Reserve player Manoj Mondal of Bhowanipore Club stands guard near the sightscreen. (Sanat Kr Sinha)

Budding cricketers on the Maidan spend as much time honing their technique against political pitch invasions as they do batting, bowling and fielding.

Playgrounds here are, after all, not solely for sport but also for the games politicians play. So whenever party supporters armed with flags threaten to invade the pitch — and that is often — an extra cover position takes on a different meaning for the fielding side.

Welcome to the Calcutta Cricket and Rally League, where the biggest prize at stake is the 22 yards.

Tuesday’s first-division match between Bhowanipore Club and Sporting Union — barely 25 metres from the Shahid Minar grounds, where BJP leaders were hurling bouncers at their rivals — gave Metro a glimpse of what cricketers and umpires on the Maidan go through on most days. And this in a quarterfinal of a knock-out one-day tournament organised by the Cricket Association of Bengal.

Here’s what Metro saw:

nA “third umpire” standing guard near the pitch to keep intruders from running on the pitch

nA player on vigil near the sightscreen to stop flag-wielding marchers from walking across the boundary

nA player diving for the ball to save a boundary, only to find his hands smeared with faeces

nThe fielding captain shouting into the players’ ears every time he wanted to give instructions because they couldn’t have heard him otherwise; such was the din caused by the blaring loudspeakers

During the match break, a Sporting Union official — the team needed to chase a target of 289 in 45 overs — stood guard near the pitch lest anybody step on it, causing rough patches that would make playing more difficult for his batsmen.

“We have become used to it,” he said.

As the match headed for a nail-biting finish, up went the entire fielding side for a caught behind but the umpire called wide. He couldn’t have heard even the loudest nick or spotted the thickest edge with so many distractions all around.

Sporting Union needed 10 runs in the last over with three wickets in hand but it was Bhowanipore who won by seven runs. Had the result gone the other way, the appeal that was turned down would have been the turning point.

“We felt there was a sound but it doesn’t matter now as we have won the match,” Satyabrata Murmu, the Bhowanipore wicket-keeper, smiled.

Umpire Shaktipada Bhattacharya admitted that officiating in matches on the Maidan was difficult on rally days.

A reserve player from Bhowanipore Club assigned the task of shooing away those standing in front of the sightscreen said keeping the rally brigade at bay was the most difficult task. “They don’t understand. Many start arguing if you tell them to move away,” Manoj Mondal said.

Prinann Dutta, who made 57 and kept Sporting in the game through the run chase, said concentrating in a packed, noisy stadium like the Eden Gardens would be much easier than keeping one’s eye on the ball on a Maidan pitch.

“This was a quarter-final match and we had a big target to chase. But so many distractions are unfair. In cricket, if you lose your concentration for a moment you are out,” Prinann said.

Bikram Paul of Sporting Union, who soiled his hands while stopping a boundary, joked that his teammates at least couldn’t accuse him of having butter fingers.

For those playing cricket on the Maidan, a sense of humour is as important a part of their kit as technique.