I spent nearly three hours of my bank holiday weekend travelling to and from a game, an hour and a half in pouring rain, and five hours playing cricket. I came home exhausted and in a terrible mood which bled into my night's sleep and continues to affect me today.
Yes. We lost.
The thing is though, I don't mind losing. Lord knows I have had enough experience of getting beaten over the years, and as Kipling so eloquently said, success and failure are merely imposters. Winning and losing comes and goes. Should this also be the same for the enjoyment of the game?
I did not enjoy yesterday's game because we were cheated out of the result.
An inept umpire and a batsman who did not walk when he knew he was out probably cost us the game. I know that he knew he was out because he admitted it to one of my team-mates during a break in play. He said that he didn't feel very good about, but that feels a little empty to me, as he went on to form a long partnership that undoubtedly "won" the game for his team.
The umpire who stood like a terrified rabbit when faced with giving his team-mate out made a litany of errors during his spell behind the stumps. He called wides when he meant to call no-balls. He didn't understand the wides rule. He had no business in being in the position he was in, and his ineptitude had a profound affect on the outcome of the game.
The umpiring conundrum is a difficult one. I am under the impression that LCU are doing their level best to get enough trained personnel willing to travel the country to ensure fair play, but the numbers are short, and it is entirely appropriate that the lower divisions are left to police their own games. The problem, as everyone reading this post knows, is that it makes a mockery out of the sport.
I wasted my day yesterday. As did my ten team-mates. And frankly, so did the eleven that we faced, because the game was stolen.
Clubs need to take umpiring more seriously. No-one should be able to officiate without some form of training. Already this season I have been in games where the umpires consistently fail to count to six. I have seen an square-leg umpire reading his phone as the ball is delivered. Decent umpiring is an integral part of the game, but some clubs treat it like an optional extra.
But above all, players need to be honest.
We can all cheat. But some of us choose not to. And a player who stands his ground when he knows he is out is cheating. Full stop.
I'm getting on now. I am forty-several, and I have already picked up half a dozen injuries this season. The games get harder to prepare for, and longer to recover from. And I do this for the joy of the game. And where is the joy when you are beaten by cheats? And where is the joy in winning such a game?