ACO NEWSLETTER - Ecb - England and Wales Cricket Board

ASSOCIATION OF CRICKET OFFICIALS 

NEWSLETTER – Issue 10 – October 2011 

Ketts talks… 

ECB ACO’s exclusive interview 

with the ICC’s newest recruit 

Powerplays 

Conference 

(and reply form) 24-25 

Discipline debate 8-9 

Scorer Officers 30

Team Sheet 

The Board 

Roger Knight – Chairman 

Nick Cousins – ACO SEO 

Peter Mitchell – Midlands (& Dep Chairman) 

Lorraine Elgar – London & East 

Tony Hemmings – South & West 

Philip Radcliffe – North 

Dave Carter – Wales 

Richard Holdsworth – ICC/Europe 

Fraser Stewart – Laws & Universities 

Manager, MCC 

Paul Bedford – Head of non first-class 

cricket 

Chris Kelly – ECB Umpires’ Manager 

Peter Willey – 1st-class Umpires 

Alan West – 1st-class Scorers 

Janie Frampton – Independent Member 

The ECB ACO Executive 

Nick Cousins – Senior Executive Officer 

Ben Francis – Finance & Project Officer 

Saira Baker – Administrator 

Eddie Lunn – Education Manager (South) 

Glyn Pearson – Education Manager (North) 

James Dexter – Membership & Education 

(Edgbaston) 

Martin Williams – Young Officials 

Development Officer 

ACO Board 

Sub-Committees 

Education 

Membership Services 

Scorers 

Performance 

Appointments and Grading 

ACO office contact 

Phone – 0121 446 2710 

E-mail – ecbaco@ecb.co.uk 

Addresses 

ECB ACO, Lord’s Cricket Ground, 

London, NW8 8QZ. 

ECB Membership and 

Education Office: 

Warwickshire CC Ground, 

Edgbaston, 

Birmingham, B5 7QX 

Newsletter Editor 

Pierre Tartari 

editor.aco@ecb.co.uk 

EDITORIAL 

Another season 

closes… 

• Was it better for you than the last? 

• Did the new Law revisions help or hinder? 

• Did the television coverage of all the DRS incidents – or, indeed the 

lack of them - improve the general understanding of players? 

• Were you always shown due respect by the players or were there more 

disciplinary ‘moments’ – as appears to have been subjectively 

reported? 

Please let us know your views – particularly insofar as they reference; on 

field ‘issues and we shall publish as many as we can, and summarise the 

rest, in the Christmas issue. 

Highlighted in this issue: 

The Ian Bell ‘Dismissal 

and Recall’ 

Law 23 1 - Ball is dead 

1(b) “The ball shall be considered to 

be dead when it is clear to the 

bowler’s end umpire that the fielding 

side and both batsmen at the wicket 

have ceased to regard it as in play.” 

2. Ball finally settled 

“Whether the ball is finally settled or 

not is a matter for the umpire alone to 

decide.” 

Is it not the case that most colleagues 

in the recreational game 

would interpret the wording in similar 

circumstances (ie where it is not clear 

who thinks what) by calling ‘Dead 

ball’ to ensure that no further mis-understanding 

was possible, and in so 

doing prevent the outcome that we 

saw at Edgbaston.? 

Referrals… 

Cover Story 

What is the job of a cricket umpire 

and when can they refer decisions to a 

third official? The third umpire uses 

TV replays to rule on run-outs, 

stumpings, whether a ball has hit the 

ground before being caught, or when 

it is unclear if the ball has crossed the 

boundary. 

However, the third umpire can only 

make a decision if he has been asked 

to do so by the umpires out on the 

pitch. Their involvement in the game 

is becoming increasingly influential, 

with fans and commentators alike 

calling for technology to be used for 

every contentious appeal. 

There have been a couple of instances 

where the issue has been 

highlighted. 

In the sixth one-day international 

between England and India in 2007, 

umpire Peter Hartley initially gave 

Paul Collingwood not out as he attempted 

a quick single. 

But when Hartley jogged in to replace 

the bails, the slow-motion replay 

was shown on the big screen 

despite Hartley not asking for a referral 

to the third umpire. 

When the replay showed that 

Collingwood was out, and the Indian 

team celebrated, Hartley, apparently, 

only then motioned for a referral to 

the third umpire. 

So did the Umpire make a mistake? 

Well possibly – but only insofar as he 

did not make the referral immediately, 

but as MCC Laws state, ‘an umpire 

may alter his decision, provided 

that such an alteration is made 

promptly. This apart, an umpire’s decision, 

once made, is final.’ 

Law 27 continues: ‘A prudent umpire 

will always take a moment or two 

to consider the facts before him. No 

shame is attached to an umpire changing 

his mind if, in the final analysis, 

the decision is a correct one.’ 

If an umpire is unsure about a decision, 

then the batsman is always 

given the benefit of the doubt, but 

with more and more referrals to the 

third umpire that doubt can be 

checked upon. 

Only an umpire can give a batsman 

out, but only after an appeal from the 

fielding side. 

If a batsman stands his ground and 

no appeal has been made by the field- 

Having lead last issue with the photos of ‘Bumble’, we are very 

proud to show-case the latest 1st-class umpire to join the ICC 

elite panel – Richard Kettleborough. Read all about his 

development, on page 4. 

e-mail us at ecbaco@ecb.co.uk 2 contact us on 0121 446 2710

ing side, he should not be given out by 

an umpire. 

In the last few years, the ICC has 

trialled a review system - which allowed 

players to challenge the onfield 

umpires and have their decisions 

referred to the third umpire - in Test 

cricket. 

The review system was trialled during 

several Test series in 2009 and 

2010, and was used at the 2011 World 

Cup. However, both sides must agree 

for DRS to be used in a Test series – 

which is why in the recent England- 

India Test series, only a limited DRS 

was used, with lbw decisions not allowed 

to be reviewed, because of India’s 

objections. 

However every umpire you might 

discuss this with (including those involved 

in the excellent seminar at 

Edgbaston (reported elsewhere) will 

say that the system has to be the same 

for all series whenever it is used. 

Catches on the boundary… 

Athleticism proves the Law correct! 

Did you see the amazing double-act in 

the Sri Lanka -v- Australia ODI on the 

8 th August when a massive strike from 

David Warner was about to clear the 

hard-chasing fielder, Angelo Mathew, 

when his last leap caught the ball as 

he went airborne. Realising that he 

was about to land over the boundary, 

he threw it backwards and sideways - 

straight into the welcoming hands of 

the in-field Mahela Jayawardene, who 

quietly held it aloft and claimed the 

catch. Extraordinary. 

Discipline – and lack of it! 

Reporters jotting furiously, coaches 

shaking their heads, committee members 

shuffling their papers, judiciaries 

meeting – disciplinary issues are increasingly 

under the spotlight. 

We will be looking at the reasons 

why . Adherence to the Spirit Of 

Cricket remains at the heart of the 

recreational game, and the importance 

of this is trumpeted by ECB at every 

opportunity whether it is; Mike Gatting 

writing forewords in the finals 

programmes, Paul Bedford giving a 

key-note speech at the CA conference 

(also our own ACO conference), or 

David Graveney addressing the Academy 

players at Loughborough. 

This is a hugely important issue and 

your opinions, are, as always, very 

welcome. 

‘Hidden Talents’ 

Perhaps unsurprisingly, many of our 

colleagues have special - even unusual 

- interests, some evidencing considerable 

talent, From the Christmas issue, 

we will be showcasing them one by 

As the season is over, there is no real need 

for a ‘Tech-Tactic’ – so here are two 

pictures… 

© Photos Unlimited 

Could be that if you study hard there will be a reward – as Nick Cousins 

presides in the Young Officials seminar in Oakham, and above with Bob 

Hampshire (Gloucestershire) & Gary Parker (Lancashire) our appointees 

to the National Club Championship Final at Derbyshire CCC. 

one… and there are some fascinating 

stories to tell! 

Please do not be unduly shy or 

modest if you have a special talent, or 

you know of a friend or colleague who 

has... write and tell us about it. 

Young Officials, those from 

Ethnic Groups and Women 

Officials 

You may know that one of the priorities 

in the ACO section of the ECB 

Partnership Agreement & Action Plan 

is to raise the profile of officiating to 

the next generation of officials (16 -25 

year olds); Women & Girls, and Ethnic 

Minorities. It remains the case that 

these three groups of officials are seriously 

under-represented at all levels of 

the game – but notably in the top echelons 

of recreational cricket. However 

we are delighted to report some 

nomtable success stories. 

Our Young Officials Development 

squad has taken more appointments 

this year and performed excellently 

throughout - notably in the BUCS T20 

finals at Loughborough; the Club and 

County Age Group finals at Oakham, 

and at the Disability finals. This 

should give us the confidence to appoint 

our Young Officials more widely 

both locally and nationally – don’t forget 

the phrase “If they are good 

enough they are old enough”. 

Mansoor Qureshi, a member of the 

Level 3 Pilot course, was recently appointed 

as one of the four umpires officiating 

in the televised Cockspur Cup 

T20 finals at Chelmsford, and we also 

appointed four women; Lorraine Elgar, 

Janet Rogers, Alison Smith, and Angela 

Tuff, to umpire the womens’ T20 National 

Finals at Shenley. 

Congratulations to them all – but I 

am not sure that we have identified all 

those Young Officials, Women or Ethnic 

Groups umpires who might be 

similarly regarded as role models – so 

don’t be shy , if you think you fit the 

bill – let us know. 


Richard Kettleborough – ICC Elite Umpire 

Richard’s goal when he started umpiring in South Yorkshire in 2002 was to get 

to the top. Like John Hampshire before him, he went to Frank Richardson, the 

ACU&S guru at the time who gave him one-to-one tuition and guided him 

through the old GL6 examination. His debut in first class cricket followed 

quickly when he stood in a match between Durham and Durham UCCE. He 

followed this up over the next two years with further university matches, and 

two tour matches (involving Sri Lankans and Indians. In May 2004, he stood in 

his first County Championship match, Durham against Essex. Richard became 

a member of the ECB full list of umpires in 2006, and has taken charge of a 

number of showpiece domestic matches, including a semi-final in the 2009 

Friends Provident Trophy, finals day of the Twenty20 Cup in 2009, and the final 

of the Clydesdale Bank 40 in 2010. So our congratulations in the fact that… 

… “The International Cricket Council 

(ICC) has announced that Kumar 

Dharmasena and Richard Kettleborough 

have been selected on to the 

Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires 

following the annual review and selection 

process. 

The two umpires, who have been 

serving on the Emirates International 

Panel of ICC Umpires, have been promoted 

to the top level by the ICC Umpires 

Selection Panel. “Their 

prom otions are a result of hard work 

and impressive performances and will 

act as an inspiration to other umpires,” 

said David Richardson, ICC’s General 

Manager - Cricket, and convener of 

the selection panel. 

At 38, Kettleborough is now the 

youngest umpire on the panel. The 

Yorkshireman played 33 first-class 

matches from 1994 to 1999 for Middlesex 

and Yorkshire in the English 

County Championship before he was 

included in the England and Wales 

Cricket Board (ECB) Full List of 

First-Class umpires in 2006. 

Kettleborough made his international 

umpiring debut when he stood 

in the T20I between England and Australia 

at Old Trafford in 2009. To date, 

he has umpired in 2 Tests, 16 ODIs 

and 2 T20Is. Like Dharmasena, Kettleborough 

was also in the panel of 18 

umpires for the ICC Cricket World 

Cup 2011. 

Kettleborough said: “I am delighted 

to have been chosen for the 

elite panel and I’m looking forward to 

the challenges ahead.” 

(The ICC Umpires Selection Panel is 

made up of David Richardson, ICC’s 

General Manager - Cricket, ICC Chief 

Match Referee Ranjan Madugalle, ex- 

England player, coach and former 

first-class umpire David Lloyd, and 

Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan, 

the former India captain and elite 

panel umpire.) 

Now, Richard’s own 

reactions to the news… 

“I was delighted to be asked if I 

wanted to be added to the elite panel 

of ICC umpires. I said yes straightaway. 

I’m really excited about getting 

started. When I started umpiring I 

wanted to go as high as I could, so to 

reach this level is brilliant news. It’s 

come a bit quicker than I thought it 

might. 

At 38, I’m the youngest on the panel 

but that doesn’t bother me. I’m used to 

it. I was the youngest on the ECB Reserve 

List, youngest on the First-Class 

List and youngest on the ICC International 

Panel. I will be on a two-year 

contract which is then reviewed. 

Hopefully I will do well and I can remain 

on the Elite list for many years. 

I knew the ICC committee was 

meeting but I wasn’t sure if they were 

planning on promoting anyone. I got a 

call after the meeting finished to say 

they wanted to appoint me and Kumar 

Dharmasena. I played against Kumar 

years ago when Middlesex played Sri 

Lanka and we stood together in the 

Under-19 World Cup Final. 

My appointment is performance related. 

I umpired at the World Cup earlier 

this year and 

last November 

did 2 Test 

matches between 

Sri Lanka 

and West Indies. 

It went well 

from my point 

of view. 

My first Test 

was in Galle. 

The heat and the 

humidity hit me 

straight away, 

there was indifferent 

bounce, 

men around the 

bat, lots of appealing - they knew it 

was my first game and wanted to test 

me. There were 13 referrals and on 

each occasion my decision was upheld. 

That was pleasing. I like the 

DRS but it means you have nowhere 

to hide as an umpire. I like testing myself 

though. 

I can’t wait to do more Tests and be 

out there with world-class players, day 

in day out. It’ll be a challenge though. 

There is lots of time away from home, 

different cultures, different climates, 

umpiring with different colleagues and 

the use of technology. 

With a young family, being abroad is 

a massive commitment. I haven’t got 

the contract yet but I think I am due to 

do 80 days, either on-field or as a TV 

umpire. I will be spending a lot of 

time away from home so it was something 

my wife and I discussed. We 

have two young kids - Millie is two, 

Jack is five months - but we think we 

can manage. 

The ICC normally give you three 

months’ notice of where you will be 

sent to umpire. I will be staying in 

England for the summer though as I 

am involved with the England-Sri 

Lanka one-dayers and the England- 

India series.” 


MCCA Panel – 2012 

We are delighted to announce some changes to the process for nomination and appointment to 

the MCCA panel. Here is a summary of the thinking behind it all, provided by Philip August, MCCA 

Competitions Secretary… 

“It is not so long ago that anyone 

who fancied umpiring in Minor 

County cricket could apply for an application 

form from MCCA and get 

the necessary support from his local 

ACU&S, League, respected colleagues 

and players and County 

Club/Board, and hope to be appointed. 

Not so now, although that 

method did provide many top- class 

umpires over the years. 

The Appointments Committee of 

MCCA has entered into a partnership 

with ECB ACO, and the marks that 

County ACO Performance Officers 

send to ECB all go towards placing 

umpires into categories, and the 

names of those who are considered 

suitable to stand in Minor County 

cricket are then discussed between 

ECB ACO officials and MCCA. 

This seems a much more sensible 

method of getting the best umpires to 

stand in a very challenging level of 

cricket. 

Tommy Wilson will still do his 

‘homework’ on the names recommended, 

but in theory, MCCA can be 

safe in the knowledge that the 

process of marking undertaken by 

County Board PO’s and ECB ACO 

will deliver umpires of the required 

standard. MCCA is delighted with 

the new system which helps provide 

a pathway for ambitious umpires to 

stand at a level of cricket that they 

might otherwise have thought was 

not available to them. 

The senior umpires who stand in 

Minor County acknowledge the high 

standard of cricket played, and believe 

it is the highest quality other 

than 1 st -class cricket. All games are 

competitive, and very few end up in 

meaningless draws. Umpires have to 

stand for 110 overs a day for 3 days, 

and their fitness is tested by that 

alone, but when you take into account 

the pressure of the last innings 

with spinners bowling dozens of 

overs with bat/pad catchers in place, 

then that really does ask questions of 

their character and ability. 

The umpires relish that challenge 

in the same way as players enjoy 

testing themselves in Minor County 

cricket, and by using the ECB ACO 

system, the players will benefit from 

having the best of the recreational 

umpires standing in their matches”. 

Women umpires take charge in Northumberland 

IT was a case of ‘Ladies Behind 

Wicket’ when these female umpires 

made cricketing history. Officials 

Gillian Woodley and Sarah Lee have 

become the first two women to take 

charge of a match in one of the North’s 

top leagues. The women, who both 

umpire men’s games in the Northumberland 

Cricket League, are a rare sight 

in the male-dominated world of stumps 

and bails. 

Gillian, 50, and Sarah, 19, kept their 

eagle-eyes on the creases earlier this 

month in a game between Cramlington 

and the Civil Service – and it’s believed 

they are among the first all-female 

umpiring teams to don the whites 

at a men’s match anywhere in the 

country. The pair are pushing back the 

boundaries of the sport in the region 

and have ambitions to umpire at the 

highest level possible. Gillian is a 

fully-qualified umpire having attained 

her Level Two grade last year. 

Sarah previously scored for Blyth 

Second XI and this is her second season 

umpiring, after passing her Level 

One from the ECB’s Association of 

Cricket Officials. Gillian, from Gosforth, 

Newcastle, said: “I admit I once 

hated the sport, but I was becoming a 

cricket widow because my husband 

loves it. “I had to grow to like it just to 

see him at weekends. I started as a 

scorer and got hooked, so I decided to 

get my qualifications at the same time 

as Peter. “It’s a fascinating sport and I 

love it now. I think I’ve gained respect 

from the men players. “It was difficult 

at the start when I did my first matches 

four years ago because I think some 

men found it hard to accept decisions 

from a woman. “But I think now I’ve 

shown I can do it, and it’s something I 

very much enjoy. It would be lovely to 

see more women doing it. There’s a 

great team spirit among the umpires, 

but it’s always nice to see a few 

women walking out there.” 

Sarah, from Blyth, Northumberland, 

is studying A-levels at Newcastle College 

but spends her weekends on ovals 

across the county. She first attended a 

cricket match aged just three months 

with her dad, a keen player. “I think 

cricket is in my blood because I’ve 

been on pitches and in pavilions for as 

long as I can remember,” she said. “I 

was watching games before I could 

walk. It was inevitable I’d become a 

cricket fanatic. I love the whole atmosphere 

of the sport. “I’m very young, as 

well as being a woman, but the men 

haven’t really given me a hard time. 

“They’re actually very polite. If they 

swear and forget I’m there they always 

say ‘oh, I’m so sorry’.” 

Alison Saddler, the League’s honorary 

secretary, said: “This is a first for 

us and I would imagine quite uncommon 

in general.” 

Any women interested in becoming 

umpires can contact Alison by emailing 

alison.saddler@yahoo.co.uk 

(© Courtesy Newcastle Sunday Sun) 

e-mail us at ecbaco@ecb.co.uk 5 contact us on 0121 446 2710 

Gillian Woodley and Sarah Lee

Laws – in highlight, and in the spotlight 

The largest revised issue of the ‘Laws of Cricket’ – the ‘Blue’ book (now showing 

‘4th edition 2010’ on its cover) has been issued this year. 

We know there is always an on-going debate on the variety of topics being 

considered by the relevant authorities at any given time, and rather than assume 

there is universal concord among officials, we have invited comment. 

It makes sense here to underscore the difference between ‘The Laws’ absolute 

and inviolate, and ‘Playing Regulations’ where international, country or county 

boards or competition sponsors amend the Laws for the style and management of 

Test matches, ODIs, T20s, and the global kaleidoscope of league and age cricket 

matches! 

We begin with comments made by Fraser Stewart, the MCC Laws and Universities 

Manager, (and a member of the ACO Board), on ‘Runners’ and the ‘Non-striker out 

of his ground’. 

“On the use of a runner for an 

injured batsman, the ICC has decided 

that, from 1 st October, runners 

will no longer be allowed in international 

cricket. The main justifications 

given by ICC for the change were 

that bowlers are not permitted the 

equivalent of a runner and that it was 

difficult for umpires to judge the legitimacy 

of a batsman’s injury. The 

issue of having a runner when the 

batsman has cramp seemed to provide 

the momentum for the change. 

Firstly, the ICC disallowed a runner 

in such circumstances but then after 

advice from their Medical Committee, 

giving rise to a fair amount of 

criticism, decided to allow them. 

MCC has considered the matter 

and is strongly of the opinion that 

runners should be retained. MCC 

will not be changing the Law and so, 

unless National Boards or leagues decide 

to follow ICC’s line, runners will 

continue to be allowed in all but international 

cricket. At present, it appears 

that ECB does not intend to 

follow the ICC initiative. 

MCC feels that not to allow a runner 

for an incapacitated batsman does 

not comply with the spirit of equity 

within the Laws. If a bowler is incapacitated, 

another bowler can take 

over; if an incapacitated batsman is 

not permitted a runner, this effectively 

means the loss of his wicket, 

which is a disproportionate effect. 

An injury to a batsman when a side 

was 9 wickets down would result in 

the end of the innings or him having 

to struggle through, risking aggravating 

the injury. 

MCC would not wish to see a 

batsman hobbling through the last 

few overs of a match to try to win it. 

Bowlers do not have to hobble – 

someone else can bowl for them. 

Critics of the runner Law often cite 

the fact that cricket is the only sport 

that caters for an injured player. In 

other sports, an injury is simply bad 

luck, as in tennis for example, or a 

fully participating substitute may be 

used, as in football or rugby. MCC 

sees this as a positive aspect of our 

sport. An injured player is given as 

much help as possible to continue 

playing the game within his capabilities. 

Indeed, Law 2.1(b) gives umpires 

discretion to allow substitutes 

or runners for ‘other wholly acceptable 

reasons’ – MCC is aware of this 

Law being invoked for a player with 

an artificial leg who was able to field 

at slip but needed a runner while batting. 

Taking the ‘equity’ argument further, 

if the ICC is saying that an injured 

batsman is not allowed a 

runner, does it not follow that an injured 

fielder should not be allowed a 

substitute? This is already a Law that 

many feel is abused at international 

level, with substitutes often taking the 

place of players with no obvious 

signs of illness or injury. The ICC recently 

tightened up their regulations 

to clarify that a substitute would not 

be allowed onto the field to cover a 

“comfort break” and yet we seldom 

see only ten men in the field. Judging 

by the complaints that MCC receives 

on this issue, compared to those about 

runners, it would appear that the more 

widely abused area has not been tackled. 

Returning to the runners, amateur 

umpires will have to continue to cope 

with the chaos and confusion that 

often surrounds a runner’s appearance. 

Keep that finger poised, as a 

run-out is never far away!” 

“On the subject of the Non-striker 

being appealed for being out of his 

ground when the wicket at that end is 

broken after the bowler has had contact 

with the ball, on discussing this 

with various members of the Laws 

sub-committee, we are all in agreement 

that there simply needs to be 

any kind of contact between the ball 

and the fielder’s person, as defined in 

Appendix D. The fielder’s intent is 

irrelevant and so there is no need to 

make any distinction between a positive 

act of trying to field the ball and 

the ball unwittingly striking his person.” 

Runners – or not? 

These comments from Clive Lloyd 

are extracted from an interview written 

up by Mihir Bose published in the 

Evening Standard in June… and relates 

to Clive’s role as Chairman of 

the ICC Cricket Committee… 

‘But if the fight against the Indians 

was only half a battle won (DRS 

being the ‘lost’ half), he did get his 

own way with a far-reaching proposal 

of his cricket committee which would 

mark a very radical change to the 

game. This is that in international 

cricket, an injured batsman will no 

longer be able to continue batting 

using a runner. Lloyd may be known 

for his batting but on this issue he has 

no problems arguing the Law has 

been unfair to bowlers. 

“If a bowler is injured, you don’t 

get somebody else to come and bowl 

for him,” he says. “He has to go off. 

So, if a batsman is injured, he has to 

go off too. Why should he be allowed 

to bat using another batsman to run 

for him? That is giving him an unfair 

advantage.” 


Same Laws, differing onfield 

results? 

… from Andy White, of Tavistock 

in Devon… 

“Following your feature on the Law 

changes introduced in October 2011 

in the May 2011 issue of the magazine, 

I am at a loss to explain why 

our top-flight umpires are not implementing 

them - particularly Law 17. 

I attended a televised T20 match 

at the week-end; 

• Practice on the square continued 

until 20 minutes before the scheduled 

start (this was even prohibited 

under the previous edition of the 

Law) 

• During the brief interval between 

the innings, some players again 

practiced bowling on the square 

• At one point a bowler actually held 

up play, with both batsmen and 

fielders waiting, by bowling two 

practice deliveries - into the 

ground, rather than on the full. 

This is not the first time that I have 

noticed umpires in prominent 

matches have scant regard for the 

Laws. I am sure readers can think of 

others. For example, a commentator 

is always present at the toss - but 

where is (at least) one umpire as required 

by Law? 

As an umpire involved in club 

cricket, the enforcement of Laws is 

made more difficult by the lack of 

example given by those umpiring our 

international and first-class cricketers.” 

(The ECB Umpires’ Manager has 

confirmed that in professional 

cricket, Playing Conditions are different 

to the Laws which is why they 

implement the Laws as modified by 

the playing conditions.) 

A new Law adjustment that 

works… 

… well it did for Derek Laud, of 

Banbury, Oxfordshire 

“In May, whilst officiating my 3rd 

match of the season, I had reason to 

call the bowler for a No-ball in respect 

of the adjusted Law as quoted 

above. 

Before commencing his over, he 

informed me that he was going to 

bowl right-arm-over the wicket, 

which he did for 3 balls. As a slow 

bowler, he was running in at an angle 

but the next ball he finished up running 

between the popping crease and 

stumps and both feet over-stepped 

the ‘imaginary line’, thus effectively 

bowling right-arm-round. For a split 

second, he took me by surprise, but I 

immediately called No-ball and when 

the ball was ‘dead’, I notified the 

scorers and awaited acknowledgement. 

The bowler then said to me “My 

front foot wasn’t over the line ump, I 

have done it before.” I explained the 

situation to him and the reason for 

my call, which he accepted and finished 

the over. He didn’t do it again.” 

Unify all the ‘clippings’… 

… suggests Tony Haskew, from 

Newport in Shropshire 

“Why is it that if the ball just clips 

the bails or the wickets, and the bails 

fall off, the batsman is out: also if the 

batsman just clips the ball with his 

bat and the ball is caught by a fielder, 

then he is out even if goes to the 3 rd 

umpire! Yet, if the ball is just clipping 

the wickets on an lbw 

appeal which is not given out by the 

on-field umpire it is also not given 

out by the 3 rd umpire? And during the 

analysis that follows it is stated that 

at least half the ball must be hitting 

the wickets. Where is this in the rules 

or Laws? But if it is given out by 

the on-field umpire it is upheld by 

the 3 rd umpire! Confusing?” 

Is it bird or a plane – No 

just a ‘wide’ or maybe a 

‘no-ball’ 

… a confused Jeff Booton of Willenhall, 

West Midlands, asks… 

“Whilst appreciating the necessity 

for individual competition regulations, 

I am less convinced of the reasons 

which require the Laws to be 

applied differently according to the 

status of the competition. My principal 

source of irritation is the call of 

No-ball/wide when the ball passes 

overhead beyond the reach of the 

striker. 

There is clear legitimacy for making 

the call in either way. My personal 

preference is for the call of 

No-ball which I find less susceptible 

to potential subsequent complications. 

In the recent County Championship 

game between Sussex and 

Nottinghamshire, the scenario outlined 

above was called (wrongly?) 

No-ball, much to the confusion of the 

TV commentators, and indeed, and at 

the level of recreational cricket at 

which I have umpired, I cannot count 

the number of times my colleague 

and I have needed to explain that the 

No-ball call relates to the status of 

the game. 

Of necessity, Law changes should 

come about largely only after mature 

reflection and debate; not so this scenario 

which surely requires nothing 

more than a simple decision.” 

(ECB Umpires' Manager comments: 

ICC Standard Playing Conditions instruct 

the umpire to call wide ball for 

a delivery over head height of the 

striker while Laws of cricket instruct 

the umpires to call a no ball. In 

County Championship matches the 

Laws of Cricket are applied in this 

instance and perhaps the commentators 

were so use to the international 

scene that they forgot the difference.) 

Some Laws just won’t stay 

quiet… 

Steve Kent-Phillips gives an 

exact and very topical example 

from the recent Test… 

“Do I take it now that the actions of 

the umpires in the Third Test, third 

day, regarding the light, whilst totally 

correct according to the revised Laws 

of Cricket, sufficiently prove my 

point – Made in my letter published 

in the last newsletter. 

With England at 682-6, Cook on 

284 not-out and a full set of floodlights 

on, the umpires were deprived 

of the opportunity to offer the light to 

the batsmen, who surely would have 

been declined, and play would have 

continued. Thus we had less cricket, 

not more.” 

‘Hello’ to Derrick 

Shuttleworth… 

This photo is of Derrick 

Shuttleworth - sent to us by our 

Education Manager, Glyn 

Pearson, who knows him well, 

and knows that if Derrick is 

happy to use a computer for the 

first time to master ‘TCS’, then 

there is good hope for us all! 


Discipline – In the news 

To start in a light-hearted way; there is a mug available in those shops that sell such 

things which is captioned ‘The Umpire Strikes Back’. Perhaps it is a mug we should 

all possess - and use during tea as a reminder of the fact that we are usually the ‘easy’ 

target for criticism and (dare I say it) verbal abuse - and this appears to be on the increase 

across all elements of the game. 

It is hoped that umpires at all levels officiate with an open and non-judgemental attitude; 

not looking for trouble, but at ease with reacting to any conflict situation quietly 

and efficiently - and indeed to proactively involve captains to resolve potential 

issues before they escalate into something more serious. Some of you will know that much of 

what we now discuss on Level 2 and Level 3 courses deals with precisely this element of ‘match management’ 

- something that was unnecessary in the days of GL5 and GL4. 

How much is this part of a wider social issue? No matter where we look or read, the examples of bad 

behaviour are everywhere… recently and notably on our streets to extremes that have been branded as 

being the worst in a generation. Is this typical of modern society? Perhaps the young are encouraged to 

behave like this because consumer demand and consumption have become king, whilst respect and 

self-discipline have been elbowed aside. Some commentators argue that we should not judge or punish 

too severely, and adopt a passive ‘understanding’ response. Others propound the view that a tough approach 

with harsh sanction is the only deterrent for a long-term solution. 

Perhaps it is inevitable that cricket will be touched by such things. Perhaps cricket’s increasing difficulties 

with indiscipline is just a microcosm of societal change, and our discipline committees are 

equally divided as to what are the most appropriate sanctions to manage the situation. 

In this extended feature, garnered from a variety of sources and commentators, we cover some of 

the recently reported cases, and highlight the arguments for stiffer sentences or ‘more understanding’ 

by all officials involved in the disciplinary process. 

Your thoughts on this are, as always, most welcome. 

In the spring, Gerard Elias, Chairman 

of the ECB Disciplinary Commission 

and himself a QC, e-mailed counties 

with a clear warning he would crack 

down this season, and highlighted that 

the Commission was determined not to 

permit standards to slip in this area. 

He made the point that not only 

were all recreational umpires given a 

better understanding of how and when 

to report players this year, but our colleagues 

on the 1st Class and Reserve 

lists were also reminded to act swiftly 

and decisively if and when indiscipline 

arose. Many believe the extra financial 

pressure on teams to win, clearly underscored 

the fact that the first-class 

game found it necessary to take up the 

cudgels to protect the proper spirit of 

the game. Early in the season, a number 

of high-profile cases were brought 

the panel; 

Marcus Trescothick was in the dock 

because 5 Somerset players had received 

disciplinary points in 12 

months. Trescothick, Somerset coach 

Andy Hurry, chairman Andy Nash and 

chief executive, Guy Lavender, were 

hoping to defend the charge and avoid 

the two-match ban and £5,000 fine 

Foster and Essex received earlier. 

Captains are suspended for their lack 

of responsibility in not controlling the 

anger levels of their players. Most 

captains understand that it is down to 

them to remind the players of the standards 

expected of them and of the club 

policy, so the surprise is that a few of 

the very best and most experienced 

captains have been trapped by their insubordinates. 

And at Arundel, Murray 

Goodwin was alleged to have questioned 

his lbw dismissal and smashed 

the ball to the boundary as he walked 

off in disagreement. 

Should offences such as these be regarded 

differently in the professional 

and recreational games respectively? 

The debate is a simple one; the Laws 

are clear, and where the offences are 

clear and obvious there should be consistency 

of approach through a fair and 

equitable disciplinary process that is 

open and transparent. 

A question which arises in both 

areas of the game is whether fines and 

suspended sentences are soft options 

and whether a team points deduction is 

more appropriate? Here is an example 

from the recreational game that highlight 

the inadequacy of a fine… a 

Championship 1 st XI captain in reply 

to the umpire asking if he had brought 

a scorer to the match replied…”Why 

should I? It is easier and cheaper to 

pay the £25 fine”. Now, had that been 

a 10-point deduction instead, the contention 

is that the next time a scorer 

would be present – end of. 

The effect of all this on youngsters 

playing the game is a hugely important 

consideration. With this in mind, the 

ECB initiative with support of MCC, 

HMC Schools, ESCA and the PCA, 

launch of an initiative aimed at stamping 

out poor behaviour in junior 

cricket is to be welcomed warmly. 

Children involved in under-15s cricket 

were given a quiz on cricket based on 

cricketing scenarios and sportsmanship 

with a prize of tickets to a Test 

match. Over 950 responses were received 

– read more of this in Paul Bedford’s 

piece right. 

The other authority that has an interest 

is the MCCA, and they too 

have reacted positively to recent 

events. Here is a summary of that 

development, from Philip August, 

the MCCA’s Competitions Secretary… 

“MCCA is proud of the very good disciplinary 

record within Minor County 

cricket over recent years but it is certainly 

not complacent, so following 

some incidents at the 2010 Championship 

Final a tightening-up of disciplinary 

procedures was introduced. 

Umpires standing in Minor County 

games had reported a trend towards 

over-zealous appealing and unnecessary 

noise levels on the field which 

were also apparent to spectators. No 

doubt this was merely following what 

happens at a higher level and indeed in 

Premier League cricket. The changes 

that were brought in for 2011 have 

given umpires the necessary framework 

to stamp out such behaviour before 

it becomes too prevalent. 

The move to making the disciplinary 

regulations more relevant proved 

to be a wise one. Until this year, Level 

1 penalties were less than a slap on the 

wrist, and a Level 2 could be appealed 

with all the problems that this brings. 


Discipline – more or less 

Time for comparison then; reflect on your season and decide was there too much emphasis on 

control, or too many incidents of lack of it? And however quick and easy that recollection has 

been for you, the’big’ issue demands more thought and more balance – and here is the guiding 

view for us by Paul Bedford, ECB head of non first-class cricket… 

“Since the launch of the ‘Play Hard, 

Play Fair’ campaign with Andrew 

Strauss in May, and the issuing of 

the ‘Non-negotiable standards of 

behaviour’ for Under-15 players, I 

have been extremely disappointed 

with the response. ‘Play Hard Play 

Fair’ had the backing of the County 

Cricket Boards, the MCC and PCA, 

and also the Headmasters & Headmistresses 

Schools Conference, and 

English Schools Cricket Association. 

The initiative added to the 

presentation made by Mike Gatting, 

Peter Willey and myself at the 

Coaching Conference in 2010, was 

followed up by supporting articles 

in the Coaches Association magazine 

entitled ‘Hitting the Seam’. 

It would have been difficult to 

have gained a more unified group 

prepared to back a campaign that 

would have any Under-15 year old 

player who behaved badly, reported 

to the body responsible for organising 

the competition - not just by the 

umpires but also by the coach or 

master in charge. 

Now, how many players do you 

think were reported to me? None! 

From this, are we to believe that all 

of our young players are angels, or 

that young players got the message 

because Andrew Strauss was in a 

photograph and Phil Tufnell made a 

pretty dry subject good fun on Test 

Match Special? I think not! 

What we do know is that where 

ECB have made an intervention, 

changes have taken place. In the 

Bunbury Festival, led by David 

Graveney, all participants were told 

that behaviour, as well as runs and 

wickets, was being observed. We 

used a similar approach in all Boys 

County Age Group Finals this year 

(up to the age of 15) and the 

coaches and players responded to 

the advice that if anyone saw misbehaviour, 

the incident would be investigated. 

With the media having more distribution 

channels, and the close-ups 

on television of verbal assaults 

(mainly from bowlers towards batsmen) 

it is essential that those on the 

ground who see poor or bad behaviour 

actually do report the incident 

to the organising body of the competition. 

Clearly society is changing, and 

has changed for us in cricket when 

Jimmy Anderson won the ECB 

Twelfth Man ‘Moment of the year’ 

for his few chosen words with 

Mitchell Johnson. My own view is 

that I would not have allowed that 

particular clip to be part of a competition, 

but equally I understand that 

cricket is competing for personal attention 

time in the same way as 

other sports and entertainments. 

The dynamic that exists between 

ECB and the media is the need to be 

visible and to attract audiences, 

while working within the ethical 

and behavioural parameters our 

stakeholder partners would wish us 

to. Any lively action - remember 

Botham’s Ashes or the more recent 

Ashes Series - is most likely to become 

‘Hot topic of the day’, appearing 

on news channels, ‘highlights’ 

packages, and being instantly uploaded 

onto websites and chatrooms 

and being tweeted and 

blogged globally. With the success 

of books such as ‘Why are you so 

Fat - Cricket’s Best-ever sledges’ 

we are on the edge of a precipice 

between the principal need for good 

behaviour, and the media preference 

for unacceptable behaviour. 

The ‘wolf-pack’ approach used in 

soccer by players to pressurise referees 

is unacceptable when efforts 

are made to intimidate batsmen at 

all levels. In First-Class Cricket 

however, such misdemeanours are 

treated harshly, and I have been 

pleased that Captains are now receiving 

sanctions and that these 

sanctions are published in the press.. 

We all know that there is nothing 

better than a hard-fought Ashes Test 

which ebbs and flows for five days, 

or an exciting T20 or World Cup 

ODI game. There is nothing worse 

than having to watch poor behaviour, 

and only marginally better is to 

have to listen to a team of 13-year 

olds shouting loudly after every ball 

irrespective of how poor the line or 

length, or watching young players 

rounding on a batsman, or seen to 

be showing dissent. 

So what’s next, well I am happy 

to receive your views and comments 

– send to competitions@ecb.co.uk. - 

which, if accepted, will be implemented 

for the 2012 season. 

In their summary of the season, 

the County Age Group Review concluded 

that we must: 

• Continue to promote the ‘Play 

Hard, Play Fair’ message 

• Work harder with Managers and 

Coaches of age-group teams 

• Train Umpires to report effectively 

From an ACO point of view, umpires 

at Premier League and county 

U17 level, will receive training on 

reporting players who transgress, 

and Nick Cousins with his team will 

work on the content and offer support 

in 2012. 

Wishing you all a good off-season 

even if it means catching up with 

the summer’s ‘left-alone’ pile of administrative 

matters!”. 

The changes meant that 2 Level 1 offences 

in 3 years meant an automatic 

one-match ban, and a Level 2 an automatic 

one-match ban with no right of 

appeal. 

What does concern MCCA is that 

all the players who were the subject of 

reports are senior players and all are 

aged over 30. They should be setting 

an example to the younger players, 

and showing respect to the match officials, 

rather than trying to intimidate 

them into making an error in their 

favour. Some are even County Board 

coaches which makes their behaviour 

even more reprehensible. 

To maintain the standard of Minor 

County cricket that is acceptable to 

most players, umpires and spectators, 

the administrators intend to fully support 

the reports of umpires and act accordingly. 

So without wishing to put 

too much onus on umpires, they do 

have the opportunity to eliminate an 

unsavoury and unnecessary trend that 

is creeping into the game. The 20 

Counties will be told the penalties so 

they can pass on the information to the 

players so hopefully we can look forward 

to a quieter 2012.” 


Good Practice 

Observing the variations in national geography, county boundaries, leagues, and the 

plethora of match regulations, it is hardly surprising that on meeting colleagues from other 

leagues, counties or regions (usually at meetings or national conference), the oft-used 

phrases… ‘Oh no, here we do it this way’ or ‘That’s odd – why do you do that?’ are always 

to be overheard. 

There is no easy way to overcome this – but when sensible ideas are acknowledged as 

good practice – we hope to convert them into ‘Best Practice’ recommendations 

We open with a letter of thanks from Steve Lavis to 

Les Clemenson, Regional Appointments officer for 

South & West who had facilitated an umpire exchange 

between Devon and Cornwall for Village 

KO Cup matches in their respective counties. 

“….Thank you for the opportunity it was a pleasure. 

It’s not often that we would get the chance to umpire 

any game out of our own area like this. Personally I 

found it an absolute pleasure and would recommend it 

to any umpire who was given the chance. We met officials, 

players and supporters of both sides before and 

after the game. We discussed how our leagues are 

structured, how the clubs are doing in their respective 

leagues, and had a good chit chat. I think it’s called 

comparing notes. 

As a bonus after the game, we also met and spoke to 

two Cornish league umpires whom we recognised because 

of their blue ACO tops. 

I did find it both enjoyable and useful and please 

stick to your plans and keep it an on-going thing. I 

think it would also be a good long-term idea for the 

county leagues to run an exchange system for willing 

participants on Saturdays. Devon for example could 

send umpires to Cornwall, Somerset and maybe 

Dorset. 

This would help to broaden people’s horizons and 

see what life was like on the other side of the boundary. 

Maybe 2 or 3 times a season would be a good 

starting point?” 

“I was the 'other umpire' and am active in the Devon 

League. I fully endorse Steve's comments and this was 

probably the highlight of my season. A fantastic game 

in glorious sunshine. Any self-respecting umpire 

would grab a chance to further their experience, and 

the journey out of the County was certainly well worth 

it. I did not take any photos, but I do remember the atmosphere 

from the supporters was fairly heady - probably 

from the refreshments! 

Many Thanks." (from Paul Dart) 

Walking out to 

inspect the Lord's 

track for the 

Village Final are 

our own Peter 

Mitchell, of 

Market Drayton, 

and Ken Horden, 

from Telford... 

lucky chaps... no 

wonder they are 

smiling! 

Next, we look at one county’s very positive acknowledgement 

of the success of its training programme. The hard 

work from tutors and candidates alike ought to be publicised, 

rewarded and recognised – as in this instance when 

Hertfordshire ACO organised a presentation evening, invited 

Nick Cousins to give away the certificates, and also 

presented their stats to show how the county had performed 

during the winter. 

First, we start with Nick Cousins, our SEO, who highlights 

this evening; 

“I am always pleased to receive invitations to attend ACO meetings; 

presentation evenings, or AGMs. I cannot attend them all – 

but I will certainly go when I can. 

I was delighted to attend the Hertfordshire Presentation 

Evening – and what a great evening it was. Aside from the excellent 

news of the number of courses and passes and certificates, 

it was marvellous to see so many of the candidates; their 

tutors, CCB representatives, league representatives - well in excess 

of a 100 people in all - crammed into Potters Bar CC, and 

to be part of such a vibrant enthusiastic gathering. 

Well done to Alan Price and his team; a splendid example of 

‘best practice’” 

And this report comes from their County Education Officer, 

Alan Price… 

“I don’t know quite the best way to set this all out but here 

goes:- 

Umpires - Level 1 

Abbots Langley - 9 passes, none failed, all completed 

Haileybury - 9 passes, 2 failed, 1 incomplete 

Letchworth - 4 passes, none failed, 2 didn’t complete 

Radlett - 16 passes, none failed, all completed 

Total = 38 passed, 2 failed, 3 didn’t complete 

Scorers – Introductory Course 

Knebworth Park - 6 attended and received attendance 

certificates 

Scorers - Level 1 

Chorleywood - 4 passed, 1 didn’t complete 

Harpenden - 5 passed, 1 failed, 2 didn’t complete (3 attendance 

certs) 

Total = 9 passed, 1 failed, 3 didn’t complete 

Umpires - Level 1A 

Abbots Langley - 9 successful, no rejections 

Haileybury - 11 successful, no rejections 

Letchworth - 5 successful, one failed to attend personal 

discussion 

Radlett course - 4 successful, one didn’t complee. 

Total = 29 successful, 2 failed to complete 

Umpires - Level 2 

Regional course = 5 successful 

That makes a total of 81 Certificates plus 9 Attendance 

Certificates.” 


‘You don’t have to be old – but it helps’ 

Not a phrase we are used to hearing 

in the fast commercial and customer-service 

techno-driven world 

we inhabit these days… so it is all 

the more encouraging that the 

words have real meaning and value. 

How so you ask? 

More than half of you reading 

this are over 55 years of age; indeed 

we still count over a thousand members 

at 65+. For all these, let us filter 

out some stats – start by taking 

an average of 20 years of umpiring, 

multiply by 30 matches a season, 

then cast this over 4,000 members – 

and the result is in the order of a 

quarter-of-a-million matches’ worth 

of experience. 

This is a monumental tribute to 

the knowledge, skill - and durability 

- of our cricket umpire members but 

it is also unique in that no other 

team sport comes even close to having 

officials as experienced as ours. 

And what do we do with this experience? 

Hardly anything, or rather, 

hardly anything yet… 

We have trained, and certificated, over 

2,000 new Level 1 umpires in the last 

training season 2010/11. What has 

happened to them? Where do they officiate? 

The million dollar question is: “What 

steps can we take to ensure that our rate 

of retention is as near to 100% as possible”? 

How can we persuade, particularly 

those ‘club’ umpires that took our 

courses, to remain as members of ACO 

and strive to continually develop as an 

official? The answer is; through personal 

contact and ‘supported development’ 

for each and every new member 

who joined ACO last year – and this is 

where you – the rank and file membership, 

have a crucial role to play. 

How? Quite simple really. Over the 

coming close-season, each County 

Performance Officer will be tasked 

with tracking each new member and 

finding out what if any support can be 

offered. The initiation of a simple 

‘buddy’ system whereby the new and 

inexperienced official is paired with 

an experienced colleague, is the preferred 

‘best practice’ outcome since 

this both shares the load and utilises 

that wealth of experience mentioned 

above. 

Aside from this, there is now an opportunity 

to involve yourself in a more 

formal assessment – both on-field peer 

assessment and boundary assessment. 

This can be a hugely rewarding experience 

– and if you have never done it 

then please take the initiative and contact 

your County Performance Officer 

who will be delighted to hear from 

you and who will advise on the whys 

and wherefores, and facilitate training 

if it is required. 

With many new officials joining the 

ranks, we need to initiate through-put 

and encourage more umpires to accept 

that there is a life beyond standing as 

an umpire - to ask that all colleagues 

should be prepared to stand with less 

experienced umpires at lower level 

games – and that mixing and matching 

between standing and assessing or 

supporting others is a very acceptable 

first step. 

If you are sceptical or in doubt 

please read on… 

“I know we have this problem in my 

neck of the woods where the senior 

umpires don't want to hang up the 

coat, although we have had some 

change now we are offering to pay for 

assessments if they are doing it offfield. 

They are happier to do on-field 

peer assessments though where they 

still get the umpires fee.” 

“We have had one former umpire who 

had hung up his jacket some years ago 

but did welcome staying in touch with 

the officiating aspect so has become 

an assessor, and we have a couple who 

are veering towards ceasing to be umpires 

and becoming assessors. 

Re on-field work, personally I do not 

feel that I can do a full assessment 

from the on-field position; what I can 

do is act as a mentor. I feel the two aspects 

are different and that assessment 

needs to be done off-field, but that is a 

personal preference.” 

“Down here, we have been running 

the ‘Assessor programme’ for a relatively 

short time and targeted at Level 

2 participants. In 2010 we arranged 

for more to be ‘trained’ to give a mix 

of standing umpires and retired umpires 

to support both in-field observation 

and boundary observation. As a 

sweeping statement, this has worked 

well for us. And there has been an additional 

benefit; some standing umpires 

have decided that supporting the 

‘upwardly mobile’ either by stepping 

down a division or by mentoring newcomers, 

is how they wish to enjoy 

their future summers. 

In my view it is still early in the 

process to jump with excitement, however. 

it is always important to ensure 

that the best umpires are doing the 

best games and there really does come 

a time when an individual is no longer 

as capable as he/she once was - either 

they decide or the ‘committee’ has to 

decide. Assessment is an excellent 

route to keep these highly experienced, 

knowledgeable individuals 

both in the game and contributing significantly.” 

“With regards to the point about Premier 

1 umpires standing down, what I 

can say is the current thought is that 

the Premier Panel is too large and 

should be reduced, but I do not imagine 

those being removed from the 

panel would wish to become off-field 

assessors if they are still below the age 

of 60. They will probably wish to 

prove that they should be re-instated.” 

“At Level 1, we have 12 persons who 

are qualified as Assessors, to carry out 

assessment for candidates working towards 

their Level 1a qualification, involving 

one assessment for each 

candidate, together with a professional 

discussion at the end of the season, to 

consider their portfolio of evidence for 

the qualification, however, they are all 

active umpires officiating on their own 

panels, with appointments by the CAO 

as their partner and mentor on the field 

of play. To replicate this at Level 2 in 

view of the shortage of officials 

throughout the leagues, it would prove 

very difficult to 'persuade' the older 

umpires to retire from officiating and 

concentrate on assessing and I am sure 

that if we suggested such a concept we 

will 'cop some flak' from the league 

appointments officer in taking members 

from their league panels.” 

Assessing – from the bottom up 


Cricket4Change 

Though this is a very active, progressive – and successful – charitable organisation, in 

London it is perhaps better-known for it's work on the ‘StreetChance’ initiative. Here we give 

an account of the recent StreetChance 'Awards' evening, sent to us… 

‘A chilly evening on the Roof Terrace 

of the Lord’s pavilion did not cool the 

spirits of those attending the 2011 

‘StreetChance’ Awards. The event 

saw C4C’s Donovan Miller being acknowledged 

as ‘StreetChance’ Coach 

of the Year, and Jaffer Boalch, a C4C 

Apprenticeship 2010/11 graduate, enjoying 

‘Special Recognition’ for his 

work as ‘Head of ‘StreetChance’ 

Young Ambassadors’. 

The evening, hosted by BBC 

Cricket commentator, Alison 

Mitchell, was attended by people 

from all over the globe and different 

walks of life, and started with a brief 

introduction and a short DVD showing 

what ‘StreetChance’ was all 

about. 

This was followed by a Q&A Session 

with England and Middlesex fast 

bowler, Steven Finn, Chief Executive 

of The Cricket Foundation, Wasim 

Khan, and Cricket for Change Coach, 

Alex Bassan. They all spoke about the 

difference ‘StreetChance’ makes and 

the inspirational experiences they have 

encountered through the programme. 

Following a short break, it was time 

for the main awards to be given. These 

were presented by Surrey and England’s, 

Jade Dernbach, who shared his 

memory of playing tape-ball cricket at 

school and what it feels like playing 

for England. 

The winners of this year’s 

awards were: 

(1) Young Leader Of The Year – 

Ellie Malin, Sutton Girls 

(2) Volunteer Of The Year – Khaled 

Ahmed, Tower Hamlets and Lambeth 

(3) Player Of The Year – Pravin 

Perera, Waltham Forest 

(4) Peace At The Crease – William 

Morris SNT, Priory Court 

(5) Coach Of The Year – Donovan 

Miller, Cricket for Change 

(6) Special Recognition – Jaffer 

Boalch, Southwark StreetChance, 

Head of Young Ambassador and 

Cricket for Change Apprenticeship 

2010/11 graduate. 

Donovan Miller, winner of the 

Coach of the Year Award, was voted 

on by youngsters at inter-borough 

cricket competitions - the award recognising 

the coach who had made the 

greatest impact on participants this 

year. The young people described 

Miller as making them ‘feel at home’, 

while ‘building up trust’ and injecting 

a culture of cricketing progression, responsibility 

and above all, enjoyment. 

After collecting his award, Miller 

paid tribute to the ‘StreetChance’ participants 

saying, “I feel proud to win 

the award and most of all I’d like to 

dedicate the award to all the young 

people who turn up to the community 

sessions, on some cold wet and winter 

nights, and every week right through 

the year. It’s a massive effort and this 

award should go back to them.” 

Everyone who won an award was 

well-applauded and everyone who won 

an award deserved it without a doubt. 

The final and emotional words of the 

night came from Jaffer Boalch, bringing 

tears to the eyes of the listening audience 

and so ending a very successful 

awards evening with a lot of hardworking 

people getting the recognition 

and praise that they deserve. 

Well done to everyone who won an 

award and a special thank you to The 

Cricket Foundation for hosting such a 

wonderfully encouraging evening.’ 

StreetChance is an inner-city cricket initiative working in urban areas lacking in green spaces 

and traditional cricket clubs. It uses cricket to engage young people in areas affected by youth 

crime and anti-social behaviour. StreetChance is a partnership between five organisations - 

Cricket Foundation, Cricket for Change, Barclays Spaces for Sports, Positive Futures, and the 

Metropolitan Police Service - with each partner bringing their individual knowledge and 

expertise. To find out more about StreetChance or to make a donation visit 

www.streetchance.org 

The Cricket for Change 

30th Anniversary Gala Dinner 

1981-2011 – 30yrs of using cricket to change the lives of disadvantaged young people 

Come and join in the celebration and fundraising at a Gala Dinner 

with The Rt Hon Sir John Major KG CH, 30th Anniversary Patron and Phil Tufnell, 

President of Cricket for Change hosted by Bob ‘The Cat’ Bevan MBE 

Wednesday 19th October 2011 at a prestigious City of London venue 

Tickets include: 

*Champagne Reception * Three-Course Dinner with Half-a-Bottle of Wine 

Individual - £150 Table of 10 - £1,500 

To reserve your table please contact: 

Julia Pearce Events, Cricket for Change Gala Dinner 

23 Broadway Parade, London, N8 9DE 

Tel: 020 8340 8755 Mobile: 07930 349 081 Email: Julia.pearce@jmp.u-net.com 


ICC Elite squad meet Midlands ACO… 

As noted in last issue’s ‘Diary’, we had pre-arranged the appearance of our ICC colleagues 

officiating at the Edgbaston Test, to join in an evening (on Monday 8 August) to meet-and-greet the 

local umpires, similar to the one we enjoyed at Lord’s last year. Though we expected the response 

to be good, we did not know if this would be 50 or 100 – in the end, we had an excellent 116 eager 

colleagues from the West and East-midlands, for what was an outstanding evening. 

We invited Mansoor Qureshi to give us his thoughts on the evening… 

“As I was leaving for the meeting, 

my son asked me why I couldn’t 

come and watch him in an U15 

game. I explained that I was going to 

hear elite ICC officials speak at Edgbaston, 

and might even get to meet 

Simon Taufel (my son is also a great 

fan of Simon’s robotic precision in 

decision making). He said to me 

make sure you get his autograph and 

a picture with him. Frankly, I didn’t 

think there would be any chance of 

getting close to any of the officials, 

as we were expecting a big turn-out 

and they might be whisked in and 

out due to their tight schedule. 

Anyway, I grabbed my camera 

and a new hat that I had purchased at 

the beginning of the season, and 

dashed to Edgbaston. Some colleagues 

had already arrived, and also 

to my surprise, the ICC officials, 

who were mingling with them. 

Within a few minutes, Peter Mitchell 

introduced me to all the officials, 

starting with Ranjan Madugalle and 

Simon Taufel, then Steve Davis, Rod 

Tucker and Barry Dudleston. I felt 

electrified as I shook hands with the 

greats who I had only seen on TV 

before. I had the pleasure of a 

lengthy conversation with Simon 

and Ranjan. What impressed most 

was their down-to-earth nature and 

honest answers. It was a great sense 

of inspiration listening to Simon 

Taufel, someone who has not played 

first-class cricket, who was officiating 

in a Test match within 8 years of 

taking up umpiring at the age of 29. 

I then requested Simon Taufel to 

sign my hat, and later asked for a 

picture with him, explaining ‘I may 

not get this opportunity again’. His 

reply was, ‘Of course there will be 

opportunities’, and posed for a 

lovely photo. I was so pleased I had 

taken my son’s advice! 

Later, all the officials gave entertaining 

talks, explaining their roles 

and how long they had been doing it, 

followed by a Q&A session. The 

event was curtailed after news 

reached us of rioting in Birmingham 

city centre, and fears of blockades to 

the Crowne Plaza hotel, where the 

officials were staying. 

All in all, it was a thoroughly enjoyable, 

memorable evening. On behalf 

of all WCU&SA members, I’d 

like to thank Chris Kelly, Nick 

Cousins and Mark Gumbley for arranging 

it.” 

There have been a few ‘Commemorative’ matches recently, celebrating various bi-Centennials of local ‘cricketfirst-played’ 

events – which prompted a browse through cricket history and literature. Of the fascinating cornucopia, 

some poems - written in tribute to their aristocratic pay-masters - are worth highlighting. 

This one represents almost ‘the last words’ of the 18th century, penned for its most famous club, Hambledon, for 

which the Rev Reynell Cotton, master of Hyde Abbey School, Winchester, wrote his Cricket Song:... 

“The wickets are pitch'd now, and measured the ground; 

Then they form a large ring, and stand gazing around - 

Since Ajax fought Hector, in sight of all Troy, 

No contest was seen with such fear and such joy. 

…‘Derry down’, etcetera; 

Then fill up your glass, he's the best that drinks most. 

Here's the Hambledon Club! - who refuses the toast ? 

Let's join in the praise of the bat and the wicket, 

And sing in full chorus the patrons of cricket. 

…‘Derry down’, etcetera…. 

And when the game's o'er, and our fate shall draw nigh 

(For the heroes of cricket, like others, must die), 

Our bats we'll resign, neither troubled nor vex'd, 

And give up our wickets to those that come next. 

…‘Derry down’, etcetera.” 


Young Officials 

Developing cricket officials under the age of 25 

This feature of the ACO Newsletter is part of the ECB’s drive to improve the opportunities available to young 

officials. If you have any suggestions or anything you would like to be included then we would love to hear from you! 

MCC Corporate Day – 

Lord’s Cricket Ground 

Adam Hitchcock with 

Devon Malcolm 

ECB ACO has been working hard this season to 

provide our cohort of young officials with the 

chance to umpire and score at national events. On 

the 15th June, a group of young officials got a 

once in a lifetime opportunity to officiate at 

Lord’s, the ‘Home of Cricket’. 

Each year, the MCC Corporate Challenge takes 

place at Lord’s Cricket Ground with a number of 

corporate cricket teams battling it out in 6-a-side, 

10-over matches. This year the MCC were kind 

enough to offer the chance to umpire these 

matches to the ECB ACO young officials squads. 

Not only were they able to officiate on the 

hallowed turf, they also had the task of officiating 

the ex-professionals who were invited. Such as 

Devon Malcolm, Saqlain Mushtaq and Graeme 

Hick. 

Ten young officials were 

appointed including 13 year-old 

umpire Hugo Blogg and 14 yearold 

scorer Jessica Levy. The 

umpires included a number of 

more senior young officials who 

were able to mentor their younger 

colleagues. A number of senior 

umpires and assessors were also 

present to share their wisdom and 

experience. In similar fashion, a 

Sue Drinkwater scoring with Jessica Levy 

number of senior scorers were able to share best practice with those less experienced. 

All ten Young Officials performed splendidly on the day and were thoroughly 

deserving of the many plaudits that came their way; not least from the players. 

The ECB ACO is extremely grateful to the MCC for the opportunity, and we are 

hopeful that another group of young officials will be invited next year. If you are a 

scorer or umpire under the age of 25 and are keen for opportunities like this and 

many others, then please send your details through to yodo.cricket@ecb.co.uk 

BUCS T20 Finals 

After a successful tournament 

at Oakham last year, the 

Young Officials ‘Senior 

Squad’ travelled to Loughborough 

University this June to 

officiate at the MCCU T20 

tournament. Over two days, 

teams from all MCC Universities 

(with many players already 

holding county 

contract) battled it out in front 

a crowd, with music accompanying 

every boundary and 

wicket. The weather played 

its part at times but managed 

to abate in order for Loughborough 

to beat Cambridge in 

the final – however Cambridge 

managed to salvage 

themselves by beating Oxford 

the following day at Lord’s. 

Nick Cousins and Chris Fortune 

A fantastic tournament to officiate 

at and all enjoyed the 

opportunity – even if the 

coloured kit we were wearing 

did attract all types of intrigued 

insects!! 

Our thanks go to Loughborough 

for the hospitality, 

and to the MCC, ACO, as 

well as all the assessors who 

gave up their time to help us. 

Radio coverage of the tournament 

is still available on the 

Loughborough University 

website. 

Alasdair Shaikh, Sussex 


Gough’s Top Tip 

The youngest umpire on the ECB Full List 

“Get into good positioning habits early in your umpiring 

career. Try and do this every ball so that if something happens 

then you will be prepared and ready for every eventuality. 

Every ball is an event, so if you expect something to happen 

then you will be giving yourself every chance to be in the best 

possible position, whether it be a run out, watching to see if a 

catch is taken cleanly, or if the batsmen have crossed. Never 

take your positioning for granted because things will happen 

when you least expect them to.” 

Super 4s Physical 

Disability T20 

The Young Officials squad has been extremely busy this 

summer including four of us travelling to Malvern 

College, with mentor Eddie Lunn, to officiate the England 

Disability T20 tournament. 

On our arrival, we were welcomed by Ian Martin, the 

ECB Disability Manager and his team, and from this first 

meeting to the time we left, the hospitality and friendship 

shown to us was exceptional. 

Ian invited us to a meeting on the first evening, to 

discuss the playing regulations and meet the players that 

we would be working with over the next couple of days. 

After being asked if one of us would represent ACO and 

provide a brief for the players and Team Managers, I found 

myself pushed forward to take this responsibility. 

Working with players with disabilities was a great 

opportunity for us to learn about this form of cricket in all 

its facets – as well as the actual umpiring, with the 

‘allowances’ for runners in some cases. This was 

something new too for Eddie who was providing support 

and guidance to us, but also helped with the organisation 

of tournament as a whole. 

We are proud and privileged to have been involved with 

exceptional people who were also exceptional cricketers in 

an exceptional tournament. On behalf of the ACO, we 

wished Ian and his team the very best of luck in the 

forthcoming disability series in Pakistan. 

Chris Fortune, Gloucestershire 

Message to all keen 

Young Officials…. 

• If any young officials have any letters, opinions or 

interesting stories they would like to share then do 

not hesitate to send them in and I will try to include 

them in the next ‘Young Officials’ section. 

• If you are interested in joining the ECB ACO’s Young 

Officials project and having the chance to officiate at 

opportunities such as those above, then please email 

your details, qualifications and experience to 

yodo.cricket@ecb.co.uk 

• Most of all… we wish you all the best and remember, 

the ACO is here to support you! 

Email your details to yodo.cricket@ecb.co.uk 

60 seconds with 

a Young Official 

Name: Jessica Levy 

Age: 15 

Leagues: Saracens Herts League 

and Middlesex Colts 

At the age of 31, Michael Gough is 

the youngest ECB umpire on the 

2011 Full List. Naturally the ACO 

decided he was in the best 

position to advise our budding 

young umpires. Michael has kindly 

agreed to provide us with a ‘top 

tip’ for each publication… 

How long have you been scoring? 

I have been scoring since I was about 8 or 9, but that 

was just doing a few overs in my own book next to the 

main scorer. My first full game was at Brockenhurst for 

a tour game in 2006, when I was 9. 

What qualifications have you taken? 

I was very lucky in that I was taught by my dad and 

then by a whole bunch of very experienced and 

qualified scorers, but when I knew I would be scoring 

properly I took the correspondance course with Lynn 

Allen. 

How has the ECB ACO helped you? 

Other than getting to score at Lord’s? It has meant that 

when I wear my jumper or ACO pin, the people I am 

with know that I know what I am doing. It is really 

important for both teams to know that they have a good 

scorer. 

What do you like about scoring? 

I like scoring for many different reasons but really it 

makes me concentrate on the actual game more, and I 

feel part of a team. Without scorers everyone would 

find any match whether it be local or national, very 

difficult as you wouldn’t have any record of what 

happened. 

What challenges do you face with scoring? 

Captains who do not give me the team lists, the 

opposition not supplying a scorer, people standing in 

front of the scorebox. If the clubs thought of the scorer 

all the time instead of just as a last minute thing it 

would make our jobs so much easier! 

Where do you see yourself in 5yrs? 

Well, hopefully I will be at university, but I could 

always pop back to London to be in the score box at 

Lord’s! 

Any unusual scoring experiences? 

Probably scoring at Lord’s. I go to watch cricket and 

bring my scorebook, but scoring there officially is 

something completely different and I had a really good 

time! 


Friends Afar 

Now that this Newsletter reaches across the world by the electronic 

wizardry of e-mail, web pages, and links through other sites – we welcome 

contributions from our ‘European’ colleagues, and those ‘Overseas’ friends further afield in 

more tropical climes – so send your club notes, personal stories, pictures of pavilions (and 

scoreboxes!), and anything else your colleagues would enjoy reading about. 

This issue again gives the enjoyment of widening our horizons even further… this time with news from 

Mexico where Keith Healey went to Cancun for a family wedding – and found cricket too. Next, to the far 

reaches of Asia – to Malaysia - to see a course run by Khoo Chai Huat in progress… and, finally, and nearer 

home, to the Netherlands for an update by Jacques Mulders on how they find the space we would never believe 

they had among the polders and tulip fields! 

There will also be more to give you from Australia in the next issue as we make more of a direct assessment 

of their training and grading programmes in that they are similar to our own. 

CANCUN – MEXICO 

This ‘adventure in Yucatan’ comes 

from Keith Healey, CEO for 

Staffordshire… 

“The purpose of my visit was to be 

present for my son’s wedding, and I was 

a little irked that my son had chosen a 

date which cut across the opening day 

of my own domestic season; I thought 

I’d brought him up better than that! 

Having travelled extensively 

throughout Europe, I was well aware 

that cricket was played in some unexpected 

places - such as Hungary, Croatia, 

Czech Republic, Germany, Portugal, 

Spain, Norway… the list just goes on 

and on! With this in mind, I decided to 

google ‘Cancun Cricket’ just in case. I 

was pleasantly surprised to find Cancun 

Cricket Club. 

Roger was very prompt in his reply. 

Ordinarily, there would not have been a 

match at this time; you can imagine my 

disappointment. However, he went on 

to say that there would be a visit to 

Cancun by a coach-load from El Salvador, 

and would I be interested in umpiring 

either (or both) of these matches? 

Is the Pope a Catholic, I mused. 

So, it was hastily decided that I would 

stand in the Saturday match (40-overs 

per side) and make a decision for the 

Sunday T20 later. 

He agreed to collect me from my 

hotel and drive me to the match. On the 

lengthy journey we chatted about 

cricket in Mexico. It seems that there 

are about 18 clubs in the entire country, 

but 16 of these are in the Mexico City 

area, which is about 12 hours away by 

car. Not surprisingly, such journeys are 

few and far between. The two remaining 

clubs are in the Cancun region – but 

several of their players are members of 

both clubs, so matches between them 

are not easy to arrange. There are occasional 

visits by club sides from the UK, 

Australia, and the Caribbean of course. 

With a climate such as in Mexico, it 

would be theoretically possible to play 

all-year round, but realistically it is too 

hot from April–October, so matches in 

this period are limited. 

Cancun CC is made up largely of 

British ex-pats, including the British 

Consul (Cancun), plus a couple of 

South Africans, an Aussie, and even a 

Scouser! The El Salvadorian tourists 

were similarly staffed, but also had an 

American, a Kiwi, an Irishman and several 

indigenous El Salvadorians – an encouraging 

sign. The visitors had 

travelled by coach for over 24 hours! 

The home side does not have its own 

dedicated cricket ground. Instead, it 

rents the use of a number of facilities, 

including a baseball stadium and a 

ground with two soccer pitches, sideby-side. 

We were to be at the latter 

over this weekend. There was a narrow 

strip of land between the two pitches 

with a FLICX artificial pitch pegged out 

in this gap. Having agreed on boundaries 

(and how to deal with 

immovable goal-posts) we 

set about fixing the match 

regulations. Most important 

here were the drinks 

breaks; with the mercury 

reaching 33c, we settled on 

every 10 overs! 

The game eventually got 

underway, with the home 

side having won the toss 

and electing to bat first. 

Some skilful performances led to a total 

of 177 all out. The visitors had no answer 

to the home side’s pace attack and 

were dismissed for 90 runs. I was led to 

believe that there was to be a postmatch 

barbecue at the ground. This 

turned out to be a ruse. In reality, we all 

repaired back to the beachfront mansion 

of the Consul where the barbecue actually 

was, with much hospitality, both 

solid and liquid – even the El Salvadorian 

coach driver had to sleep on the 

floor overnight, being in no fit state to 

drive the coach! 

The following day, my wife Judy 

joined me and we both umpired the T20 

game. She had only recently qualified 

as a Level 1 umpire and this was to be 

our second match together. This turned 

out to be a much closer contest, with the 

result in the balance until the last over. 

114 was the total scored. The visitors 

whittled the target down to 15 from the 

last over but they fell just 6 runs short. 

Meanwhile, the coach driver had been 

given his instructions; stock the bus 

with ‘refreshments’ for the return 26- 

hour journey. This he did with glee. 

This was a thoroughly enjoyable 

weekend for all concerned, not least for 

the fact that two avid teams had two 

most entertaining matches, plus several 

of the locals turned out to watch. Both 

my wife and I really enjoyed it, as did 

the players; indeed, they couldn’t thank 

us enough. It was greatly appreciated 

by all.” 


MALAYSIA 

For the very first time, we are delighted 

to have the opportunity of 

publishing a report from Malaysia, 

highlighting their very special approach 

to training. This contribution 

comes from Khoo Chai Huat of 

Malacca, himself an early ACO 

member – and summarises both his 

own background, and the work he 

and his colleague Ramani Batumalai 

have set themselves. Khoo 

entitled his piece..’A Positive Step 

To The Future’, and here it is... 

”The cricket fraternity particularly at 

the grassroot level, acknowledged the 

need for more key personnel to take 

up cricket scoring, umpiring and 

coaching. 

As a result, 48 teachers from all 

over the nation - including five 

aspiring women - some with little or 

no knowledge of the Laws of the 

game, registered themselves to follow 

a four-day basic course. The officerin-charge 

from the Ministry of 

Education in the Sports Division, Zul 

Hisham Razali, said that Malaysia, 

and in particular the education sector, 

was blessed to have two qualified and 

accredited course instructors from the 

Asia Cricket Council (ACC), in Khoo 

Chai Huat and Ramani Batumala, to 

be able to conduct the course. 

Khoo, himself an education 

administrator by profession, is a 

member of ECB ACO, the Asian 

Cricket Council Panel of Umpires, 

and Association of Cricket Umpires 

& Scorers Malaysia. The 57 year-old 

former Melaka State opening batsman 

and left-arm bowler has successfully 

conducted a number of such basic 

courses over the last decade in an 

effort to increase the pool of 

competent cricket umpires and 

scorers here in Malaysia. 

Khoo was ably assisted by another 

top local umpire, Ramani Batumalai, 

who attended Khoo’s inaugural basic 

course way back in 2000. Ramani, 

also a teacher but currently seconded 

to Cricket Melayu, is very wellversed 

with the Duckworth-Lewis 

method of calculation for target 

scores in rain-affected matches. 

The duo touched on all 42 Laws 

including the unwritten Law 43 (the 

law of common sense) in detail, 

pausing along the way to give 

examples and situations that warrant 

the actual implementation of the 

Laws. 

One participant, Ruly Sibat from 

Tawau, Sabah, said that comparisons 

were made and the course 

participants had an insight to the 

many changes and amendments to the 

Laws of the Game over the last few 

years. ’We often hear that during the 

old good days, on appeal, batsmen 

used to walk when they knew they 

were out having nicked the ball to the 

wicketkeeper making the job easier 

for the umpires, but today such a 

thing is rarely seen on the cricket 

field. Modern tricks such as ball 

tampering, sledging, staring at 

umpires, refusing to walk, excessive 

appealing, foul language, racism, and 

actions deemed to be unfair have 

indeed tarnished cricket’s splendid 

image.’ 

Another participant, Yusri Salami 

from Johor Bahru, said that the 

participants had a useful practical 

session at the Bandar Hilir Primary 

School and at the Puteri Resort 

ground (the course venue). They were 

shown the correct method to mark 

and line the main creases together 

with the danger area; they also had to 

check for correct measurements, and 

survey the playing area, and assess 

the facilities available at the venue. 

They were reminded that their 

decisions on the field of play were 

always under a microscope and 

therefore they had to have a strong 

character with a sound cricketing 

brain, as well as the personal 

attributes required to handle pressures 

both on and off the field. 

A video presentation on’What’s 

Your Decision’ and the ’Art of 

Umpiring’ (courtesy of Cricket 

Australia) including an animation on 

the Laws of Cricket, was a great help 

to instill the correct picture to all the 

participants. A session on calculating 

the number of overs to be bowled in 

the last hour of play in case of 

interruptions, a brief introduction of 

the D/L method, and the final result 

of the rain-hit matches, proved to be 

useful to all present. 

At the end of the course, the part - 

icipants answered a two-hour written 

assessment paper and successful 

candidates will be recommended to 

follow up with a Level One Umpiring 

and Scoring at the ACC Level, and to 

enroll as an Associate member of the 

ECB ACO.” 

THE NETHERLANDS 

`Jacques Mulders 

is President of the 

Dutch Umpires 

Association, and 

we are delighted to 

give his account of 

how things are 

over there… 

“Cricket lovers arriving 

in the 

Netherlands are regularly surprised to find 

that there is more than just Sky TV to fulfil 

their deepest cricketing needs! 

Cricket has been played in Holland for 

more than a century and was said to have 

been introduced by British soldiers fighting 

the Napoleonic wars. Kids became interested 

and the game started to be played 

each summer, using improvised pitches 

much to the amusement of on-looking soccer 

players. The sport became established 

and was thriving during the 1930s. Sadly, 

World War II interrupted this rapid growth 

and shattered the interest amongst the 

local population. Nowadays, there are 

around 6,000 players, making it the 25th 

most popular sport; most clubs are affiliated, 

and share facilities with football, 

rugby, and hockey clubs. 

Dutch cricket has a surprisingly rich 

history. In the 80s, Dutch cricket had 

reached a respectable (semi-)professional 

level and the national team was invited to 

play in the World Cup for ‘B-countries’ in 

England. A special incident occurred in 

that tournament. One of the social events 

of the tournament was an official audience 

with the Queen. The Dutch squad was all 

lined up to shake the Queen’s hand and 

were only permitted to talk to Her Majesty 

if they were asked a question. When she 

stopped at one of the players and remarked 

‘I didn’t know you play cricket in Holland’ 

– a disheartening comment as the Dutch 

squad had heard this remark throughout 

the tournament. The player replied 

quickly..: ‘And I wasn’t too happy with 

your horse at Ascot yesterday!’ A deathly 

silence descended at this breach of protocol. 

However, the Queen remained unfazed 

and responded drily ‘Neither was I’ 

Currently, we have eight teams playing 

continued on page 20 


Four ‘Young Guns’ 

Having introduced our young quartet of promising Young Officials over the last two 

issues, this is the first opportunity we have of highlighting them together… and just 

generally summarising the first round of exchanges and comparisons. 

Obviously the flaw in all this is that cricket is a summer sport, rugby and football 

winter, and hockey marginally bridging both seasons, but the chance to cast our 

inquisitive eyes over the similarities of training programmes and pathways, is too 

appetising to ignore! 

This is Joe Starkie, our 

FA referee, from the 

Bradford FA… 

“I’ve been preparing for this coming 

season pretty much since the 

last season finished back in 

May. It’s important to keep physically 

fit so that I can enter preseason 

training on full-form. I 

also believe it’s equally important 

to have a rest through the summer 

– so I have been able to relax and 

enjoy time on holiday with 

my family and my girlfriend. 

When the first game of pre-season 

comes along, it will give me a 

good indication of how fit I am, 

and how much training I will 

need to do just before the season 

starts. 

I was pleased to find out that 

I earned promotion from Level 7 

to Level 6! I have recently passed 

my examination for Level 5 as 

well, so all that remains is to referee 

20 games in the middle and 

do 5 lines as an assistant referee. 

During these games I have to be 

assessed 3 times and receive good 

marks in these assessments. If all 

this goes well as I hope and expect, 

I will receive promotion to 

Level 5 by the end of this coming 

season. 

I think I enjoyed my most successful 

season last year and I 

think that was rewarded with the 

chance to referee the Wharfedale 

Triangle League semi-final and 

then go on to officiate in the final 

as an assistant referee. One of my 

most difficult moments though 

came when I was refereeing a 

game in Keighley, and in the final 

moments of the game there was a 

nasty tackle which resulted in 20 

grown men getting their handbags 

out! I thought I dealt with the situation 

well and took appropriate 

action – not knowing what the 

match report showed.” 

Joe has outlined for us the FA training programme at the lower 

levels appropriate to his development… 

Promotion Criteria: Level 7 to Level 6: 

• Attend a seminar 

• Pass a multi-choice examination 

• Referee a minimum of 15 open-age games between 01/03/11 and 28/02/12 

• Receive 3 satisfactory assessments 

• Obtain satisfactory club marks from the open-age Leagues in which you 

operate. 

Level 6 to Level 5: 


• Pass a multi-choice examination 



• Obtain satisfactory club marks from the Leagues in which you operate. 

For consideration to Level 4 at the end of the season: 

Level 6 to 5 candidates must also: 

• Finish in the top 50% of the referee merit table in the competitions in which 

you officiate 

• Have officiated as an assistant referee on at least 5 occasions in a Supply 

League between 01/03/11 and 28/02/12 (however 10 would be the FA’s ideal 

minimum requirement) 

• Pass the standard Contributory League fitness test (March 2012) 

Level 5 to Level 4: 


• Pass the standard Contributory League fitness test 


• Have officiated as an assistant referee on at least 5 occasions in a Supply 

League between 01/03/11and 28/02/12 (however 10 would be the FA’s ideal 

minimum requirement) 


• Finish in the top 50% of the referee merit table of the Competitions in which 

you officiate 

Joe emerging on to Leeds' Elland Road ground for a charity match 


This is ‘our’ Nathan Hewitt, a 

YO from Lincolnshire… 

“This season, I have been officiating in 

Leicestershire, Huntingdonshire and 

Cambridgeshire cricket leagues and, in 

total, I have stood in just under twenty 

games so far. Additionally, I have also 

been involved in cup competitions including 

T20s. 

It has been busy every weekend, and 

sometimes in the week too, but it is 

good fun to be always in the action. 

After this season has finished, I am 

aiming to build on my L1a and take 

the L2 course, with the theoretical 

components in the winter and the practical 

elements, including assessments, 

next season. I hope to go as far as I 

can. I will also be looking to develop 

my Young Officials skills with further 

meetings at ECB with Eddie Lunn. 

Locally, I assist in tutoring courses 

and ‘taster courses’ to classes and 

clubs alike. I also help working with 

other Young Officials who are looking 

to join our County ACO. We do our 

best to give a warm welcome and a 

good impression to these younger people 

who come to courses and taster 

sessions. These sessions, in particular, 

seem to be effective at stoking people’s 

interest in officiating while also 

educating all ages about the Laws and 

how they apply. 

As part of Hunts ACO, I have regular 

contact with Steve Ross and Adam 

Allies who orchestrate much of the 

teachings and logistics of the County’s 

affairs. I regularly speak with them regarding 

fulfilling appointments and 

helping with any teaching. 

I thoroughly enjoy officiating and, as 

I gain experience, it only gets better. In 

particular, I enjoy visiting new 

grounds and clubs, which can often be 

hidden away but are often worth the 

find - especially if the tea is memorable! 

The challenge of standing in higherprofile 

games, and later stages of cup 

competitions, has its rewards, and I am 

pleased with the way I have performed, 

and I believe this can only accelerate 

my improvement. 

There are drawbacks too - this summer 

especially has been frustrating 

with quite a few fixtures being calledoff 

due to the inclement weather we 

have had in Leicestershire, Huntingdonshire 

and Cambridgeshire. This is 

particularly the case when you have 

found the quaint cricket club but then 

find it to be raining. 

I also see the need for improvement 

on my part, and continuing development 

is an important part that I will 

look to further.” 

David Jones, our Rugby Union 

referee is from Kingston, Surrey… 

and, of course, is known to 

Nick Cousins who is his President (of 

the London Society of RFU Referees) 

“To summarise last season, I was officiating 

mainly Level 8 matches; London 

Division 3 with 2 Exchanges 

outside of London to Gloucester and 

Northampton, with a further one to 

Exeter cancelled due to snow in all the 

wrong places!. 

But a highlight obviously was to be 

able to join the sqaud of referees from 

the London Society who were delegated 

to Dubai to referee at the Dubai 

Sevens, and I was very fortunate to 

have this visit as one of my exchanges. 

Over the season, I was watched and 

assessed multiple times – and the good 

news is that those assessments gained 

me promotion to Level 7. Another aspect 

of this was that I learnt how 

rugby changes in different parts of the 

country, strangely including changes 

of positioning to avoid being knocked 

over! 

Some of the bad parts were; the 

weather generally as it was a cold 

winter, and some cancellations including 

one of the exchanges that I was 

looking forward to. I also picked up a 

knee injury in a Cup match, which I 

had to rest for a month. And of 

course, almost inevitably in the learning 

process, getting knocked over by 

standing in the wrong place. 

One difference 

for me – thinking 

that you do not use 

‘cards’ – is that 

that respect and 

discipline go hand 

in hand, especially 

as the level of 

commitment and 

skill of players increase. 

If the players 

respect you 

they are disciplined. 

In the 

lower leagues, say 

Levels 15-9, most players immediately 

respect you because of the nature 

of the game and, I suppose our ability 

to act on the spot – ‘The referee is always 

Right... even if he is Wrong’ is 

the chat. However, at the top levels of 

rugby, the players start being paid to 

play so don’t take kindly to being told 

how to do their job, so you have a finite 

time at the start of the match to 

prove you know how to referee, and 

then they start to respect you and become 

disciplined. 

I have found especially with being 

so young, the first few minutes into a 

match are extremely important for 

gaining respect. The way the first 

breakdown is managed lets the players 

know whether you are going to be a 

‘good’ referee or a ‘bad’ one. 

As there are no matches until September, 

my current training is mainly 

fitness work, as I plan to referee 3-4 

matches a week this coming season. I 

do spend a lot of time watching top 

level rugby such as the Tri-Nations 

and the up-coming Rugby World Cup 

news, so I can see what the world’s 

top referees do differently to myself, 

and note tips I can try when I’m refereeing. 

I also spend time talking to Premiership 

and National league referees 

asking for advice with certain aspects 

of the game, and as refereeing is like a 

brotherhood, I have never been refused 

advice even after asking the 

daftest questions. 

The next step is that I hope to referee 

a lot of Level 7, London Div 2 

matches this season, and go on some 

more exchanges around the country. I 

also hope to be promoted to Level 6 

and gain entry to London’s Development 

Squad. I have also applied to return 

to Dubai for the second time to 

referee the Dubai Sevens again – why 

wouldn’t I?” 


‘Young Guns’ …continued 

Now we hear from Rachel 

Williams, our young referee 

from England Hockey… 

“Knowing of what my other young colleagues 

on these pages are doing, one 

real difference for me is that I am on 

twin paths – officiating and administering. 

I was recently appointed as the 

hockey tournament director (TD) of the 

UK School Games in Sheffield. This 

was my first experience as a TD in a 

competitive environment so it has been 

a massive opportunity for me, and 

could potentially open doors to officiate 

at European tournaments. I started two 

years ago as a match official, working 

my way to junior national tournaments, 

such as the Futures Cup, as a judge, and 

worked towards becoming a tournament 

official (TO), who assists the TD 

and is essentially in charge pitch-side – 

very different from the on-field management 

of the other three major sports 

covered here. 

Most recently I was a TO in the U18 

Four Nations’ Tournament. At each 

event, I have learnt something more 

about tournament directorship and the 

paper-work. So this promotion to TD 

was very exciting and in some ways 

scary, but having walked the development 

pathway I enjoyed putting my experience 

into practice at the beginning 

of September. A lot of preparation, I’ve 

found, is done prior to the tournament 

and I’ve certainly had my hockey 

knowledge tested by the national team 

managers, and it certainly gave me an 

insight to the demands of a tournament. 

It was a great learning curve and I really 

look forward to the next chance to 

fulfil this role. 

As well as this, I’m looking forward 

to and preparing for the South Junior 

Regional Performance Centre (JRPC) 

in September, as well as preparation for 

the beginning of the season with youth 

tournaments such as the Futures Cup - 

a very important and tough tournament 

early in the season. It is just as important 

to the young umpires participating 

as it is to the players, who are being assessed 

for U16 and U18 England selection. 

I have recently been put onto the 

‘A Panel’ on the National Young Umpires 

Promising List having passed my 

Level 2 assessment on one of the last 

games of last season. I’m currently umpiring 

pre-season friendly games, and 

I’m very much looking forward to putting 

into practice some of the coaching 

points I have been given and using 

these to work my way to the next level 

(Level 3). 

Throughout the season, I will be 

looking to get appointed to junior national 

tournaments, as well as umpiring 

Saturday league games. When we are 

appointed to tournaments, we are supported 

by umpire managers and umpire 

coaches who are also appointed by the 

England Hockey Board, and who assist 

us in attaining the highest level of performance 

of which we are capable. 

This is a great advantage for the young 

umpires and one of the most important 

ways to help us achieve our potential. 

My next step will be EHB Level 3 

umpire award. This is the highest level 

of umpire award on the national programme 

and I’m aiming to achieve this 

through experience. Alongside league 

games, I’m aiming to develop a consistency 

in tournaments, and achieving 

physical fitness and mental focus, and 

if I can, the Level 3 award should be attainable 

within two seasons. 

Ups and downs? This year, my three 

main hockey-related goals were to; be 

appointed to a national final, officiate 

an international game, and pass my 

Level 2. I actually managed all three 

within the last two weeks of the season 

and, of course I was elated. The downs? 

I wouldn’t say they’re downs - more 

just irritants! Personally, I find it quite 

difficult when you have a (respected) 

coach on your back during a game and 

sometimes you begin to question your 

own knowledge of the game. It’s your 

third game of the day, in the middle of 

a tournament, you’re tired, soaked 

through and extremely cold - we’re 

only human after all. In some conditions, 

a single decision can completely 

change a game and you doubt yourself. 

As always, that’s something that can be 

worked on and improved with experience 

– self-effacement before, during, 

and after a game. 

Another positive is of course sponsorship, 

and, again, this is very different 

from cricket as far as the officials 

are concerned. This year I have been 

sponsored by Maximuscle (for nutritional 

products) and a company called 

G-Force who have kindly designed bespoke 

umpiring shirts for me, and kitted 

me out with performance apparel. 

On the practicalities of training we do 

have a rather unique system – which I 

will detail in the next issue.” 

Friends Afar …continued 

in the top-flight of Dutch cricket, and 

the national side does play in county 

cricket’s Clydesdale Bank (CB40) competition. 

The matted and slow grass 

wickets are a long way from the dust 

bowls of India, and many of the Dutch 

players have to take time off work to 

play overseas, to expand their chances 

by experiencing these different conditions. 

As the state of Dutch cricket is growing, 

so it is also with Dutch umpiring. In 

the Netherlands we now have over 80 

officially registered umpires standing in 

the top four leagues. These leagues consist 

of 40 teams in total. The umpires 

are ‘quality-labelled’ from A to D (top A 

down to D for development). Three umpires 

are now members of the ICC Europe 

Umpires Panel, and one of them 

has reached the Elite Panel. 

This year, 16 umpires passed the 

Level 1A training and 10 umpires were 

successful in the Level 1 course. Besides, 

another 10 candidates were participating 

in the Umpire Introductory 

Course (and all of them passed the 

exam). The Dutch Umpires Association 

emphasis is on increasing the number 

of active umpires and especially on 

developing younger umpires – this is 

helped by the requirement for neutral 

umpires by the top four league teams. 

Dutch cricket is standing at the crossroads 

of a new era. Recently there has 

been a slight decline in player numbers, 

and an increase in artificial football- and 

hockey-pitches is threatening the vulnerable 

cricket grounds across the country. 

However, the passion that exists 

within the Dutch cricket community 

will certainly ensure the sport’s future.” 

(* Ed: I queried with Jacques how they 

managed to find sufficient land – knowing 

it is certainly all very flat but very 

‘valuable’ – and he told me of the main 

clubs, and, on the ‘KNCB’ web-site, 

you too can google the club grounds, 

and be pleasantly surprised where they 

tuck them!) 


‘By-the-Byes’ 

What to do if it rains – 

everywhere? 

This is England after all, and the 

summer weeks will not always be 

sunny, hot and dry. Question is then – 

for any league – what to do when 

heavy and widespread rain is forecast 

and happens. Should any club have an 

advantage on the others in the division 

by being lucky enough to play 

and enjoy winning points when noone 

else could? Of course not, because 

this is neither fair nor equitable. 

How do we avoid this? Well, in this 

age of technology, why does not each 

premier league have a text of phonein 

system for each division? 

Ten or twelve teams per division 

means only 5 or 6 matches; one umpire 

at each can text/phone to say 

when ‘called off’ happens – and a 

simple formula can pre-exist where 

once a majority are off, the round is 

abandoned before any match can 

start. This then means that no teams 

in the division are ‘hanging-on’ hoping 

for a game or, worse, hoping the 

team below them don’t play, win, and 

leap-frog with the ‘free’ points. 

Recent example; Saturday 16 July, 

in a premier league; 25 matches, 22 

called-off, 3 played and 2 wins (separate 

divisions), ‘lucky’ 13-pointers to 

two teams, grief for the others! Unfair? 

Certainly. 

Our very smart colleagues 

in Yorkshire 

Paul McFarlane 

thought 

to send us a 

photograph 

of the Yorkshire 

League Umpires 

Panel 

in their new 

dress-code 

for Season 

2011. 

Ian Dixon 

“For so 

long now we have watched international 

and county cricket being played 

with umpires dress-code being slowly 

changed to a more comfortable and 

relaxed image. As we now have 3 or 4 

umpires who are on the ‘D’ grade list 

and most of the other umpires doing 

national and major matches within 

the county, we thought we would follow 

the trend. 

So far, all our umpires seem to like 

the shirts and the feedback from players 

and club officials, who have been 

very complimentary. We also have a 

similar shirt in navy-blue with similar 

trim, as opposed to the white for our 

Twenty20 games. 

Obviously the white shirts with the 

sky, navy, and yellow trim, follow the 

colours of this great county of Yorkshire, 

so we are proud to wear the 

shirts which hopefully will promote 

this more casual dress-code for other 

leagues to follow.” 

Delivery delays 

Try as much as we do, Royal Mail 

continue to slow things down. Having 

delivered Issue 9 to them on 16 May 

it has been evident from your comments 

that a few thousand had not 

doormatted before June… and we 

have had dates in July given to us! 

Because we must use ‘Mailsort 3’ (as 

we cannot afford 2 nd class) we are dependent 

on the fact that all 1 st and 2 nd 

class deliveries take precedence ahead 

of our envelopes, so there is little we 

can do – except maybe (we are checking 

this) have them processed by a 

RM depot outside London. Thanks 

for your patience – but do remember, 

the moment it arrives with RM, 

it is put onto our web page, so you 

can read it there first. 

Separate changing facilities 

for umpires 

This was first raised in the last issue, 

and is a topic we will continue to research 

over the winter – but first off, 

it would be proper to say that this is 

not simply an ‘improve or be damned’ 

stance because many beautiful, old, 

and cherished pavilions simply cannot 

be knocked-about to achieve this result 

quite as easily as the club or we 

might even wish. This thought has 

been highlighted by such an example; 

the 1930s dark-timbered pavilion at 

Reigate Priory in Surrey – and they 

have been one of the top Premier 

League teams for a decade – and a 

Q&A session with them will appear in 

the next issue. Meanwhile, if you 

know of others (good or bad examples) 

let us know… 

Kit for Ladies 

TOM SMITH’s 

As you will have 

read, the very ‘special-price’ 

deal 

arranged with the 

co-operation of the 

MCC, meant that 

we had to order a 

minimum of 

2,500 copies by 

the end of May, 

and we are delighted 

to report that this offer 

was quickly snapped-up by the Counties. 

So, if you do not yet have your 

copy, you will see below how many 

were ordered by your county ACO, so 

ask if they have some left… 

Bedfordshire 40 

Berkshire 50 

Cambridgeshire 25 

Cheshire 50 

Combined Services 1 

Cornwall 40 

Cumbria 9 

Derbyshire 50 

Devon 43 

Durham 55 

Essex 116 

Gloucestershire 75 

Hampshire 210 

Herefordshire 14 

Hertfordshire 20 

Hunts 2 

ICC Europe 317 

Ireland 120 

Kent 65 

Lancashire 75 

Lincolnshire 15 

Lincolnshire (Scunthorpe) 20 

Middlesex 54 

Norfolk 30 

Northumberland 30 

Nottinghamshire 70 

Oxfordshire 75 

R.A.F 50 

Shropshire 80 

Somerset 10 

Staffordshire 22 

Suffolk 60 

Surrey 202 

Sussex 64 

Wales 50 

Warwickshire 48 

Wiltshire 50 

Worcestershire 16 

Yorkshire 102 

ECB ACO 75 

…continued on page 22 

Hardly know the correct way to title this without being either over-sensitive or 

just plain inappropriate, but we are not used to having to almost think ‘fashion’, 

as our gentlemen umpires are usually not dressed to a ‘beau’ manner! 

Delighted to announce then that we have commissioned a special Women’s 

Range, which is now available online. There is a navy soft-shell jacket at £50, 

a navy fleece jacket (£30), a navy cardigan (£35), and a polo shirt (navy & 

white) (£20). All styles are available in sizes 10-20 and are women’s fit. 


R&R 

Mainly translated by the milatary 

from the Vietnam days as ‘rest & recuperation’, 

the modern term is 

equally correct and concise for us as 

‘Recognition & Reward’, and having 

highlighted this as a policy priority 

two years ago, we were under standably 

slow in preparing the programme 

simply because we had little data on 

‘who’ we should be inviting; it wasn’t 

that the helpers were few because 

there were more then than there are 

now! Also, of course, not having created 

these ‘packages’ before, we were 

not sure what our hard-working colleagues 

would prefer, or consider 

worth putting on their glad-rags for! 

Anyway, that was then, this is 

now… and the first regional programme 

is taking place at the moment, 

and these were the dates and locations… 

South & West = Wed 31 August - 

Taunton - Somerset v Hampshire 

North = Wed 07 September – 

Headingley - Yorkshire v Somerset 

Midlands = Sat 17 September - 

Derby - National Club Championship 

London & East = Mon 19 September 

- Chelmsford - National ClubT20 

The theme was ‘A good day out’ so 

admission to the best match, full hospitality, 

and maybe, a gift or trinket. 

We hope all those invited enjoyed 

their days out. 

A lucky day in 

Scarborough town… 

For Fred Bernard, 75, when he 

stepped in to umpire Yorkshire’s 

County Championship match against 

Sussex at Scarborough. 

It happened when umpire Trevor 

Jesty was twice taken ill, and match 

organisers made a quick search for a 

stand-in, and our Fred – who officiates 

in the local Beckett League – enthusiastically 

raised a finger. 

He took over from Yorkshire firstteam 

coach Craig White, who had 

briefly replaced Jesty when the umpire 

left the field. “Our local umpires’ 

secretary was across in the hospitality 

place and someone asked him whether 

he knew anyone who could step in. 

He couldn’t do it because he’d already 

had a couple of pints, so he suggested 

me”, Fred explains. “I jumped at the 

chance and it was a marvellous experience. 

Everyone went out of their 

way to make it pleasant – Nick Cook, 

the other umpire, and all t0he players.” 

He stood at square-leg for half-anhour 

before lunch, and then returned 

later for the final hour or so when 

Jesty once again left the field feeling 

nauseous. 

It was a memorable day for Mr 

Bernard, who has been watching 

cricket at Scarborough since 1948 – 

when he saw the legendary Don Bradman 

play at North Marine Road that 

summer in his final first-class match 

in England. 

Mr Bernard was chiefly observing 

for run-outs and stumpings. He did 

not have any decisions to make and 

simply savoured the experience. 

“Well said young man…” 

Glamorgan’s James Harris was kind 

enough to answer his interviewer’s 

question of ‘Anything annoy you 

about umpires’ with the observation 

that… ‘No, it’s a tough job, they get 

only one look at things… and it’s 

good to stay on their side.’ Smart lad! 

‘Goodbye Charlie Jewell’ 

Having completed 

his year 

as YODO, 

Charlie has said 

his farewells 

and taken a 

brief holiday 

cycling to 

Wales before 

embarking on a 

teaching career 

which begins in Croydon. 

The third (and last) of our Young 

Officials Development Officers, employed 

as ‘volunteers’ under a scheme 

sponsored by the Youth Sports Trust, 

Charlie consolidated and built on the 

foundations prepared by his predecessors 

Fergus Guppy and Ben Francis. 

Young Umpire and Young Scorer 

courses were planned and delivered 

and a cohort of Young tutors trained 

and mentored to take both these and 

other Young Leaders’ courses which 

were delivered across the country. The 

Lord’s initiative was a notable step 

forward as was the extension of the 

appointments to County and Club finals 

– both of which Charlie led on. 

Charlie has been quietly efficient in 

everything he has done – not least his 

collation of all the ACO requests for 

the first ‘Tom Smith’s’, the success of 

which is reported elsewhere - a very 

willing worker and an excellent team 

man at Lord’s and elsewhere. We 

thank him for all he has done and 

wish him well as he takes on the role 

of taming the youths of Croydon. 

We are delighted to welcome Martin 

Williams as Charlie’s replacement 

- albeit in a slightly changed role as 

our first ACO ‘intern’. More in the 

next edition. (Nick Cousins) 

Sally Newton’s Wedding! 

It is not often we can be the cricketing 

alternative to ‘Hello’ or ‘OK’ 

magazines, as ‘fashion’ and ‘girlie’ 

items are not our usual metier, but 

here is a moment of blissful frivolity 

– thanks to Sally Newton who was 

married in August (on a Saturday!) 

to Ciaran Deegan. Now, to save 

confusion, the groom is the cricketer, 

Sally is the umpire*, so this relationship 

looks to have him in 

trouble from the start maybe?! 

Their reception was held at Lindum 

CC, and among those present 

was this clutch of Lincoln Association Umpires 

pictured with her… (from the left) Chris Elkington, David Chambers, Bill 

Hoodless, Andy Maloney (who sent us the story), and John Gibson. 

(* Sally was highlighted in our last issue (p9) as an up-coming ‘Young Official’) 


ACO Independent Board Member 

As the ECB and ACU&S Joint 

Working Party worked during 

2006/7 to create the structure of the 

new organisation, it was agreed 

that the governing body – the ACO 

Board – would have within its appointees 

two ‘Independents’ who 

would have had no previous association 

with ECB or the ACO; one, 

the Chairman (Roger Knight) and 

two, an Independent Member. 

In a way, good fortune then 

played a part as the first independent 

member official invited to join 

was Nick Cousins, from the RFU & 

London Society – now our Senior 

Executive Officer. When he stood 

down as Independent Member, 

Nick was replaced by Steve Bennett, 

the senior FA and FIFA referee, 

and though his expertise and 

interest was a great asset to the 

Board, his time with us was restricted 

by a burgeoning overseas 

schedule of lecturing and officiating 

which led to his resignation earlier 

this year. 

As his replacement, we are delighted 

to welcome Janie Frampton 

– one of the most talented and experienced 

of the FA’s multi-tasking 

administrators. This is evidenced 

not only by her widening role in 

UK and world football, but by her 

involvement in Sports Officials UK 

of which she is now CEO. 

Here is a summary of the ‘How’ 

and ‘Why’ in her own words… 

“Having started my football career as 

a ‘bad-haired’ teenager in a girl’s 

five-a-side league, as that‘s all there 

was available then, my love of the 

game soon led me on; there were no 

women’s sides in my area, so that encouraged 

me to take up refereeing, as 

I wanted to continue being physically 

involved in the game in some way. 

I then moved on to several other 

roles, including being the Secretary of 

a youth football club, then Council 

Member for Dorset County FA, and 

FA County Coaching Representative 

for Women. As a qualified UEFA B 

coach, I then spent several years in 

America coaching football to varsity 

students, and I was also involved in 

Active Sports and Women’s Centre of 

Excellence coaching and development. 

As an active football referee for 23 

years, I have officiated on the Men’s 

Panel League Assistants List and operated 

as an International Assistant 

Referee on many competitions, including 

the Women’s World Cup 

Qualifiers and the Women’s Champions 

League. I have refereed many tv 

‘live games’ including the Women’s 

FA Challenge Cup and the Women’s 

Here are the ACO-appointed umpires for the Women's Premier League Final at 

High Wycombe; Andrew Johnson (left, Reading) & Chris Church (right, Reading) 

© Photos Unlimited 

FA Charity Shield. 

I have worked for The FA for 10 

years, and my current role is as National 

Referee Manager with key responsibility 

for Education and Training 

at all levels. This encompasses the 

development of generic qualifications 

for the National Framework. 

I am an FA Level 4 Licensed 

Tutor, and also a Tutor Mentor 

for Safeguarding Children and 

Equality. I operate on a range 

of national and international 

courses, with an emphasis on 

the delivery of a wide variety 

of core training and development 

modules on behalf of The 

FA, including to countries such 

as Botswana, South Africa, and 

in Asia. 

As one of only a few female 

FIFA Instructors, I have been 

involved in many FIFA tournaments 

and workshops for the 

development and selection of 

the female referees – including 

for the 2007 FIFA Women’s 

World Cup in China, and the 

FIFA Women’s U20 World Cup 

in Chile, where I was appointed 

technical analyst. 

Here, I have been a member 

of the Sports Officials UK technical 

group since 2001, and played a pivotal 

role in the development of the 

‘National Occupational Standards for 

Officiating in Sport’, and have recently 

been appointed as CEO since 

its incorporation as a limited company. 

One of my proudest moments was 

being invited to join 14 other leading 

sport-orientated women on a National 

Women’s Leadership Programme – 

which is a two-year programme created 

in response to a government 

white paper to address the lack of females 

in high-profile roles in sport. 

Sort of ‘poacher turned gamekeeper’ I 

suppose, but I so love football and my 

career in it, that it is a joy to help others 

progress in it. 

Yet reading through the paragraphs 

above, you might think I miss out on 

a ‘normal’ life. Happily I don’t – my 

son phoned me up on Sunday morning 

the other week and said, ‘Mum, 

our ref’s not turned up, what are you 

doing?’ So I went down to referee 

this Dorset divisional match. To me 

it’s not the level, it’s the participation. 

Yes, living in Blandford and enjoying 

family life there certainly balances 

the jetting about and the boardrooms. 

But I will never be far from a 

football pitch!” 


ACO National Conference 

Lord’s, Saturday 19th November 

We are delighted to announce that the ACO National Conference will once again be held at Lord’s, 

the home of cricket. 

The conference will have a slight twist on the previous two years, with a specific focus on 

‘Technology and the Spirit of Cricket’. The use of technology in sport, particularly cricket, has 

been the subject of much debate; The Spirit of Cricket and Fair Play remain at the top of our 

agenda as officials – and we intend to highlight and reinforce this message. All this should make 

for an interesting day! 

Once again we will host the ECB ACO AGM, at which we hope more members will want to be present and have a say. Admittance 

to the AGM only is FREE of charge. 

By popular demand, we will open the Conference with a new presentation on the latest application of ‘Hawkeye’, followed 

by a buffet lunch, with a bar, giving plenty of opportunity to chat with friends old and new and listen to an amusing 

post-lunch speech. 

In the afternoon, we welcome Raj Persaud, a leading psychologist who has appeared many times on Radio and TV who 

will give a fascinating insight into the psychology of officiating, particularly dealing with conflict and difficult situations. 

We are also delighted that Howard Webb, our leading football referee, has agreed to speak specifically about his experience 

in the last World Cup where, of course, he was selected to referee the Final. This will be followed by a Q&A where 

Howard will be joined by other leading officials from both cricket and rugby. 

Last year’s ‘Scoring in the Media’ presentation was so well received that Malcolm Ashton will return with a new take on 

the same subject, whilst ‘The Total Cricket Scorer’ creators, Lee Marmara and Paul Thurstance will present a workshop 

on TCS and Play-Cricket, and we will also welcome Paul Bedford, ECB Head of non First-Class cricket, to speak on Discipline 

and Fair Play. 

All this will be supplemented by the impressively tasty MCC catering! 

The proposed agenda for the day is 

0900 Tea and coffee on arrival 

1000 Welcome followed by the AGM 

1100 Seminar 1 – ‘Hawkeye’ 

1230 Re-gather in Nursery Pavilion for lunch (continuous open buffet) 

1315 Post-Lunch Speaker - David Kurk 

1400 Seminar 2 – The Psychology of Officiating 

1500 Seminar 3 – Officiating the World Cup Final/ Elite Officials Q&A 

1600 Closing Address and ‘Farewells’ 

You will be able to attend any 3 presentations available on the day. The presenters are: 

Hawkeye – Steve Carter 

Elite Officials Q&A – Martin Bodenham - Howard Webb – RFU representative 

Psychology of Officiating – Raj Persaud 

Scoring in the Media - Malcolm Ashton 

Total Cricket Scorer – Lee Marmara and Paul Thurstance 

Discipline and Fair Play – Paul Bedford 

As beady-eyed officials, you will have noticed the omission of the extremely popular ‘You versus Hawkeye’ session; sadly 

the MCC Indoor School is undergoing major renovation, therefore, the session cannot be accommodated. 

However we have commissioned the MCC to run tours of Lord’s for members who would like the opportunity to walk 

around the ‘hallowed turf.’ This year’s tours will also visit the Score-box, both the umpires’ and players’ changing rooms, 

the historic Long Room, the museum, and the media centre. 

The venue can accommodate a total capacity of 400 guests. Invitations will be accepted on a first-come-basis. Following 

the deadline for replies (26th October), we will then allocate the balance from the ‘short’ counties to other larger counties. 

The cost for the Conference Day is £40 per person, which includes all the sessions, the key note speaker, lunch, refreshments 

and the tour. Payment must be sent with the reply slip. 


AGM – Note from the Chairman, Roger Knight 

"Last year, the ECB ACO Board published the amendments to the Constitution that had been discussed and accepted a year 

earlier. At the AGM in November 2010, I regret that there was not a vote on those amendments. To rectify the situation - 

which was mentioned by a few members, who, although accepting that there was not any doubt that the membership had 

been supportive of the changes, thought that a vote should have taken place - there will be a vote at this year's AGM. 

There have been no questions over the last two years about those amendments, which were made by the Board after considering 

the suggestions of the members who wrote to propose minor changes. For this reason, it is thought that a postal 

vote to all members, which is extremely costly, is an unnecessary expense at a time when the funding is already stretched. 

The intention, therefore, is to hold a vote at the AGM on Saturday 19th November. The Board recommends that the 

amendments be adopted and the amended Constitution thus formally accepted by the membership of the ECB Association 

of Cricket Officials." 

(Ed; The amendments, in full, were printed in Issue 4 of March 2010, so if you have your copy please re-visit them there, or, 

alternatively, view them on our web-pages where we store all previous Newsletters for ease of reference for all members.) 

REPLY SLIP 

□ Yes, please…… I DO wish to attend on Saturday 19th November 

□ NO thanks but I will attend the AGM only 

✄ 

Name: 

Membership No: ACO 

Address: 

County ACO: 

Email: 

Please register me for the following Seminars – tick each box. (NB you can only attend one Seminar per session) 

Session 1 □ Hawkeye □ Total Cricket Scorer □ Tour of Lord’s 

Session 2 

□ The Psychology of 

Officiating 

□ Scoring in the media 

□ Tour of Lord’s 

Session 3 □ Elite Official Q&A □ Discipline and Fair Play □ Tour of Lord’s 

Please return to: 

ECB ACO Conference, Lord’s Cricket Ground, London NW8 8QZ by 26th October. 

Please ensure you attach payment. Please ensure cheques are made payable to ECB ACO. 


Your letters… 

About a highlyrespected 

senior 

colleague 

… from Ian Mather, of Retford, 

Notts… 

“I recently spectated the Bassetlaw 

League v Notts Premiership Representative 

Match at Glapwell Colliery 

CC, in Derbyshire. And this is a 

photo from it and includes a young 

Garry Andrews bowling for Bassetlaw, 

but more interestingly, Harold 

Rhodes, as umpire – for various local 

clubs, his county Derbyshire and, of 

course England, at a very tall and 

sprightly 75 years of age. How 

splendid that his long and loyal service 

to cricket continues. 

I have obtained Mr. Rhodes’ permission 

to forward you this, and he 

looks forward to seeing it in the 

Mag. As he said ‘As long as I wasn’t 

giving anybody out!’ He is, of 

course, a member of ACO. Mr. Andrews 

is well known to me – but if he 

were to object, I’d give him out again 

next time I umpire at Marshalls in 

Gainsborough!” 

Busy Woman… 

Is the ‘pathway’ really the same for all… 

… asks Keith Ebdon, from Coulsdon in Surrey… 

writes Angela Tuff, of 

Chelmsford, Essex 

“I write in response to the article on 

Women in Cricket in the March 

Newsletter. I have been umpiring for 

a number of years, taking the old 

written ACUS part 1 exam, then the 

GL5 and GL4. After cutting my 

teeth umpiring with my local Fourth 

XI men’s side and a Friday night 

ladies league, I was invited to join 

the panel of the Shepherd Neame Essex 

League where I umpired men’s 

first XI division 2 and 3 for a couple 

of seasons. 

After a year, I was asked by the 

Essex Women’s Cricket Association 

to umpire some girls’ County games, 

which has grown over the years, so 

that I now umpire most games for the 

Essex girls from U13 to the Ladies 

side, who are currently in division 2 

of the County Championship. By 

standing in the senior Ladies games, 

I have had the pleasure of umpiring a 

number of international women players, 

both past and present. I would 

love to have the opportunity to umpire 

ladies cricket at a higher level, 

but fear that with the current grading 

system, I will be unlikely to do so, as 

inevitably, due to the number of 

games I do for the County, I do not 

now have the availability to stand in 

the SNEL anymore. 

On a happier note, there are now a 

number of ladies in Essex who have 

taken their Level 1 exam and have 

shown willingness to get involved 

with umpiring girls’ county games. 

The plan in Essex is to have all the 

girls games covered by women umpires 

and hopefully this will not be 

too far in the future.” 

“Michael Gough’s Story’ makes interesting reading and I look forward to 

seeing his future ‘top tips’. I have watched him several times in matches at 

Hove and elsewhere and he is of course a very competent and professional 

official. His description of Winter studies and standing in a wide variety of 

games at many levels and age-groups is a very familiar one to most regular 

amateur umpires, also the immense amount of knowledge gained from more 

experienced colleagues. 

Would that all we lesser mortals could then have followed Michael’s example 

and ‘applied to The ECB to become a professional umpire...and be offered 

a position on the ECB Reserve List Panel at the age of 26’! Apart from 

Jeff Evans, the 11 First-Class List colleagues he names are ALL former 1stclass 

cricketers. It is difficult not to draw the conclusion that this state of affairs 

is no coincidence, even in these ‘enlightened’ days of ‘pathways’ etc.” 

‘Pay fairly as well as play 

fairly’ is the key 

…suggests Ned Wilsher, of 

Middlesex 

“What are our labours worth?” 

sparked a thought; not so much on 

the amount we officials should be 

paid, but ‘who’ shall pay it. 

I am referring to the provision of 

umpires at club league matches. In 

Middlesex, if panel umpires are not 

appointed, each club must provide an 

umpire. Each club settles the appropriate 

match fee with their respective 

umpire. So far, so good. Yet, whether 

due to a general shortage of officials, 

or downright tardiness of some clubs, 

matches are often played with only 

one qualified umpire with the ‘other 

end’ being covered by a motley crew 

from the batting side, perhaps in tenover 

stints. 

Yet, the club that has managed to 

provide an official not only has to 

pay the only official’s fee of the 

match, it has to also provide the official 

at the ‘other end’ during their innings. 

This seems to be an imposition 

that goes beyond fairness. Whilst the 

lackadaisical club still enjoys the 

benefit of a ‘proper’ official, they 

bear no financial cost. 

The answer, in my book, is simple. 

Each club pays one-half the umpires’ 

match fees. 

At the very least, the club that 

supplies an umpire will be at no financial 

disadvantage compared to the 

other side. At best, we will see added 

encouragement to all clubs to find 

someone to officiate at matches. 

This may seem a small, perhaps 

even petty, issue, but I know of local 

clubs that never turn out with an umpire. 

I fully understand that some 

clubs find it difficult to appoint suitable 

candidates and I do not wish to 

suggest that clubs should be penalised 

for not doing so. In this respect, 

I had considered whether the 

whole of the match fee should be 

paid by the ‘other club’, but decided 

against it as being ‘penal’ and probably 

outside the overall spirit of the 

game. 

And to add some incentive to 

clubs to appoint officials, it does 

seem to me that if an umpire is 

asked to do both ends then maybe 

the match fee should be increased 

by, say, 50%. But that is another argument.” 


If you think you had an 

exciting Saturday last 

week, how about this…? 

‘Tiger’ alert has Hampshire 

Academy fielders fleeing’… 

says Mike Vimpany 

“A stuffed toy” animal led to a largescale 

police operation in Hampshire and 

stopped play at an ECB Southern Electric 

Premier League match on the Rose 

Bowl Nursery cricket ground. 

The alarm was first raised by a concerned 

member of the public who believed 

there was an escaped tiger sitting 

on a green on the adjoining golf course, 

having spotted the ‘animal’ through the 

zoom lens of a camera. 

Armed officers were sent to the scene 

along with a helicopter and thermal imaging 

cameras. When no body heat was 

detected police moved in and found a 

cuddly toy tiger. A police spokesperson 

said officers had responded as if it was a 

real incident, close to J7 of the M27. 

“We sent some local officers and they 

confirmed they were looking at it and it 

(‘the tiger’) was looking at them. 

Everyone who had seen it, including the 

land owner, thought it was a real tiger.” 

The match between the Hampshire 

Academy and South Wilts, was stopped 

for about 20 minutes before Portsmouthbased 

umpires Doug Frampton and 

Mike Izzard and the petrified players – 

who locked themselves in the pavilion - 

were given the all- clear to return to the 

field and continue the match. Golfers 

were also told to go indoors. 

When play resumed, South Wilts 

chased down the Academy target to win 

by three wickets.” 

In memory of… Ian Emmott, and Bryan L Lister 

We are sad to announce 

the passing 

of another senior 

colleague… Ian Emmott, 

of Silsden, 

West Yorkshire. 

This eulogy is written 

by his son Adrian, also an ACO 

member… 

“It is with sadness that I inform you of the 

death of Ian Emmott, former umpire, Regional 

Finance Officer for the ACU&S in 

the North East, and member of the ACU&S 

Finance Committee. Ian died on the 22nd 

April at the age of 74 following a lengthy 

battle against Alzheimer’s disease. 

Ian was well-known for his work with 

umpires and he took his role as Regional 

Finance Officer seriously. I can remember 

with fondness him setting up the table 

every morning, and eagerly waiting for the 

postman to arrive. Within minutes of the 

post being delivered the cheques would be 

opened, membership cards signed, and 

his daily visit to bank the cheques and post 

the membership cards back would complete 

the process. It was with regret that 

he sadly had to pass on this role when the 

In memory of… Bryan L Lister, of 

Stockport 

‘The death occurred in May of Bryan Lister, 

aged 83, a member of ECB ACO, Cheshire 

Region, a former Regional Councillor of 

ACU and, for 30 years, Chief Instructor for 

the Northern Branch. 

Bryan Lister had the good fortune to follow 

in his father’s footsteps as an active and 

influential member of the Northern Branch 

of ACU. Bryan’s father was a founder member 

of Northern Branch which was formed in 

December 1958. (Northern Branch was the 

first to be formed). Prior to this, ACU training 

courses had been held by Major Ted Claridge 

in Stockport, which of course is Bryan’s 

home town. 

Bryan ran a successful family blacksmithing 

business in premises almost in the 

town centre, which has to be unique - very 

much like Bryan. The business has been in 

the family for generations for which Bryan 

illness really took hold a couple of years 

ago. 

He began umpiring in 1983 after retiring 

from playing. His umpiring career started 

in the Airedale and Wharfedale Senior 

Cricket League and he began taking the 

first steps to becoming a fully-qualified umpire 

with the ACU&S. After several years in 

the Airedale and Wharfedale Senior 

Cricket League, Ian moved across into the 

Bradford Cricket League. It was from here 

that he progressed to umpire several Yorkshire 

2nd XI matches in the then Bain 

Clarkson Trophy and Second XI Championship. 

He also umpired the pre-season 

friendly between the Yorkshire 1st XI and 

2nd XI at Headingley and was able to walk 

down the famous steps onto the hallowed 

turf of his home county ground. 

After a few seasons in the Bradford 

League, Ian returned to the Airedale and 

Wharfedale Senior Cricket League where 

he umpired several regional finals including 

the now Black Sheep competition as 

well as several National Village matches, 

including a northern area final in front of 

several hundred people at Littleborough. 

Ian retired from umpiring in 1998 to 

was immensely proud, as is his son Martin, 

who has continued the business after 

Bryan’s retirement. Not only did Bryan follow 

his father into the family business, he also 

maintained the family connections within 

ACU. Upon the passing of his father in May 

1961, who at the time was Northern Branch 

Examining Board Secretary, Bryan, quite 

naturally took up the post. Bryan had a 

tough baptism in his new post. There were 

20 applicants for orals in September of that 

year, which required the booking of 4 rooms 

over 5 nights at Old Trafford. The week 

passed without mishap. 

In addition to his commitments within 

Northern Branch, Bryan also represented 

ACU at national level as Regional Councillor 

for the North-West. This necessitated attending 

regular meetings in London and 

chairing meetings of representatives from 

around the North-West Region. During his 

tenure as Regional Councillor, the North- 

watch his son play in the Airedale and 

Wharfedale Senior Cricket League which 

he used to enjoy as he saw many of his 

old colleagues from both his playing and 

umpiring days. During this time Ian became 

more involved in the administrative 

side of the ACU&S, assisting with invigilation 

of exams and becoming part of regional 

committees from which his work as 

the Regional Finance Officer role was 

born. 

Ian's legacy lives on as his son Adrian 

took up umpiring following his retirement 

from playing through injury, and with the 

full support and guidance from his dad he 

is progressing through the ECBACO qualifications. 

In fact Ian was often sat on the 

boundary up until the middle of last season 

watching Adrian officiate in the Airedale 

and Wharfedale Senior Cricket League. 

Ian was well respected as a large 

turnout from the cricket fraternity proved at 

his funeral, as well as the comments received 

from players and officials both past 

and present since his passing, something 

which is giving his family great comfort, 

and which they wholly appreciate.” 

West had one of the largest membership totals 

throughout the country. It was not long 

before Bryan’s contribution to ACU was 

recognised nationally when he was elected 

a Life Vice President. 

Enthusiasm and energy were Bryan’s 

trademark. He was always willing to add his 

views on any subject at meetings and other 

gatherings of ACU, and latterly ACU&S. 

This enthusiasm was gloriously exhibited at 

the final Annual Dinner of ACU in 1993 (before 

it became ACU&S). Bryan was 

amongst the guest top-table speakers - 

which included Mr Dennis Silk, President of 

MCC, the Right Revd.David Sheppard, 

Bishop of Liverpool, Sir Colin Cowdrey, 

President of ACU, and the Very Revd 

Lawrence Jackson, former Provost of Blackburn. 

Despite being in such august company 

Bryan represented the Association 

with pride and dignity.’ 


THIS ARTICLE APPEARED IN 

THE JULY EDITION OF ‘WISDEN 

CRICKETER’, AND WAS THE 

RESULT ON AN INTERVIEW 

WITH OUR GEOFF TRETT. 

Scoring some 

recognition 

AMBITIOUS club scorers are to be 

recognised and nurtured with a new 

training programme designed by the 

ECB’s Association of Cricket Officials 

(ACO). 

The ACO’s ambition is to give 

scorers the same level of recognition 

as umpires by celebrating club 

volunteers and developing their expertise. 

National Scorers Administration 

Officer, Geoff Trett, says: “Scorers 

have been the poor relation of the 

cricket family and don’t get the 

recognition they deserve. The umpire’s 

pathway is now well-established, 

so we feel this is the ideal 

time to switch the focus and give 

our scorers the chance to progress. 

Hopefully this will raise the status 

of scorers.” 

The refreshed qualification structure, 

which will be launched in September, 

consists of four assessments 

with the aim of developing a national 

database of approved and 

qualified scorers. “Our emphasis is 

on recognition,” says Trett. “We are 

even assessing club scorers who are 

not members of the ACO and don’t 

want to progress, by attending their 

games and assessing them on the 

spot – bringing them into our family.” 

Phil Stallard, an ACO member 

who scores for Newport and occasionally 

also for Glamorgan 2nd XI, 

welcomes the rebranded qualification 

structure. “One of the grouses I 

have is that we always get forgotten. 

Hopefully this pathway will put 

us on the same level as umpires,” 

he says. “I’ve been meaning to do 

it, but this new structure may push 

me to process my exams and take it 

as far as possible.” 

Scorers interested in the new initiative, 

whether ACO members or 

not, should contact 

scorer.aco@ecb.co.uk before 

March 2012. The ACO will then 

arrange a local assessment based on 

experience after which scorers will 

be graded. Gareth Alred 

Scorers 

We are delighted to open this 

even-larger ‘Scorers’ section, 

with a message from Geoff 

Trett, in the new post of 

National Scorers 

Administration Officer… 

“Well, it’s now just under 6 months 

since I was appointed as the National 

Scorers’ Administration Officer 

(NSAO), so high time to write an article 

for the Newsletter and let you 

know what’s happening in the ECB 

ACO world of scoring. It is my intention 

that this should become a regular 

column. 

First of all some initial 

impressions; there’s lots to do and I 

freely admit to have struggled with the 

workload during the cricket season 

when there has been lots of scoring to 

do! I have answered over 200 e-mail 

enquiries already, and I apologise if 

you are still waiting to receive a reply. 

I know that there are quite a lot of 

fairly unhappy scorers out there, 

mainly frustrated by the slow rate of 

progress, but on the other hand I see a 

lot of exciting work going on to improve 

things. My aim over the winter 

is to help bring these initiatives into 

fruition. 

So what’s happening ? Well, first, 

there is the Assessment Initiative, 

launched in March and continuing 

until next March. This initiative is 

primarily aimed at competent scorers 

who are not members of the Association, 

although it’s attracted quite a lot 

of existing members too. There have 

been a couple of significant glitches 

with this – one about the route for 

handling applicants, the other about 

the assessment criteria themselves. A 

number of variations on a theme of assessment 

criteria have surfaced around 

the scoring community, and I am currently 

pulling together a single version 

for approval at October’s Scoring Sub- 

Committee, which we can then rollout 

across the community. 

Then there is the re-vamp of scorer 

training under the leadership of Eddie 

Lunn. New Level 1 training is now 

ready, and will be rolled out during the 

autumn, and a new computer scoring 

package for tutors will also be delivered 

during this time frame. 

We are looking to improve the quality 

of the database that holds information 

on scorers to include data - such 

as level of qualification - so that when 

scoring opportunities arise in various 

parts of the country, we can invite appropriately-qualified 

people, and we 

can also identify those who wish to 

progress, from those who are happy to 

fulfil the important role of being a 

‘club’ scorer. 

And for next season, I shall be 

working on a master list of fixtures for 

which scorers will be appointed via 

ECB ACO channels – and shall be 

looking to grow that list to provide as 

many opportunities as possible. 

Finally, I wish to set myself up as a 

champion for individual scorers and to 

improve the lot of scorers generally – 

so I would be pleased to receive any 

comments, suggestions, ideas, that 

you would like to see implemented for 

the benefit of scorers. I can’t promise 

to deliver them all, but I will do my 

best to take as many forward as possible 

and to report back to you via this 

Newsletter on progress. 

I shall be at this year’s Conference, 

and have agreed to put my head in the 

firing-line in as series of Q&A sessions 

– so do come along. I will look 

forward to meeting you and to see 

what together we can do for the benefit 

of scorers.” 

Not all Scorers do wish to 

be ‘visible’ in awards and 

team photos 

…. suggests Nigel Smith of 

Brighton, scorer for Preston 

Nomads… 

“Despite being a very enthusiastic 

scorer, I cannot agree with the sentiment 

that their efforts should be recognised 

in the post-match ceremony. Unlike 

the captains, umpires and match 

referee, the scorer does not play a part 

in the outcome of the game. The scorer 

is there to acccept and acknowledge the 

umpires’ signals and to record the 

events of the innings thereby providing 

a valuable service to the team. Unlike 

umpires and captains, the scorer is not 

a decision maker. Such 

recognition could lead to a host of 

back-room staff deserving the 

same; coaches (all of them), physios, 

nutritionists, groundsmen, and so on. 

The 2004 edition of Wisden was the 

last year which featured a team photograph 

from each county - of which 

eight did not feature their scorer(s). 

Perhaps this suggests that since the arrival 

of T20 the game has become even 

more athletic and that counties wish to 

project an image of agility and youth. 

I accept that appreciation is not always 

apparent but umpires at club level 

might argue likewise. The fact is that 

the vast majority of scorers do it because 

they want to and enjoy using 

their skills for the benefit of their teammates 

. The scorer, after all, is one of 

the team - supportive at all times and 

non-partisan in the score-box!” 


Computer-Scoring – new technology, hot topic 

The hot topic of the moment among 

scorers is, of course, the technology 

available to them, and recently this has 

been enlivened by the articles in ‘The 

Times’ (reproduced here on p31), which 

provoked comment and query as to 

what is happening and who is making 

the choice. Time for a summary then. 

From the outset, a mere two years 

ago, there seemed to be a plethora of 

desk-top, lap-top, and hand-held, scoring/data/stats 

software solutions jockeying 

for your attention and our 

endorsement. That was excellent, because 

it clearly showed an urgent need, 

and a strong and knowledgeable audience 

potential. 

At that time – and quite properly – 

the ECB via Paul Bedford, was saying 

‘No preferance, no endorsement – let us 

see how they evaluate’. We, ACO, 

agreed. 

Behind the scenes as more of our 

members trialled the various goodies, it 

became clear that the majority were 

leaning towards ‘TCS’, and we at ACO 

opened a dialogue with the company to 

discuss the technology, its relevance, 

usefullness, and price. This is still 

where we are at. 

Now, we publish two views of the debate 

– a letter from Andy Scarlett, Regional 

Scorers Officer for South &West 

querying, and a summary in reply by 

Paul Bedford, ECB Head of non-first 

class cricket… 

‘Why are you ignoring the 

obvious’… 

…. asks Andy Scarlett, 

Regional Scorer Officer for 

South&West… 

“I am writing with regard to a cricket 

scoring product called CricScore. I have 

seen it described as ‘new’ and ‘innovative’. 

It may be new but it is not innovative. 

It is not even the first cricket scoring 

app available on the iphone. I watched 

scoolboys at Eton successfully using another 

product earlier in this season. 

I have a couple of questions on the decision 

to endorse the product. Who in the 

ECB has tested the product - certainly 

NOT your own ECB ACO? When trialling 

the product myself, it fell over 3 

times and this has been fed back to 

CricHQ. Did you consult with anyone in 

the ECB ACO about the suitability of endorsing 

the product? Why are you supporting 

this product (from NZ) when 

there are other (UK) cricket scoring products 

available on a range of platforms? 

Did you investigate any of the many other 

cricket scoring products?” 

‘A diligent and thorough examination has 

been our priority’… explains Paul Bedford 

“Following the introduction of Total Cricket Scorer (TCS) to the market in 

recent years, the IT department at ECB tested the product to ensure that it 

was compatable with play-cricket.com. The mission of Cricket Partnerships 

Department, headed by Mike Gatting, is to 'Inspire people to choose cricket' 

and one of the key themes in my strategy within the partnership is to modernise 

the game by use of technology, whether it be by use of electronic 

scoreboards, improved presentation of league tables, better means of playertracking, 

faster posting of results or use of scoring systems. 

In order to achieve a number of the above points the TCS system was put 

through 'Acceptance testing' with the perceived benefit of 'Inspiring younger 

people to take up scoring and reducing administration for club officials and 

improving presentation of cricket to all. 

TCS stole the march on competitors in the market and actively supported 

ECB and ECB ACO by offering sales and technical support to the early 

adopters as partners ECB Premier Leagues were incentivised through cash 

payments to use technology and of the early adopters, Yorkshire League and 

Bradford League helped other leagues to learn about and purchase the system. 

HMC schools were also persuaded to consider the benefits of a system 

which would allow parents to see match scores, via the Live Score Service. 

In 2011 six schools used the system effectively. 

More recently CricHQ, a New Zealand company, produced an I-phone 

App called ‘CricScore’ - which was also tested by the ECB IT department - 

to offer a competitive product for spectators, scorers, clubs, and leagues. 

CricHQ was successful in procuring the support of NatWest (without ECB 

pushing the link) in sponsoring the App, which allowed for free downloads 

to I-phones and I-pads, providing another benefit to Leagues and Clubs. 

ECB takes a neutral position on which product will suit which individual 

circumstance or environment, but is excited by the market developments 

and will only link new products to play-cricket.com if a perceived value for 

the user can be seen and that the system will work with play-cricket.com.” 

The ‘Scorer Initiative’ 

Advertising our enthusiasm 

Another aspect of our ‘Initiative to Scorers’ is 

to draw more parents and young people to that 

first moment when they say “Oh, ok I will 

have a go… but you have to tell me who they 

are”. To aid in this, we have produced a 

‘flyer’ enthusing the happiness such a task 

can generate – and you can see it pictured 

here. 

It is being distributed primarily at all the 

locations involved in the ECB Cricket Factory 

Roadshow Tour - which has been a 

country-wide cavalcade of events presenting 

a new approach to engaging young people 

between the ages of 4 and 18 into the sport. 

The Tour Rig – which has appeared at 

more than 50 high-profile events including 

major retail centres, Air Shows and 

County Festivals - has provided a platform 

to allow young participants to perform a variety of 

cricket activities, and challenge all the key basic skills of batting, bowling, 

throwing, catching and cricket related movement. This has meant that 

these children will have been accompanied by parents and siblings – exactly 

the target audience of ‘innocent’ bystanders that might enjoy doing 

something useful while they watch ‘Little Johnny’! 


Scorers …continued 

Highlighting – yet again – that a major priority for us this winter 

2011/12 is to find, welcome, and involve, the many hundreds of 

scorers up and down the land that either do not know of us, or 

have chosen not to join us – and also among them, those who 

would, once they see why being part of our ‘family’ is vital to 

them, their clubs, and the game. 

Though we are tasking all the County Education and County 

Scorer officers to seek out as many as they can find, plus using 

the eagle-eyed Regional Development Managers to remind clubs 

of our mission, we really need your help. 

In order to help any of you who knows – and meets – scorers 

every week who may not yet be in the ACO… and who might 

recollect a name or contact number, here is the list of all the 

County Scorer Officers… starting with the Regional officers… 

London & East… Mark Shepherd (marks@admltd.com) 

South & West… Andy Scarlett (andrewscarlett@btinternet.com) 

Midlands… John Brown (johnmbrown60@gmail.com) 

North… Keith Telford (telfo444@hotmail.com) 

Wales… John Isterling (isterling@btinternet.com) 

BEDFORDSHIRE – Paul Barnes 

BERKSHIRE - (tba) 

BUCKINGHAMSHIRE – Paul Dean 

CAMBRIDGESHIRE - (tba) 

CHESHIRE – Hilary White 

CORNWALL – Leanne Sawle 

CUMBRIA - Sally Philips 

DERBYSHIRE – John M Brown 

DEVON – Nick Evanson 

DORSET – Alan Mills 

DURHAM – Keith Telford 

ESSEX – Willie Morrison 

GLOUCESTERSHIRE – Geoff Trett 

HAMPSHIRE – Caroline Green 

HEREFORDSHIRE – Janet Herbert 

HERTFORDSHIRE – Mike Arnold 

HUNTINGDONSHIRE – 

John Walker 

ISLE OF WIGHT – (tba) 

KENT - (tba) 

LANCASHIRE – K Knott 

LEICS & RUTLAND – 

Chris Lawman 

LINCOLNSHIRE – 

Robyn Wilkinson (acting) 

MIDDLESEX – Emma Busk 

NORFOLK – Norman Bygrave 

NORTHAMPTONSHIRE – 

Mel Smith 

NORTHUMBERLAND – 

Fred Godson 

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE – 

Anne Cusworth 

OXFORDSHIRE – Andrew Scarlett 

SHROPSHIRE – Jim Strachan 

SOMERSET - (tba) 

STAFFORDSHIRE – (tba) 

SUFFOLK - (tba) 

SURREY – Debbie Beesley 

SUSSEX – Andy Hodder 

WALES - (tba) 

WARWICKSHIRE – Colin McKenzie 

WILTSHIRE – Lesley Morgan 

WORCESTERSHIRE - (tba) 

YORKSHIRE – Hilary Oliver 

The state of scoring is perilous… suggests 

Hilary Oliver, County Scorer Officer for 

Yorkshire… 

“At the pre-season meeting in Birmingham I said how unhappy 

I was with how I perceived scorers were placed 

within the ACO. There were scorers there who felt I was 

being too negative; they expressed the view that this was a 

new beginning and we should look to move forward, 

pateiently. As a consequence of my diatribe, the Editor 

tracked me down and asked me (for my sins) to write an article 

on how I see the situation now at the end of the season. 

This is my honest opinion of where I see things now stand. 

One of my gripes was that we had been unable to run a 

Level 2 course over the last two winters. The new courses 

– Introductory, Level 1, Level 2 - were scheduled to be with 

us by September 1st and yet these are not to hand; the latest 

date for delivery is now October. It is not just the syllabus 

that is anxiously awaited – we await training on the content 

of the course and assessment levels. 

The Yorkshire area is big geographically and in number 

of scorers (c850) and there are experienced scorers who 

have asked to train to be as tutors, and they are awaiting access 

to the tutors’ course and materials. We have the will 

but not the way. 

The Birmingham meeting was the first occasion on 

which all of the area scorers’ officers met together; this 

should be an annual event (as was agreed at the time) for us 

to share ideas and experiences. Regional and national communication 

has improved of late but still tends to be ‘after 

the event’. 

The question of ‘grandfather rights’ was also a topic in 

Birmingham, and all clubs will be contacted to encourage 

scorers to be assessed and graded whether or not they are 

ACO members. Criteria for the assessments were to be 

agreed, and then this process would go ahead. Now, despite 

the fact that there are not yet any grading guidelines, it 

appears that some areas have already gone ahead with this 

project. So my concern is that this is not a cohesive approach 

and projects a poor image to scorer members when 

the scorer officers themselves are not acting as a team. 

What is happening? If there are criteria, why have only 

some scorer officers received them and, if not, how can the 

exercise go ahead without this information in place? 

This year has seen an increase in scorer appointments 

from the ACO (from 1 to 3 here in Yorkshire) and I have 

been able to find scorers to fill these appointments, as well 

as an England/Australia Over-60’s Test Match - which 

came via another route. This is really good news for us, 

and I hope this will continue in the future. If the profile of 

scorers can be raised then hopefully we can pick up appointments 

for other representative games. The scorers I 

have approached have been willing to re-organise working 

hours and even take holiday to fulfil fixtures - this level of 

co-operation and desire to progress is really positive and I 

am truly grateful to those scorers in the area who have been 

so helpful. 

I believe that if the ACO is to attract and retain scorer 

members, a professional, unified approach is vital; we must 

be seen to be working from the same hymn-sheet (or score 

sheet if you prefer). Potential and existing members must 

know that courses, grading. and administration all run 

smoothly and proficiently. These are the basics and whilst 

strides are being made to address problems there are still 

areas which need work. Scorers are well used to being all 

but invisible but if we wish to step out from the score-box 

and be seen as an intrinsic part of the game, we need to 

show a united and organised front – at present I feel there 

remains much to be done!” 

(Ed: The reply by Eddie Lunn will appear in the next issue) 


Now a ‘national 

topic’ we are 

delighted to reproduce 

a leader 

from ‘The Times’ 

(6 August), together 

with the two extra 

pieces it generated. 

Irrespective of the 

outcome of the 

continuing debate 

on Scoring 

Technology, it is 

excellent that it is 

now considered to 

be of public 

interest also. 

(See also ‘Computer- 

Scoring’ page 29.)

‘The way forward’ 

seems most apt when 

viewing this lovely old 

scorebox at Dorking 

CC, in Surrey, which 

has been most 

sympathetically 

catapulted into the 

21st century simply by 

putting digi-screens 

into the number-roller 

apertures. How easy 

was that! Well done, 

Dorking. 

DIARY 

This listing will appear here in every 

issue – but we are entirely dependent 

on you sending us the information. 

(All meetings start 11.00 unless shown 

otherwise) 

Mon 03 Oct – meet Martin Bodenham 

–IOW 

Tue 04 Oct – MS com – Lord’s 

Wed 05 Oct – SCR com – Lord’s 

Thu 06 Oct – A&P com – Lord’s 

Fri 07 Oct – EDU com – Lord’s 

Tue 25 Oct – ACO Board – Lord’s (09.30) 

Sat 19 Nov – 3 rd National Conference 

– Lord’s (10.30) 

Wed 21 Mar – Lancs ACO AGM – 

Bolton Arena – 19.30 

Sign at ‘The Cricketers’ 

in Baughurst, Hampshire 

… with caption by Geoff Wellsteed, 

co-author of ‘Inns & Outs’ 

‘We have two quite different signs for this pub, and 

this is the ‘on-field’ scene dating from the 1980s 

which shows the umpire standing square to the 

wicket rather than square to the popping crease. A 

cricketing purist, whilst enjoying his pint sitting in 

the bar, might have reflected on this unusual occurrence 

and made an assumption that the umpire is 

more concerned about the wicket-keeper remaining 

wholly behind the wicket at the moment the ball 

comes in play. The second sign is post-millennium 

and shows a rather more conclusive outcome! 

“Who is that handsome young man standing next to our James 

Dexter, ACO Membership & Education Officer at Edgbaston…!” 

The LCB ACO Northern Branch meets 

at Unsworth CC , Pole Lane Bury at 

7.45pm 

Dates: 

October 6th – Discussion "That was 

the season that was " 

November 3rd – Guest Speaker Eddie 

Evans Football Assessor 

December 1st – General Knowledge 

Quiz 

January 5th – AGM and Presidents 

Evening 

February 2nd – Guest Speaker : 

Steve Bolt -sports Journalist 

March 1st – Guest speaker : Mike 

O’Rourke ex cricket professional 

April 5th – Peter Robinson Video quiz - 

preparation for the coming season 

Magazine ‘final’ copy 

dates: 

Autumn = 29 November, for December 

REMINDER: PLEASE 

SEND YOUR DATES TO 

editor.aco@ecb.co.uk 

Published by ECB © – Printed by Premier Print Group – G Photo courtesy of Getty Images

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