The impasse ruling

[<<] [>>] by Gary Fox
11th November 2006 (The MacRobertson Shield)

The MacRobertson Shield Regulations were forwarded to the Governing Bodies for comment on 28 July 2006. The USCA responded, agreed (the ACA had also agreed) and noted that the Impasse Rules were not included and presumed that there would be a remedy from the Tournament Referee in place.

The Impasse Rules (not part of the Regulations mentioned above) were forwarded for comment to the Governing Bodies on 8 September, no response has been received. They were separately provided to Robert on 15 September.

The two sets of Rules considered where those applied in the World Championships in Wellington and Cheltenham. The Cheltenham Rules were selected.

Law 53 (f)) covers the resolution of an impasse. It states:

(f) IMPASSE An impasse exists when neither player is willing to make significant progress. Impasses shall be resolved according to the conditions advertised for the event and, failing which, at the discretion of the Tournament Referee.

The inclusion of the Impasse Rule was to clarify the way the Tournament Referee would resolve issues. An option could have been to not include a rule and rely upon the discretion of the Tournament Referee to resolve the issue (and I am sure that the Tournament Referee would have acted appropriately in the circumstances surrounding each case, if one occurred).
However the basis of any proposed decision/action should be clearly known.

The result of a match, a test match or the Series should not rest upon an irresolvable impasse. The rule, already available for use in the World Singles Championship provides an option for this not to occur.