Kemar Roach showed against England that overstepping the crease is more common than it should be – however it is a difficulty that is not dense to rectifyThe phrase “overstepping the mark” has its roots, so they affirm, in the bare‑knuckle bouts before the Queensbury Rules offered a small measure of civility to boxing. Fighters stood toe to toe on a border and slugged it outside. If one crossed the border, he had taken an unfair advantage which is attractive much how we know the term nowadays.However when at Trent Bridge at the end Saturday the West Indies quick bowler Kemar Roach quite literally overstepped the mark, not once however twice, while bowling to England’s prolific opening batsman Alastair Cook, it offered advantage to the batsman alone. When Cook had however a single run to his designation, Roach’s front foot landed beyond the bowling crease, thus rendering the subsequent delivery a no-ball and as inconsequential, except for the gratis single that went on to the scoreboard, the edge that Cook managed and the exceptional catch taken by the wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin.About an hour later, the lunch interval having come and gone, Roach did a reprise, landing beyond the border once more with Cook, having made a dozen immediately, similarly edging to Ramdin who again completed the catch. Standing in the slips, the West Indies captain Darren Sammy could only shake his head in a mixture of bemusement and rage.That Cook was not able to seize the reprieves to constitute a large score is neither here nor there: in cricket the bowling of no-balls is a criminal offence (quite literally so two years ago, in the condition of the Pakistan bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir ),however for them then to result in what would have been a wicket is just heinous.In all, Roach bowled 11 no-balls in England’s first innings, which is small beer compared to some (once I captained the former West Indies quick bowler Winston Davis, who sent down 31 no-balls in 23 overs, six of which produced catches: he still took seven for 70) however is still 11 also many.No bowler should send down a no-ball unless deliberately (pacemen occasionally do, by a distance, to soften up a tailender in the knowledge that they still have the complete complement of deliveries to dismiss them, while the Essex stalwart John Lever, who was said never to have bowled one in his entire career, did so fair at the end, just to annoy their scorer). Essentially, it is unprofessional, the equivalent of batsmen running small runs, although most of us have done so at some age. It is the serial offenders that are really at fault.A comparison is often made with extended jumpers who employ a measured run. However, jumpers deal in millimetres and in a ideal earth push the border as close as they can get. Bowlers have no demand to operate to such small margins, yet still they do. So how do you go about rectifying a glitch in what ought to be such a simple action?Some believe it should commence in practice sessions, where all also often bowlers can transgress without penalty.Personal familiarity tells me this is only partially successful. In the nets I would bowl habitually from 18 inches or so beyond the crease, yet for the bulk of my career I did not bowl no-balls in matches. The solution to this came when I realised that in matches it is the umpire and not the stumps that become a mark of reference for the final jump into delivery stride: no umpire and that becomes the stumps themselves. So an umpire of sorts, or much a single stump placed where he would stand, solved that. Thus, one simple solution in a match might be to inquiry the umpire to stand a foot further back.The most obvious solution would be to add a hardly any inches on to the run however this rarely works, while shortening it by the equivalent amount might, making a more natural running stride. Using a tape measure as we see often, with the whitewash markings on the grass, is, in my view unnecessary, since such precise measurement implies consistent conditions. Instead, a bowler would find running down the hill at Headingley, or Hove with a wind behind, different to coming from the opposite end. That is just a inquiry of pre-match reconnaissance. Most dense is a gusting wind.The longer the run from a mark, the more margin of mistake, so I am in favour of hitting an interim mark, affirm midway in the run-up, to divide down the mistake, provided it does not distract from concentrating on the delivery. Occasionally you could get what might best be described as holistic solutions. When the former Essex and England bowler Derek Pringle, Telegraph cricket correspondent immediately, was having distress in the mid 80s, the rumour was that Keith Fletcher, his county captain, suggested he get married. Pringle, of direction, denies this. Whether Roach is ready for matrimony is another affair.mike.selvey@ twitter.co.ukEngland v West Indies 2012West Indies cricket teamCricketMike Selveyguardian.co.uk © 2012 Twitter News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Employ of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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