Should you ever be stumped ?

Today’s article focuses on one of the basics of batting. It is something that experience will teach you, but I think that it is well worth making the point.

The question is slightly misleading as it does depend on the match situation and what the batsman is setting out to achieve.

It certainly is acceptable to be stumped if the team need quick runs and you have chosen to attack a spin bowler. The bowler may well “do you” in the flight and before you know it the keeper has whipped off the bails.

But the point I really want to make is directly linked to the fact that far too many of our batsmen needlessly gave their wicket away through being stumped last season when there was absolutely no need for it.

The golden rule to prevent such a disaster is to thoroughly observe the wicket keepers position before the bowler has commenced. It is customary for wicket keepers to stand right up behind the stumps for spin bowlers, but some keepers now take it upon themselves to also stand up to all but the fastest of bowlers.

With a keeper standing up, you should make absolutely sure that you bat from your crease. What I mean by that is that even if you miss the ball your feet should be within your crease to prevent even a sniff of a stumping opportunity.

If the keeper is standing back, it does give you an opportunity to bat from outside your crease which is a method employed by many top players to upset a bowlers rhythm.

I umpired many an occasion last summer when we were either out to a weak stumping or came mighty close to losing a wicket if the keeper hadn’t of bodged it up. It is a simple thing to get right, and by avoiding the unnecessary stumpings we can probably achieve much bigger team totals which are going to be vital if we want to increase our win ratio.