Chris Glover’s cricket column: Not every ball down leg side should be called a wide

Firstly, we were able to beat Nottinghamshire Academy, who we have struggled to get the better of over the past few seasons.

Then on Sunday, we put in a sparkling performance in the last 16 of the Royal London Club Championship to defeat Kidderminster Victoria, one of the top sides from the Birmingham League.

After a solid and composed bowling and fielding display, restricting the hosts to 223 on a good wicket, Sam Johnson and Tom Rowe proceeded to play probably the best partnership I have witnessed in club cricket.

The pair batted with remarkable maturity and control, to ease us to victory well within the 45 overs and without looking in trouble at any stage.

It was a very special day for the club, and, as a player, it was a massive boost and also made me very proud to see the large number of Kimberley supporters who had made the trip over to the West Midlands.

To send them home happy was a perfect way to repay their wonderful support over the last few seasons since I joined this special club.

Kidderminster were at one stage in danger of not putting up much of a fight on Sunday, and had it not been for the brilliant innings of Richard Kimberlin, we could have been chasing a score closer to 150.

Kimberlin, rode his luck at times, but his clean striking at the end, and his use of the reverse sweep allowed him to assemble an impressive score for his team.

Kimberlin played the reverse sweep well, but I did feel sorry for Alex King who bowled very well, and was unlucky not to dismiss the Kidderminster batsman on a number of occasions.

It is becoming a bit of a bugbear of mine that everything down the leg side is called a wide, especially for an off spinner.

There were a couple of times on Sunday where Alex bowled a delivery which pitched in line with off stump.

The batsman had every chance to play the ball which then spun sharply and slipped down past leg stump.

I really do not feel this should be classed a wide. The main argument that comes back on this one is it allows for consistency, but that really is a non argument. You could just get rid of LBW to improve ‘consistency’ of umpiring, but we wouldn’t because we are happy to let the umpire interpret the delivery. That is exactly what they should be allowed to do with regard to ‘leg side wides’.

At one stage, Kimberlin moved early to reverse sweep and effectively changed his stance, and this is where there should definitely be a caveat for interpretation.

Anyway enough of me moaning, after all it has been a good week!