Sole judges

Law 2 appoints the umpires in a single sentence and asks one thing of them. "Before the match, two umpires shall be appointed, one for each end, to control the match as required by the Laws, with absolute impartiality." Two, one each end, and the adjective is absolute.

Before the toss

Clause 2.3 has them meet the captains and determine four things: the balls to be used, the hours of play and the intervals, the boundary and the allowances for it, and any special conditions. Clause 2.4 has them check three: that the wickets are properly pitched, that the creases are correctly marked, and that the boundary complies. Seven items settled before a ball is bowled, and all of them the umpires' to settle.

The creases are an instance. Law 7 says what they must be; Law 2.4 says who confirms it. Between the two, the lines on the ground are somebody's responsibility rather than an assumption.

The sentence

Clause 2.6. "The umpires shall be the sole judges of fair and unfair play." Twelve words. Sole: nobody else, not the captains, not the players, not the crowd. Judges: it is a judgement, not a measurement. Fair and unfair: the whole of the ground the code cannot cover by rule.

Every other Law is specific about something. This clause is specific about who decides when the Laws are not.

Together, and either

The Law is careful about how many umpires a decision needs. Clause 2.7: "It is solely for the umpires together to decide" whether ground, weather, light or exceptional circumstances make play dangerous or unreasonable. Together. Clause 2.11: where there is disagreement or dispute about any matter, "the umpires together shall make the final decision". Together again.

Then clause 2.8, which reverses it. "The Umpires shall immediately suspend play, or not allow play to start or to recommence, if either umpire considers that the conditions are either dangerous or unreasonable." Either. One umpire's view of danger is enough to stop the game; it takes both to decide it may go on.

That asymmetry is the Law's safety margin. Deciding to play needs agreement. Deciding to stop needs one voice, and the word "immediately" goes with it.

Final, unless promptly altered

Clause 2.12. "An umpire may alter any decision provided that such alteration is made promptly and does not contradict Law 20.6. This apart, an umpire's decision, once made, is final." A decision can be changed, by the umpire who made it, quickly, and within one other Law's limits. Otherwise it stands. The clause does not say who may ask for the alteration. It says only that the umpire may make it.

The rest of the job

Clause 2.9: stand where you can best see. Clause 2.10: change ends after each side has completed one innings. Clause 2.15: satisfy yourselves throughout the match as to the runs scored, the wickets fallen and the overs bowled. Clause 2.2: an umpire is not changed during a match except in exceptional circumstances, injury or illness.

Position, rotation, arithmetic, permanence. Four clauses that make the umpire a fixture of the match rather than a visitor to it. The last of the four is about the record rather than about play: the umpires must satisfy themselves the score is correct, which is a different duty from making it.

Absolute

The one adjective in clause 2.1 is the one the whole Law rests on. Sole judges, together or either, final once made: none of it works unless the two people it describes are impartial, and the Law does not say how that is ensured. It says it is required, absolutely, in the first sentence, and then builds on it as if it were a fact.

Law 2, The umpires: MCC Laws of Cricket, 2017 Code →

Law 7, The creases: MCC Laws of Cricket, 2017 Code →

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No. 14 in By the Book, a series of 17.

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