ABSTRACT
Former Australian wicket keeper Rodney Marsh has been appointed to head the newly created England Cricket Academy. In addition to the delicious irony of the colonial teaching the former imperial masters the basics of their own game, it is interesting to note the attitude expressed by Marsh concerning the correct conduct of cricketers on the field, particularly on the question of appealing. Marsh, speaking of his days as head of the Australian Cricket Academy, said
At the Academy we spend a lot of time talking about the players’ attitude to umpires. The basic rule I lay down is ‘Don’t appeal if you don’t think it’s out; make it a good one if you do’. It is the players’ interest to earn the respect of the umpires. They’ll appreciate that behaviour. If you appeal all the time the umpire is more likely to turn down the one that is out through frustration and human nature.1
