Pritchett O: He's down and out, hit for six figures (23Aug94)

"He's down and out, hit for six figures by the match referee".
(Oliver Pritchett in The Daily Telegraph, 23 Aug 94)

The most impressive aspect of the last Test between  England  and
South  Africa  was  the consistently high level of fines imposed.
Apart from the 1,250 pounds  on  Michael  Atherton and  the   165
pounds on the South African bowler Fanie de Villiers for dissent,
all members of both teams had some of their  wages  stopped   for
slow play.

This made it a memorable match. The system of  fining  is  giving
cricket an exciting new dimension; there is a real buzz among the
crowd when it sees a top player forking out a large sum.  I  hope
that  Wisden  will publish league tables of fines, instead of all
those boring old batting and bowling averages.

It could mean a return to amateur status as players  find,  after
mildly  demurring  at a couple of decisions and perhaps wistfully
shaking their head, that their day's pay has been whittled   down
to zero.

Looking back over this past season, I  can  recall  some  magical
moments  in the marvellous English game of spotting infringements
and making people pay for them. Yes, it is that evocative  summer
sound of tongue on teeth as people tut-tut at cricket matches.

I shall treasure the  memory  of  a  brilliant  innings  by  that
consummate  batsman, the left-handed G.W.R. Billington. He scored
23 runs and notched up a total of 2,765 pounds in fines,   mostly
for    raising  his  left  eyebrow  at  the umpire.  Then,  in  a
wonderfully stylish way, he signalled to the pavilion for  a  new
chequebook.

He then turned to the man fielding at  silly  mid-off,  pulled  a
face  likely  to  bring the game into disrepute and, on the spot,
wrote out a cheque for 1,000 pounds. All the spectators stood  up
to  applaud  the  debonair  flourish  with  which he put down his
signature. Incidentally, when I said Billington was  left-handed,
I  meant  that he wrote his cheques left-handed; he batted in the
usual right-handed way.

I was  lucky  enough  to  be  present  at  the  match  when  that
terrifying  fast  bowler  L.M.S.  Blenkinsop paid in 3,000 pounds
worth of fines in advance. This was a neat bit of gamesmanship as
it  was a warning to everyone that he was going to be surly, full
of dissent, difficult, and probably would not even say thank  you
nicely  when  the  umpire gave him back his sweater at the end of
the over. The ploy worked; Blenkinsop took five wickets and  came
away with 150 pounds in change.

The veteran batsman S.R.  Braithwaite  is  almost  certainly  the
first  player  to  be out "declared bankrupt". It happened in the
match against Mid Glamorgan when Braithwaite was scoring   slowly
but knocking up the fines at a brisk rate.

In the lunch interval, he had to rush home and sell his house  to
raise  the money that he owed the authorities for several hostile
glances, two outbreaks of sceptical laughter,  for blatant   eye-
rolling   and  uncalled  for  head-shaking  and for  persistently
negative body language.

Even though his wife started going out to work in the third  over
after  lunch  to keep the family solvent and Braithwaite sold his
pads and his boots to raise money  while  he  was still  at   the
crease, it was all to no avail.

The  slip  fielders  appealed  that  Braithwaite    was  "looking
askance",  and,  after  a  replay of his facial expression on the
television monitors, the umpires agreed  and he  was  fined   750
pounds.  As  he could not pay this on the spot, he was obliged to
make his way back to the pavilion.

It was a harsh but fair decision to fine him  an  additional  500
pounds for walking back too slowly and also for having "shoulders
drooping in an insubordinate manner".

The new fines have helped to keep  players  on  their  toes.  The
useful  all- rounder L.N.E.R. Bradshaw found himself in hot water
when he happened to meet the umpire Tubby Torquemada on the   way
to   a   match   at   the  delightful West Norfolk ground.  "Nice
day," said Tubby, and  Bradshaw  foolishly  replied:  "I  beg  to
differ."  He quickly  found  himself  600  pounds  out  of pocket
and facing a three-match suspension.

Tubby himself was heavily fined in another controversial incident
this season. He was deemed to have held up his index finger in an
inappropriately lethal manner when giving a batsman out lbw. When
told of the fine, he made the serious mistake of shaking his head
in disbelief.

 Contributed by John.Hall (John@jhall.demon.co.uk)