DEAR JON

George is right again

A COUPLE of weeks back the Herald Sun ran a story about George Yelland, an elderly paper seller who was robbed at Rosanna station. The injuries George received prevented him from umpiring in the Heidelberg District Cricket Association in the 1998-99 season, something he did the previous year at age 83.

George was popular as an umpire and far from the worst in the association. There are a number of stories concerning his umpiring, my favourite being a C Grade game between Banyule and Clifton Hill four years ago at National Bend, with George the sole umpire.

Banyule was three wickets down when the facing batsman developed a back complaint and called for a runner. It then lost two quick wickets, leaving the next man in still padding up. He was told to sit on the oval so he couldn't be timed out.

But while all this was happening, the bowler walked back to his mark and the batsman faced up with no partner, just the runner (he later blamed the pain in his back for this decision).

The bowler clean bowled the said batsman, and as he and his runner trudged off, our captain ran onto the ground and told him to return, as it must be a dead ball with only one batsman.

That's when George made his decision: "I gave the batsman out, sonny, and out he is."

Our captain pleaded with George, who didn't want to change his mind, and eventually sanity prevailed and the bloke with the runner faced up again.

You guessed it, he was clean bowled again, prompting this reaction from George: "I told you he was out."

This incident is ranked in our club's legendary tales along with the umpire who called to the scorers after a quick single, "scorers, one short run", and then refused to change his call.

Neal Butterworth, Thomastown