiff and appeal to the Welsh Cricket Association and get it all overturned

[Vintage Claret]

I'm reminded of the late great Richie Benaud's comments after the Hansie Cronje match fixing row.

Something along the lines of "it sickens me to think that during my career I spent countless hours trying to figure out how to win a match and these bastards spend hours figuring out how to lose one"