Eels and Umpire by accident !!

During those Pongal Test days, Chepauk stadium would erupt as two gentlemen’s head could be seen inside the Pavilion – amidst Crowd burst, Umpires would walk out .. ..  here is a pic of our favourite classic offie Srinivasan Venkatraghavan as Umpire.

Yesterday, a blazing half-century from Suryakumar Yadav, and a more sedate one from ViratKohli, helped India cruise into the Super 4 round of the Asia Cup as they beat Hong Kong by 40 runs in Dubai. Earlier in the match between Srilanka& Afghanistan – viewers were baffled as third umpire declaredPathumNissanka caught behind. The Sri Lankan batter was adjudged caught behind for three off Naveen-ul-Haq’s bowling. Do you know the Umpires in India – Hongkongmatch ??

Moving away from Cricket, there is another bat-and-ball sport played between two teams – Baseball.  Of course, there are many differences – baseball comprises of team of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game is in play when a player on the fielding team, called the pitcher, throws a ball, a batter tries to hit that, into the field of play, away from the other team's players, allowing its players to run the bases, having them advance counter-clockwise around four bases to score what are called "runs". The fielding team tries to prevent batters from   becoming runners, and to prevent runners' advance around the bases. A run is scored when a runner legally advances around the bases in order and touches home plate (the place where the player started as a batter). Players on the batting team who reach first base without being called "out" can attempt to advance to subsequent bases as a runner, either immediately or during teammates' turns batting. There are Umpires in Baseball too.

Baseball is sometimes called "the timeless game." Unlike football, basketball or soccer, there's no clock and the two teams keep playing until there's a winner.In theory, the game could go on forever.On April 18, 1981, two minor league teams met for an early season game of no real consequence. It was AAA baseball, one step below the major leagues. The Pawtucket Red Sox were playing the Rochester Red Wings at McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket, R.I.It was a cold night, 45 degrees with a strong wind blowing straight in from center field, which made it hard to score. By the end of 9 innings, the game was tied at 1. And it stayed that way into extra innings.The two teams played past midnight, past a league curfew, into the wee hours of Easter Sunday morning. Both teams scored in the 21st inning and they played on.The players were so cold they started fires in metal trash cans and burned their broken bats. At 4 a.m., after 8 hours of gameplay, it had reached the 32nd inning. Pawtucket's General Manager  finally got the league president on the phone, who instructed the umpires to suspend the game.Two months later, they picked up where they left off  !!

In the rivers of the Amazon rainforest is a fish like no other. A fish that has the extraordinary power of communicating a painful sensation like an electrical shock.Electric eels are a genus of freshwater fish from South America, famous for their ability to stun their prey by generating electricity.

Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order Anguilliformes. Eels undergo considerable development from the early larval stage to the eventual adult stage, most of which are extremely slippery and slimy, and are usually predators.

Sean Michael Barber is an American professional baseball umpire in Major League Baseball (MLB). He began working in MLB as a call-up umpire in 2014 and was hired as a full-time umpire before the 2022 season.

Interestingly, it is stated that Barber enrolled at Hillsborough Community College. While he was working at a pet store, Barber was bitten by an eel through the bone of his right hand near his thumb, requiring him to get 27 stitches three weeks before the start of his sophomore year.  Unable to write, Barber turned his attention to umpiring, and enrolled at the Harry Wendelstedt Umpire School. Barber attended an umpiring camp hosted by Major League Baseball (MLB),and was hired as an umpire in Minor League Baseball in 2006,making his professional baseball debut in the Appalachian League.  MLB hired Barber as a full-time umpire before the 2022 season.Barber's father, Glenn Chancey, has worked as an umpire and umpiring instructor in the North Lakeland Little League since 1991.

In yesterday’s T20I Asia Cup match between India &Hongkong, the Umpires were :Ahsan Raza&GaziSohel.  TV Umpire was - Asif Yaqoob and Ahmed Shah Pakteen was the Reserve Umpire.  Former NZ Cricketer Jeff Crowe was the Match referee.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar
1^st Sept. 2022.