aco-no21-winter-2014-12998

ASSOCIATION OF CRICKET OFFICIALS 

NEWSLETTER – Issue 21 – Winter 2014

Team Sheet 

The Board 

Roger Knight – Chairman 

Nick Cousins – SEO 

Peter Mitchell – Midlands (& Dep Chairman) 

Sid Poole – London & East 

Les Clemenson – South & West 

Philip Radcliffe – North 

Steve Davies – Wales 

Nick Pink – ICC Europe 

Fraser Stewart – Laws & Universities 

Manager, MCC 

Mike Gatting – Managing Director – 

Cricket Partnerships 

Chris Kelly – ECB Umpires’ Manager 

Neil Bainton – First Class Umpires 

Andrew Hignell – Chairman, ACCS 

Vacant – Independent Director 

The ECB ACO Executive 

Nick Cousins – Senior Executive Officer 

Ben Francis – Finance & Project Officer 

Saira Baker – Executive Administrator 

Vacant – Executive Officer (South) 

Glyn Pearson – Executive Officer (North) 

John Overton – Project Support Officer 

ACO Membership and 

Education Fulfilment 

Martin Gentle – Membership Services 

Manager 

Karen Cassidy – Membership Services 

Administrator 

Phone – 0121 446 2710 

E-mail – ecbaco@ecb.co.uk 

ACO Board 

Sub-Committees 

Education 

Strategy Committee 

Scorers 

Performance & Development 

Appointments & Grading 

Addresses 

ECB ACO 

Lord’s Cricket Ground 

London, NW8 8QZ 

ECB Membership and 

Education Office: 

Warwickshire CC Ground, Edgbaston, 

Birmingham, B5 7QX 

Newsletter Editor 

Ben Francis 

editor.aco@ecb.co.uk 

The Cricket Umpires 

and Scorers Trust 

Available to ECB ACO members 

Enquiries/requests should be addressed 

to: The Chairman, The Cricket Umpires 

and Scorers Trust, c/o JF Rushton 

Accountant, The Saturn Centre, Spring 

Road, Ettingshall, Wolverhampton, WV4 

6JX or acustrust@yahoo.co.uk 

The Trustees cannot guarantee to meet 

every request, but each will be given 

due consideration. 

E D I T O R I A L 

We’re in a good place… 

Therefore, I’m able to write with a wry smile on my face 

I must confess to writing this with something of 

a wry smile on my face. I am not usually subject 

to bouts of smugness or self satisfaction, but 

having just returned from the last of the four 

very well attended Regional workshops organised 

by the Regional Chairmen, presided over a 

highly successful National Conference (and 

AGM) at Lord’s which, for the first time ever, 

was ‘sold out’, completed a programme of tutor 

training which drew a quite remarkable 167 tutors, 

I think it is justified this morning. 

Of course, the Executive led on each of these 

separate events, and I do take this opportunity to 

thank them publicly for their efforts over and beyond 

the call of professional duty in ensuring 

that the administration and smooth running of 

these events was effective and clear for all to see 

– particularly Glyn Pearson who attended all 

nine events on consecutive weekends through 

September, October and November and Ben 

Francis who more than anyone was responsible 

for the organisation of the National Conference. 

More than that it was a demonstration of the 

highly effective partnerships that now exist between 

the Executive, the Board and the core volunteer 

workforce bringing obvious benefit to the 

membership as a whole – and it is this more than 

anything that brings that smile of satisfaction. 

Partnerships is a word that I want to revisit 

because, for me successful partnerships are the 

key to consolidation of what has been achieved 

thus far and in taking the Association forward 

through the next four years to our 10 th anniversary 

in 2018. 

Firstly, the newly created partnership between 

the Board and the Recreational Cricket Group 

that plays such an important role in deciding the 

direction of travel that recreational cricket is taking 

and will take in the future. Our independent 

Chairman, Roger Knight has been invited to sit 

on the Recreational Cricket Group so that for 

the first time ECB ACO is directly represented; 

not only that but represented through a voice 

that speaks with clarity and understanding of the 

issues that officials and officiating face and has 

vast experience of both the professional and the 

recreational game. 

Secondly, the partnerships between ECB 

ACO and the various other organisations and 

departments that make up the Cricket Partnerships 

Group as a whole. I will not dwell on that 

here, not least because I wrote about in some detail 

in the last newsletter…but suffice to say that 

your Executives are involved in specific projects 

that exemplify these partnerships, such as: 

■ Saira Baker – Women and Girls – 

Encouraging more women to take up 

officiating 

■ Ben Francis – NatWest CricketForce – 

improving officials’ facilities initiative (to 

name just one). See page 17 

■ Martin Gentle – Online Scoring – new 

courses for teaching computer and app 

scoring. 

■ Nick Cousins – Fees/Expenses & Taxation 

issues – promoting WTU as a solution for 

ECB Leagues and ACOs. 

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

Thirdly, the partnership between the Executive 

and the core volunteer workforce. John Overton 

will be leading on this, particularly as he works 

to bed in enabling action plans that have been 

identified as part of our VMOST strategy and 

we seek particularly to bed in more education 

courses and increase the amount of CPD (Continuous 

Professional Development) that we can 

offer to all members – whatever their age experience 

or ambitions may be. 

Fourthly, the partnership between each 

County ACO, the leagues which it supports and 

their County Board which has overall responsibility 

for all recreational crickets that is played 

within its borders. These are hugely important 

relationships which are at the heart of essential 

change management and need to be nurtured if 

there is to be a positive response to the recent 

players’ survey. The fact is that in many counties 

there has been a complete lack of ‘joined up 

thinking’ - in some counties the relationships are 

non-existent – not least because leagues tend to 

guard their independence jealously; County 

Boards are reluctant to accept their responsibilities; 

and County ACOs are unwilling to engage 

or ask for help in matters such as increasing 

membership or running more Level 1 courses. 

To take one obvious example, everybody accepts 

that the game needs more umpires at grass 

roots level, and that these umpires should be 

qualified and competent, but in too many counties 

nobody will take responsibility for turning 

aspiration into direct action. This is a whole 

game responsibility and I am delighted and 

proud that ECB ACO has responded by registering 

more Level 1 courses and training more tutors 

to deliver them. But it has to be the boards 

and leagues (and clubs) who must play their part 

in putting ‘bums on seats’ –after all it is they 

who want the umpires and the clubs who will be 

the main providers of personnel. 

Fifthly, to make this happen the partnerships 

at local level between the ECB ACO core volunteers 

(Chairmen and Education Officers) and the 

key decision makers and stakeholders (Board 

Chairmen, Business Support Managers and 

County Development Officers) must be established. 

Face to face negotiations and meetings 

and a place for an ECB ACO representative on 

the relevant decision making committees (such 

as League Management committees) are essential 

if we are to initiate change and raise the profile 

of officials and officiating. 

Never has raising the profile of officials and 

officiating in terms of scorers and scoring been 

more important or relevant than it is now. One 

of the main outcomes of the player survey was 

the importance that they attach to scorecards and 

related statistical analysis such as wagon 

wheels. A whopping 65% of players reported

that better and more accessible playing statistics 

would encourage them to play more. Why 

are we surprised Computers, mobile telephones 

and the use of applications and social 

media accounts are absolutely commonplace, 

even essential components of present day 

lifestyle. Scoring cricket matches opens up a 

whole new world of ‘geeky technology’ to 

people who revel and enjoy using modern 

technology - particularly those who are interested 

in the game but lack the skills to play at 

the level they would like (and even those who 

may not have a natural interest in or an affinity 

with the game). This gives us a great opportunity 

for some mutually beneficial action. 

■ Provide more opportunities for scorers and 

potential scorers to learn about computer 

and/or app scoring - ECB ACO is doing 

this (see page 32) 

■ Insist that Premier League clubs have Level 

2 scorers (same as umpires) which would 

ensure consistent reporting of games and 

uploading of scorecards. 

■ Encourage clubs to upgrade and update 

scoreboards and scoring facilities - providing 

electricity to scoreboxes that do not 

have it would be a great start. 

■ Provide computers and/or iPads already 

loaded with the latest scoring technologies 

to encourage clubs to respond to what the 

players want. 

■ Ensure that Play-Cricket is linked to TCS, 

CricHQ and nxCricket so that uploading 

statistics to the ECB database is a smooth 

and easy process for all scorers - whichever 

of the three main technologies they use. 

There were some very disappointing statistics 

that emerged from the recent survey of the 

game conducted by independent consultants 

employed by ECB, the most notable of which 

were a 7% reduction in participation figures 

and a 13% decrease in the actual number of 

games played with a proportionately significant 

increase in games cancelled or abandoned. 

Whilst this puts a very positive context to 

the fact that ECB ACO has managed to increase 

its membership in the corresponding period, 

it behoves us all to consider what we can 

do to reverse this trend and ‘Get the game on’. 

To achieve this and arrest the trend of games 

not taking place, there will be a drive to incentivise 

behavioural change through a clear and 

simple marketing campaign with clear communications 

plans to deal with such things as 

wet weather mitigation. Umpires, as independent 

arbiters, are considered to be a crucial part 

of the key match day decision makers (along 

with captains and groundsmen) that need to 

buy into this key message to “Get the game 

on” – I hope you agree and commend this 

message to you all! 

The players’ survey also provided some interesting 

insights into their thoughts about 

umpires and umpiring - some of which was 

expected and some of which came as a bit of 

a surprise! 

Unsurprisingly, as we heard last year, satisfaction 

with umpiring is low compared to 

other game day factors. The broad brush view 

is that players at the top of the recreational 

game think that the quality of umpiring is not 

good enough whereas those playing in lower 

levels of cricket are very grateful when they 

have umpires at all! 

NB - In this last respect having two umpires 

prepared to take on the role rather than the 

players having to do it themselves is a massive 

enhancer of enjoyment and satisfaction at 

lower levels. 

This explains the ECB ACO mission statement 

that is “To develop and support qualified 

and competent officials to raise the satisfaction 

levels of the participants”. 

Lest umpires in general or Premier League 

umpires in particular take umbrage at this suggestion, 

let me suggest that officials in all 

games are there to be ‘shot at’. They should 

not be - but it is a fact of life and I am absolutely 

sure that if football or rugby carried 

out a similar players’ survey with similar questions, 

the satisfaction levels of players (with 

referees’ performance) would be significantly 

lower than it is in cricket. 

However, that does not stop us reacting positively 

to the survey and suggesting some remedial 

actions that tell the game that we do 

take their views seriously and we are doing 

something about it. Aside from our prime objective 

to get more umpires officiating at lower 

levels, (only 40% of umpires standing on any 

given Saturday are members of ECB 

ACO……..) top of our action plan is to engage 

with ECB (who take responsibility for the 29 

Premier and designated Leagues) to initiate 

CPD for all Premier League umpire panel 

members - in much the same way as training 

was provided two years ago on reporting on 

indiscipline and pitch marking. The fact is that 

many of our premier league umpires were 

trained under the ACU & S programmes and 

may not have ‘upskilled’ for many years. The 

game has moved on - we have T20 and more 

leagues and competitions which lead to more 

competitive games; for example County Age 

Group cricket is now hugely important. As a 

consequence the ECB ACO CPD courses are 

not concerned solely with Laws and regulations, 

but now deal with such things as ‘match 

management’ and ‘dealing with difficult people’ 

as well as changes in attitudes to positioning 

and adjudicating wides and LBW, all of 

which have changed as the game has changed. 

Why would we not insist that any umpire 

who officiates in his Premier League must engage 

with continued professional development 

Equal top of our action plan is to persuade 

ECB to extend the requirement that umpires 

should be ECB ACO members to each of the 

feeder leagues (and other leagues) that sit immediately 

below the Premier Leagues. This 

would ensure that we have known competent 

and qualified umpires standing at a level of 

cricket that surely demands it. Football and 

rugby could not and would not tolerate unqualified 

referees officiating at an equivalent level 

- why does cricket 

Equally unsurprising was the insight that the 

umpire profile was more white and more male 

than the player profile. However what was surprising 

was that when these figures were studied 

more closely, whilst we have a latent population 

of South Asians apparently willing and 

able to officiate, there is not the same latent 

population of women and girls. For whatever 

reason women and girls players do not see umpiring 

as a ‘next step’ progression in their involvement 

in cricket. 

ECB ACO is addressing this specific issue 

and has initiated a project designed to advertise 

and market the fact that there are no 

boundaries for women to become members of 

ECB ACO and to be active, effective officials. 

Indeed some of you may have seen a recent 

Sky TV piece that was dedicated to attracting 

women and girls into umpiring – see page 12 

Finally, and to end on a positive note, it was 

surprising to realise that despite the specific issue 

with women and girls, 1 in 4 current players 

expressed an interest in umpiring after retirement. 

This shows that although our current 

membership and umpire numbers are ‘low’ 

there is a latent interest in officiating roles 

among players. We (that is all of us) just have 

to go out and get them! 

It remains for me to thank you all for your 

continued involvement with ECB ACO and 

to wish each and every one of you compliments 

of the season and specifically a very 

happy Christmas. 


Editor’s Picks 

pages 

5 & 16 

pages 

17 & 19 


Young Officials 

Christmas Quiz 

The, now annual, Christmas 

Quiz makes a welcome 

return after a successful 

introduction in 2013. 

Last year we tested your knowledge of the Laws 

of Cricket, however this year we thought we’d 

change things up a li tle and test your general 

cricketing knowledge, with the prize on o fer a 

2013 Graeme Swann ODI Shirt. A l you need to 

do to be in with a chance of winning this great 

prize is to name the 5 English county grounds 

pictured below. If more than one YO names a l 5 

then the winner wi l be picked at random. 

1 

3 

2 

4 

5 

You can email your entry to 

john.overton@ecb.co.uk or post i to ECB 

ACO at Lord’s. A l entries must be received by 

Friday 9 th January 2015. Good Luck ! 


The six projects chosen 

for the o ficials’ 

redevelopment competition 

wi l be notified 

via an ‘Over and 

Out’ email (s e page 

5) later in the new 

year when they have 

b en selected. 

We rea ly hope that 

ECB ACO members 

wi l head to these 

clubs and su por the 

projects and make up 

the majority of the 

volunt er workforce 

to improve your o ficiating 

experience. 

We’ l report back in 

the pre-season edition 

with updates of each 

project. 

Over 8 0 clubs 

have already signed 

up to NatWest CricketForce 

2015 since 

registrations opened 

in October and our 

aim is to beat last 

year’s total of 2,247. 

NatWest Cricket- 

Force is an event 

where clubs are encouraged 

to bring 

players, members and 

the community together 

before the start 

of the season to get 

their ground and 

clubhouse ready for play! It’s a great event for ge ting lots of work 

done and helping team spiri t o! 

Below are two examples whereby cricket clubs have taken the initiative 

to redevelop or completely rebuild their scoreboxes. 

Oulton Cricket Club - 

New Frontage for Scorebox 

During the Winter of 2013, we identified tha the w od boarding of the 

Scorebox was in n ed of some repair. We had identified the 

Jewson/ECB o fer of a deposit of £50 generating a value of £350 for 

materials purchased from Jewson. This s emed like the ideal o portunity 

to ca ry ou the repair if the right materials could be sourced. 

We dismi sed the po sibility of repairing in w od board as the same 

situation would o cur again. We identified the use of plastic foam 

fi led cla ding as a suitable option. 

We contacted Jewson, Sta ford branch and discu sed our options. 

They were very helpful and gave us the names of manufacturers that 

could be used. We discu sed with the manufacturers what would be required 

for the trim etc and advised Jewson to obtain suitable prices. 

The overa l costs were within the Budget of £4 0 so a l the w oden 

su ports and cla ding was ordered. 

We had managed to secure a number of old “pu l string” scoreboxes 

from Checkley (when they upgraded to an electronic) and included 

these in the reconstruction and upgrading. This included 2 x 0 - 12 

numbers for the batsmen. 

The reconstruction was completed including the painting black, of 

the white cla ding. The facia of each box opening was then “boxed 

o f” with sha terpr of perspex sh et for a ded protection from cricket 

ba ls and the weather. 

The Scorebox / Umpires Changing facility was given a fu l paint for 

the 2014 Season to finish o f a very neat job. The Total cost was in the 

region of £6 0, but would not have b en fu ly undertaken withou the 

Jewson/ECB o fer. 

Brian Stre ton 

Honorary secretary, Oulton Cricket Club 

Thorpe Hesley and High Green CC – 

Replacement Scorebox 

We decided tha the old score box which was litera ly fa ling to pieces 

was in n ed of replacing so set about pla ning it. 

Our aim for the project was to ge the new score box built as we l as 

building a new umpires changing r om in the same structure. We 

wanted the project finished 

by the 19 th April – our first 

home game of the season. 

We n eded to ensure the 

projec to be completed at a 

cos that was a fordable to 

the club. 

A proximately 60 people 

turned out during our 

NatWest CricketForce 

w ekend on the 5 th and 6 th 

of April to ensure tha the 

score box was ind ed complete 

in time for the first 

w ekend, with our umpires 

changing facilities, in particular, 

receiving very high 

praise ind ed from members 

of the umpiring community 

who have used them. 

As we l as completing the 

building, the main pavilion 

was given a complete overhaul on the inside – (a lick of paint, new 

fridges and oven to store and c ok f od on match days) – and a coat or 

two of w od stain to the outside. There have also b en improvements 

to storage facilities with new shelves being a ded to the garage. 

Maintenance work was also done in the outfield with tr es being 

trimmed so they no longe reached over the pitch. As we l as this new 

sponsor boards were treated and boards a tached. 

The project was completed at a cost of roughly £3, 0 to the cricket 

club with over £15, 0 worth of labour and resources being provided 

by local busine ses in return for sponsorship boards being placed 

around the ground. 

The highlight of the project had to be on Saturday when t ols were 

momentarily put down as Radio She field and the She field Star turned 

up to interview Gareth Davis, the son of our club president and Cricket 

Development O ficer for the YCB. L oking round, over 30 volunt ers, 

including 4 from NatWest, paused as Gareth explained the events of 

the day and the plans for the future. 

Iain MacDonald 

Chairman, Thorpe Hesley and High Gr en CC 


In edition 20, page 14 we asked for your feedback regarding best practice umpiring and scoring facilities 

to a low us to encourage clubs, via NatWest CricketForce, to improve the facilities. Unfortunately we 

received few responses, which is a shame considering the complaints over the last five years. However 

we wi l not back down and wi l push ahead with our plans (although we’re sti l open to your comments…) 

Coming towards the end of the season and my 

spe l of writing for the Echo, I thought I should 

include a piece abou the umpires. 

The o ficials in cricket do an extraordinary 

job – and not an easy one. With huge amounts 

of very tight decisions to make over long periods 

of time, they display incredible concentration 

and fine judgment under intense scrutiny. 

No tha those factors are much di ferent 

from o ficials in any other top flight sport with 

TV coverage, replays and technology being so 

eagle-eyed. What sets them apart for me is the 

vast lengths of time standing sti l in the sun 

tha they have to k ep their concentration; and 

the finality of the decisions they have to make, 

particularly in the case of giving a batsman 

out. Those decisions often influence the outcomes 

of games if not people’s car ers. 

With the Decision Review System (DRS) 

now mandatory in a l international matches 

(excep those involving India), every decision 

the umpire makes is judged and either corrected 

or validated. Under this system, I am always 

amazed a the high proportion of 

decisions the top umpires get right. I believe 

their percentages are mostly in the high 80s 

and 90s which, given the variables, sp ed and 

reaction time they have to make their ca ls in, 

is very impre sive. 

It is not surprising tha they ‘go upstairs’ for 

most decisions when po sible. I know it annoys 

everyone watching but, when the stakes 

for the players are so high as I’ve explained, I 

can a preciate why they always wan to make 

sure on run outs etc. It is the LBWs that are 

sti l entirely the umpire’s domain and they 

have to make an unaided ca l in a split second. 

There are many purists ou there who would 

sti like to s e more of the responsibility put 

back on to the standing umpires. Perhaps this 

is wha the Board of Control for Cricket in 

India (BCCI) believes and why they do not 

a low the use of DRS in any of their games. 

Persona ly, I think they are just being awkward 

and a serting their authority as they make up 

the majority of the ICC…and they can. 

I ca not s e any real reason why you 

wouldn’t wan to make sure that batsmen are 

actua ly out when given out and vice versa. 

Again, it can make or break car ers. I wonder 

whether any statisticians have l oked back 

through Indian games since the DRS has b en 

employed to s e how much inco rect and 

unchecked umpiring decisions have cos them 

in games. It would be interesting to know 

whether they have b en vindicated in their option 

to back the umpires on the field or 

whethe results could have gone more in their 

favour over tha time. 

Almost every other sport – including f otba 

l, fina ly ! – is now using the technology at 

hand and they a l work rea ly we l without inte 

rupting the flow of the games at a l. In the 

sports where the o ficials have underst od and 

utilised the technology best (te nis, rugby), I 

think tha the review systems have even a ded 

to the spectacle. Cricket is one of those sports 

where the crowd a ds to the tension as the big 

scr en makes its mind up – especia ly in short 

versions of the game and tight Test matches. 

The ICC should make DRS a blanket system 

used by a l nations and be done with it. 

At lower levels, the umpiring is obviously 

not quite so g od but no le s vital and the guys 

do an outstanding job. And most of these 

blokes give up their day voluntarily, without 

DRS or any other a sistance and have to make 

exactly the same ca ls and receive a lot more 

grie for it. 

At my level, I have to write reports on the 

umpires a signed to our games, which is a 

tricky balance. Clearly, whenever you a peal 

and the umpire gives it not out, you disagr e 

with him. I do no think that is ever a point 

worth arguing about a the end of the game 

(unle s they are true shockers!) because what 

is more important, and a l you rea ly wan to 

s e, is consistency in their decision making. I 

try to give some detailed f edback when I 

write up the umpires, and I think honesty is 

key as they are striving to progre s and sometimes 

make a car er out of it, and we as players 

wan to s e the level of umpiring be as 

g od as it can. Mincing your words is no help 

to anybody as long as it is a l kept constructive 

and positive. Nobody on a cricket pitch 

throughou the day gets away without making 

mistakes – ba ters, bowlers, fielders and umpires 

– so there is no point slinging mud a the 

end of the game. It does stand true, though, 

that an umpire has had a g od day when you 

haven’t noticed him. Like wicket k epers. 

I do have to beware tha the umpires write 

reports on me now t o! 

Whether we always agr e with them or not, 

they are genera ly great blokes who pu themselves 

out for the be terment of cricket and do 

a very g od job in a tricky, and often thankle s, 

role. They should be encouraged, not slated, as 

anyone who has played a club match without 

trained umpires wi l know tha the game is a 

lot worse o for it. 

As a point of interest, they are the only o ficial 

that has to be asked by the players before he 

makes some decisions. Another quirk of our 

sport. G od on them – they are as much the 

definition of cricket as anything else. 

Umpire banned from o ficiating 

church cricket match because 

of religious ancestry 

Cricket umpiring made 

controversial headlines 

in September when 

Michael Claughton was 

told he couldn’t umpire 

a church match as he 

wasn’t considered ‘theologica 

ly neutral’. 

Having b en a club umpire 

for 18 years for 

various teams in the 

Kent leagues Mr Claughton o fered his services 

for the one-o f T20 match played betw en 

a Church of England XI and a Vatican XI. In a 

bid to su port his a plication to umpire the 

match, Claughton mentioned that his Great- 

Great Grandfather had b en the Bishop of 

Rochester, this tactic, however, spectacularly 

backfired when he was informed that he 

wouldn’t be considered because it had b en 

decided tha the umpires could not have any 

religious background. This decision was made 

in an a temp to ensure tha there was no bias 

from the match o ficials. Despite po sibly setting 

a precedent with this a pointment, ECB 

ACO isn’t expecting faith tests to play a part in 

any future umpiring a pointments! 

The match, which was played to raise 

awarene s of slavery acro s the world and 

fundraise for the Global Fr edom Network 

t ok place at The Spitfire Ground in Canterbury 

on 19th September with the Church of 

England XI victorious by 6 wickets. 


The awards recognise the outstanding job 

county groundsmen do every summer to 

ensure the domestic game is played on the 

best po sible surfaces nationwide. 

The close relationship betw en o ficials 

and groundsmen has never b en of more 

importance with the ECB push to ‘Ge the 

game on’. The awards optimise the importance 

of the relationship, particularly with 

umpires, as every pitch is rated a the end 

of the match by each umpire. These ratings 

are very important and are used as the basis 

for making the awards. 

Nigel Gray (The Ageas Bowl) was 

named the wi ner of the four-day category 

a the ceremony in Worcester with Gary 

Barwe l (Edgbaston) and Andy Fogarty 

(Headingley) sharing the ru ner-up prize. 

In the one-day category, the wi ner was 

Neil Godrich (3 a County Ground, Derby) 

with the ru ner-up prize awarded to Paul 

Marsha l (Northampton County Ground). 

Commendations wen to Neil Godrich 

(The 3 a County Ground, Derby), and 

Ma thew Merchant (Emirates Old Tra ford) 

in the four-day pitch category, while Gary 

Barwe l (Edgbaston), Andy Mackay (Hove) 

and Simon L e (Taunton) were commended 

in the one-day category. 

Chris Morse from Usk was named wi ner 

for pitches at MCC Universities in respect 

of his work for Cardi f MCCU with 

Richard Sula at Oxford MCCU the ru nerup. 

John Do ds at Scarborough was 

awarded the outgrounds prize with Ro s 

Spry (Cheltenham) ru ner-up and James 

Askew (Horsham) and John McKnight 

(Swansea) commended. 

ECB Groundsman of the Year Awards 

A the end of November the wi ners of the 2014 Groundsman of the Year Awards 

were a nounced. 

‘SIMMONS SAYS’ 

Below is an article that was also produced in the Cheltenham Echo. Cheltenham Captain Wi l Simmons writes each week 

for the paper and on 20.8.14 he wrote the fo lowing about umpiring . Thanks to Wi l for a lowing ECB ACO to reprint! 


My name is 

Nathan, I am 2 

and am 1s team 

scorer for Heathcoat 

Cricket Club. 

In layman’s terms 

I am a pointed to 

record a l runs 

scored, a l wickets 

taken and the 

number of overs bowled in a match. However my role encompa ses 

significantly more tha this! I have a huge pa sion for cricket and 

many have asked me why I am not out on the field. 

The answer becomes simple when I ro l around in my wh elchair. I 

was born at 24 w eks weighing le s than a bag of sugar, with quadriplegic 

cerebral palsy. Consultants told my parents I had minimal 

chances of even surviving as a vegetable, much le s fulfi ling the potential 

my parent saw. Thus a lifelong journey of proving people 

wrong began. 

I spent a year a the Peto Andreas Conductive Education Institute 

in Budapest, where my brain and muscles were trained in the ‘basics’ 

of living, toileting, f eding etc. I learned to speak Hungarian before I 

spoke English, though sadly Hungarian is one language that eludes 

me now. 

After exce ling in sch ol, until they wrongly decided that my physical 

condition was t o di ficult for them to deal with, I toured Europe 

and spent my time as a dua language teacher of English and Spanish 

and a general IT consultant. 

Upon returning to Britain, I came to Devon, and decided I wanted 

to indulge my greatest pa sion, which i sport. After l oking around 

and considering every available o portunity from journalism to commentary, 

to refer eing and umpiring, I realised tha there was and is 

absolutely nothing to stop me being a cricket scorer. 

After si ting an introductory course, I found myself thrust into 

league cricke the fo lowing w ek, scoring for what was then my 

local second team in Bideford CC. 

During my 1st season with Bideford in 2012, I was lucky enough 

to be a pointed by England and Wales Cricket Board’s A sociation of 

Cricket O ficials (ECB ACO) as a young o ficial to the MCC Corporate 

Day at Lord’s, where I had the o portunity to work alongside 

some of the finest scorers in the country, many of whom score profe 

siona ly for counties, as is my ultimate dream. 

I was also a pointed to a ladies 

development game, and received 

glowing comments about my scoring. 

It was around this time that I 

truly started to realise I may have 

the ability to do it profe siona ly. 

In the last close season, I realised 

I n eded to move higher up 

the la der in order that I might 

progre s, so I a proached and became 

scorer for Heathcoat CC, 

near Tiverton, who had just b en 

promoted to the Premier League. 

I have alway scored using a 

computer, as my ability to write quickly and, more importantly, legibly 

is hindered somewhat by my CP. 

For my club I print o f sma l rainforests of stats every w ek, everybody 

wants a wagon wh el , a char that shows which part of the field 

each scoring shot by a batsman was made (revealing the batman’s 

favourite places to hi the ba l, or an analysis of a rea ly g od bowling 

spe l, and I am first port of ca l when anyone wants to know a 

rule or a statistic. 

Yes, some scoreboxes are di ficul to a ce s, some are up flights of 

stairs, bu that does not mean I wi l not ge there, even if two people 

have to lift me up there in my chair. And a lovely thing abou the 

cricket community is that people wi l help, I’ve even had o position 

captains volunt er to lift me up. 

I have said before that I have a dream to score profe siona ly for a 

county, and, by extension, in international matches t o. I believe with 

the co rec training, experience, determination and desire that I sha l 

ge there, and I sha l not stop until I achieve this dream. 

In closing, I’d like to say that any disabled people ou there with a 

dream, in cricket, sport, or anywhere, live it, chase it, achieve it. It might 

be a cliché, but it’s true: it is not about disability, it’s about ability. 

■ to k ep up-to-date with developments in 

electronic scoring – ie scoring using a 

computer, lap-top or other mobile device; 

■ to establish links with electronic computer 

software producers and report on developments 

to the SSC; 

■ to ensure that courses in the scoring portfolio 

reflect developments in electronic 

scoring and are kept up-to-date; 

■ to lead design of electronic scoring modules 

that can be taken independently from 

the main scoring courses; 

■ to represent electronic scoring on the national 

SSC; 

■ to give presentations on developments on 

electronic scoring to m etings/conferences 

and write newsle ter articles on the 

subject as required. 

I am pleased to repor that I have had a number 

of expre sions of interest in response to 

the newsle ter article and from this year’s regional 

and national conferences. It is likely 

that we wi l a point one person as ESO but 

use the others who have come forward to assist 

in some way. We expec to decide this 

shortly and I wi l a nounce the outcome in 

the next newsle ter. 

I wish you a l a Ha py Christmas and succe 

sful new year: 2015 promises to be g od ! 

Scorers… continued 

Press Box Scoring 

ECB ACO member, Ray Markham, scores England Test matches and ODIs 

Many thanks to author Arunabha Sengupta (cricket historian and Chief Cricket Writer at CricketCountry) for a lowing 

us to reproduce the fo lowing. 

Ray Markham is an ever present face in the 

pre s boxes during the Test matches and One 

Day Internationals held in England. Whenever 

an incident of note takes place in the 

field of play, the voice of this a siduous scorer 

is heard providing a l the a sociated facts and 

figures for the a sembly of journalists. He 

ca not a ford to mi s one single ba l, and 

somehow manages to cater to every query 

while making scrupulous notes abou the ongoing 

action. 

Ray Markham sits in the the Ageas Bowl 

pre s box. He is 67. He has just climbed up 

several flights of stairs because the lift for the 

Media Centre has broken down. The air-conditioning 

in the pre s box is on fu l blast, and 

his normal da per self is wra ped up in cardigan 

and mu fler. He says on the phone that he 

is receiving artificial respiration bu that is far 

from the truth. He is as sprightly as the next 

man, whatever be his age, and especia ly so 

when there is cricket in the o fing. 

His paraphernalia is neatly laid out. There 

is his laptop with the special scoring software, 

there is the linear scoring sh et which he 

painstakingly maintains with his a sortment 

of coloured pens, then there are the famous 

coloured pens themselves. A packet of mints 

and sw ets are spread within reach as are a 

calculator, a sma l digital clock, a binocular, a 

pencil, a ru ber, a ruler, an a sortment of clips 

and bands, and fina ly the co rection fluid. 

continued on page 38 

In August 2014 SCOPE ( the UK disability charity that works with disabled 

people and their families in England and Wales) asked ECB ACO member 

Nathan Bradley to write a blog for their website. 

Nathan Bradley’s Blog for SCOPE 


ECB appointments… ECB appointments… ECB appointments… 

Under 13s National Club 

Clockwise from Top Left 

Jonathan Crabtr e (Yorks), David Ma thews 

(Wales), Sam Ho lingshead (Gloucs), 

Sam Stringfe low (No ts), Daniel Brennan (Beds) 

& Ben Cousins (Bucks) 

Womens Premier Club 

Philip Barston 

Chris Johnson 

Kevin Smyth 

Rodney Wa ts 

David Pe ry 

Graham Pickering 

Under 15 National Club 


Jonathan Crabtr e (Yorks), 

Ben Cousins (Bucks), 

Tom H enan (Bucks), 

& David Tooth (Bucks) 

Men’s ECB Appointments 

The climax of the recreational cricket season was duly reached and the Royal 

London ClubChampionship Cup Final; NatWest Club T20 Finals; Davidstow 

Vi lage Cup Final; the ECB County Championship 50 + Finals and other 

ECB Age Group Competition finals: were a l completed with the o ficials 

nominated and appointed. 

I would like to pay tribute to a l the Appointments O ficers acro s the country 

that do a sterling job to appoint appropriately and fi tingly. Certainly the 

four ECB ACO Regional Appointments o ficers; David Ward, Peter McKenzie, 

Te ry Burstow and Les Clemenson –supported in the administration by 

Howard Hudd and Ray Parker, have a l done a fantastic job. 

Once again, it is worth noting what a ma sive improvement has b en brought 

about by the use of WTU; it is quite di ficul to conceive of making regional and 

national a pointments and rea pointments without it. Many ACOs have discovered 

for themselves what an e ficient and time saving device it is as we l as the 

fac that it facilitates complete ope ne s and transparency around a pointments, 

which is certainly best practice. 

You may be interested to hear of some of the a pointments made this year: 

NatWest Club T20 Tom Lungley (Derbyshire) Ru se l Evans (ECB) 

Ru se l Wa ren (No ts) Ian Warne (Northumberland) 

Davidstow Vi lage Cup Paul Sparsho t (Hants) Dean Price (Wales) 

ECB U17 County Championship Alasdair Shaikh (Su sex) L e Socke t (Sta fs) 

BUCS Prem A one-Day Final Tim Boston (Cornwa l) Paul Chambers (No ts) 

BUCS Prem B one-Day Final Martin Sayles (Yorks) Alistair Shaikh (Su sex) 


In true cricketing form, we give you ‘The Fo low On’. Although this feature doesn’t rely on a team 

having a lead of 200 going into the second innings, we hope it wi l keep you informed and updated on 

past events that are of interes to you. 

‘The Follow On’ 

2013’s National Cricket Playing Survey, was 

the first survey of its kind ever undertaken 

by ECB to engage directly with recreational 

cricketers. In total the survey received 

21,5 0 responses from cu rent and former 

players. 

Back to this summer, early June to be precise, 

ECB ACO sent an email to you a l regarding 

the second National Cricket Playing 

Survey requesting that you, and a l the players 

that you engage with, complete it. 

We thank you for your help and are delighted 

to repor tha this second survey received 

an increased response rate from 37,5 0 

recreational cricketers. In total acro s the two 

years over 52, 0 individual players have 

given us their views on the game they play. 

2014’s survey f edback was also aligned 

with detailed analysis of more than 1.2 mi lion 

scorecards from play-cricket.com and player 

panel research, a lowing the ECB to learn the 

fo lowing abou the cricket playing ‘market’. 

Please s e below more detail from 

www.ecb.co.uk on the survey’s findings 

ECB announces key findings 

from 2014 National Cricket 

Playing Survey 

ECB today a nounced its gra sr ots cricket 

participation figures for adults and children 

over the age of 14. These figures have b en 

derived from ECBs Eureka! insight programme. 

This year’s research showed a seven per 

cent decrease in the total number of players 

playing cricket in teams – down from 

908, 0 in 2013 to 8 4, 0 in 2014. 

Males represented 93 per cent of the participation 

base with females representing 

seven per cent – the same gender breakdown 

as in 2013. The survey also revealed that 30 

per cent of gra sr ots cricketers are drawn 

from ethnic minorities and 53 per cent of 

cricketers would like to play the game more 

often. 

The findings are based on 37,5 0 responses 

from recreational cricketers to this 

year’s National Playing Survey together 

with detailed analysis of more than 1.2 million 

scorecards from play-cricket.com and 

player panel research. 

This represented a significant increase on 

the 21,5 0 responses from recreational 

cricketers to the inaugural survey which was 

introduced last year as part of ECB’s wider 

e forts to engage more closely with the amateur 

game. 

The survey revealed that p or weather 

contributed to the decline in participation. 

70 per cent of amateur cricket is played on 

Saturdays and only 15 Saturdays were rated 

‘dry’ in 2014 compared with 20 in 2013. 

Further detailed analysis of the survey’s 

findings also revealed that: 

■ 247, 0 were ‘Core’ players who play at 

leas twelve w eks of a 26 w ek summer 

season 

■ 405, 0 were ‘O casional’ players who 

play betw en thr e and eleven w eks of a 

26 w ek summer season. 

■ 192, 0 were ‘Cameo’ players who play 

one or two w eks of a 26 w ek summer 

season 

ECB’s Chief Operating O ficer Gordon 

Ho lin said: “ECB recognised the participation 

cha lenges that have b en facing a l 

team sports and we were determined to gain 

a greater insight into those i sues and find 

long term solutions. To do that ECB 

changed the way in which it measured participation 

last year and introduced the new 

National Cricket Playing Survey as part of 

our wider e forts to gain a greater understanding 

of what drives gra sr ots cricket 

participation.” 

“Thanks to an exce lent response ECB 

now has a much clearer picture than ever before 

of who plays recreational cricket, what 

type of cricke they prefer to play, when they 

wan to play it and we are now se ting about 

finding ways in which we can best a dre s 

their n eds going forward. 

“We are already working in partnership 

with our 39 County Cricket Boards as part of 

a detailed participation review. We wi l join 

them in working with thei respective cricket 

leagues to tackle key factors which a fect participation 

such as match end time, travel distance 

to matches, playing format, length of 

game and club/sch o links. 

“This year, we’ve run a pilot ‘player communications’ 

programme in four counties targeting 

cu rent and lapsed players which has 

produced encouraging results. We’ve also 

launched a programme of engagement and 

development with South Asian communities 

which has b en backed up by capital and revenue 

investment in five major cities with a 

high South Asian population. 

“Ou recreational game also experienced 

greater frequency of rainfa l on Saturdays in 

2014 than in the wet summer of 2012 and in 

the new year we’ l be a nouncing further 

plans to su port clubs in their e forts to mitigate 

the impact of wet weather which had a 

significant e fect on the number o fixtures 

completed.” 

ECB ACO’s National 

O ficiating Survey 

As those of you who completed the player 

survey know, there were questions positioned 

for existing and ex-umpires and scorers. 

From this ECB ACO received valuable 

f edback, as a luded to on pages 2 and 3, 

which provides us with a greater understanding 

of the o ficiating market within England 

and Wales. 

As a 

fo low-up 

to the National 

Cricket 

Playing 

Survey, 

and to 

su port 

ECB ACO 

in their 

mi sion to 

improve 

the standard 

of officiating, 

and therefore 

player satisfaction, 

you’ l be aware that we i sued an o ficiating 

survey a the end of November. 

This was designed to glean information 

from both existing ACO members and anyone 

who told ECB in the player survey that 

they umpire or score, whether as nominated 

o ficials or helping out from time to time. 

Put simply, anyone who umpires or scores, 

within England and Wales at any time, is 

welcome to complete it. 

The survey had two aims: 

1. Understand what existing ACO members 

value from the cu rent membership 

proposition. 

2. Gain a be ter understanding of what 

o ficiating l oks like at a levels of the 


The second of these had a particular focus in 

understanding how many people umpire at 

each tier of the game, how many of these are 

qualified (undertaken a form of education) 

and how many are existing members. 

You may have s en su porting communications 

on websites and in social media – 

examples are displayed below. 

The survey was designed to take around 

10 minutes to complete and closed on December 

8 th . Upon going to print we had received 

the fo lowing response: 

Total responses - 3,486 

■ 1,859 cu rent umpire ACO members 

■ 42 A sociate Members. 

■ 29 Cu rent ACO Scorers + 16 

A sociates 

■ 656 Umpire responses from Non- 

Members 

■ 2 8 Score responses from Non-Members 

■ Then lastly, 1,373 fr e text comments at 

the end of the survey 

Thank you very much to those of you who 

completed the survey; we a preciate your 

a sistance and wi l get straigh to work on 

analysing the data with the aim of providing 

the findings in the next edition. 

ECB’s National Playing Cricket Survey 


MCC News 

Fraser Stewart, MCC 

Cricket Academy 

Manager, Laws 

Commi tee member 

and ECB ACO Board 

member has 

forwarded the 

fo lowing MCC response, to a l 

articles within this publication, on 

the topic of significant fielder 

movement. 

Page 4 - Beyond the Boundary 

Page 21 - By the Byes, ‘Steve Smith catch’ 

Page 26-29 - Le ters ‘James McKirdy’ 

“MCC was contacted by 

ICC in September for 

clarity and guidance on 

this ma ter and it 

concluded tha the game 

has natura ly evolved and 

tha this aspect of Law 41.7 & 41.8 is 

worthy of review. This area of Law was 

already on the Club’s radar to be reviewed 

for the next changes. 

The Law on significant movement was 

wri ten to prevent under-hand tactics, such 

as the square leg fielder moving 

backwards during the bowler’s run up. 

MCC fel tha the skilful anticipation by 

the fielder, which is in reaction to the 

batsman’s action, is very di ferent and 

deserves to be given some l eway. 

ICC then i sued 

guidance to their 

umpires to this e fect. 

Whilst MCC is 

comfortable with the 

events, it wi l be 

maintaining a watching brief regarding 

updating this Law for the fores eable 

future. 

MCC is likely to incorporate this natural 

evolution within the next update of the 

Laws of Cricket, but must firs thoroughly 

a se s the impact of this change on the 

game over a period of time before it 

becomes Law. The Club is also 

comfortable with other cricket governing 

bodies tria ling this interpretation of the 

Law at a levels of the game.” 

You may have received the first one, on 

Friday 14 th November, and we plan to 

send these from time to time to 

complemen this hard copy publication. 

E-Shots are designed to deliver clear 

and concise me sages which we hope 

you wi l value. This function wi l 

a low us to get more relevant news to 

you more e ficiently, rather than 

having to wait for the newsle ter to 

land on your d orstep. 

‘Over and Out’ – ECB ACO 

News (Green) 

Used to a nounce news, new products 

and services or promote o fers or 

events. 

The first example (a shown) 

contained a link to a video showing the 

England women’s team taking on ‘You 

vs. Hawk-Eye’ (s e page 12), a 

reduced ‘You vs. Hawk-Eye o fer (s e 

page 12), an o portunity to umpire or 

score in the UAE, a congratulations to 

‘ICC Elite Umpire of the Year’ 

Richard Ke tleborough and details on a 

Fearnley delivery discount. 

‘Membership Update’ – 

Membership Issues (Blue) 

These wi l be used to notify you of 

specifics concerning your membership 

such as advance DBS renewal 

notifications. We have already begun 

to send them, but as the content is 

sensitive we’ l refrain from printing an 

example here. However please note the 

email header below. 

We’re k en, as always, to hear your views 

on the first ‘Over and Out’ example. If you 

didn’t receive this in your email inbox 

(please double check your ‘junk mail’ 

folder – just in case!) then please let us 

know by emailing ecb.aco@ecb.co.uk with 

your co rect/prefe red email a dre s. 

ECB ACO ‘E-Shots’ 

ECB ACO has recently begun to send ‘E-Shots’ as an 

additional communication 

Janie was invited to join the ECB ACO Board in 20 1/12 fo lowing 

Steve Be ne t decision to stand down (as his work with FIFA t ok him 

abroad t o often). 

Like Steve, Janie’s o ficiating background was in f otba l refer eing, 

but she brough to the Board a great deal more than a consummate 

knowledge of the laws o f otba l. 

Aside from he role with the FA, her work with SOUK (Sports O ficials 

UK) gave her an insight into developments in education acro s 

the broad spectrum of sports that was particularly valuable to ECB 

ACO. 

She was a major contributor to the formation of the women and girls 

initiative but perhaps the major legacy of her outstanding thr e year 

term on the Board is her contribution to the ECB ACO strategy and 

VMOST where her desire and insistence on using her experience and 

her position as independent member to sit betw en the Board Representatives 

and the ECB Executives enabled her to exercise that independence 

and influence the outcome su ficiently to ensure tha the 

finished article was a balanced documen that t ok a count of the 

n eds of the ECB as the governing body as we l as the ECB ACO as an 

autonomous constituent. 

The Board and Executive join together in thanking her for her time 

and contribution and have no doub that we wi l continue to work with 

her moving forward –albeit Janie wi l be in a di ferent capacity. 

Roger Knight ECB ACO Board Chairman 

Nick Cousins ECB ACO Senior Executive O ficer 

Janie Frampton 

pages 22,35 & 37

Beyond the Boundary 

Who controls the Law makers 

How many of us remember back to 

those good old Grammar School days 

and the occasional painful brush with 

Latin, and though this was mainly 

burdensome, a couple of useful quotations 

always stuck in the mind 

For me, one of my favourite two is 

this one.... ‘Quis custodiet ipsos custodies’ 

– and for the topic today, it 

is the fundamental question. 

One of the range of translations 

is...’Who governs the governors’. 

The variants are also relevant, so if I 

pick this one – ‘Who controls the law-makers’ 

And, moving forward, where there 

are laws, whose law is the more lawful 

And now in more detail, the question is, 

when is a law greater than a regulation 

You may already be there... it is all to 

do with Steve Smith in the recent Pakistan/Australia 

3 rd ODI in Abu Dhabi – and 

it has become a battle between ICC Playing 

Regulations and MCC Law. The leadup 

scenario is obvious and clear, the result 

not so, and suggests the stadium big screen 

should have flashed up the words ‘Chaos 

ahead’ immediately after the onfield umpires 

conferred! 

What makes this even more confusing is 

the way commentators and journalists in 

their analyses of the moment have used the 

word ‘law’ when relating to the ICC – and 

this, forgive me ICC, is a nonsense. The 

ICC does not make or enact the Laws of 

international cricket; they do, as every nation 

and competition may do, amend the 

MCC Laws by revising them into the 

‘Playing Regulations’ that they then apply. 

This is an important point because it means 

that, in effect, the PRs may or do differ 

from country to country and competition to 

competition – and we are just about used to 

that even in our domestic weekend games. 

Indeed, even in the Surrey Championship 

there are 6 variants for 1stXI cricket alone, 

and other Leagues are similar throughout 

the land. 

Time to look at that incident then; Steve 

Smith at 1 st slip moves - after the ball has 

left the bowler’s hand but before it is 

played by Fawad Alam – to leg-slip, and 

takes the catch from the shot that Fawad 

has glanced down the leg-side knowing 

there was no leg-slip in place. Smith appealed, 

Fawad waited, the umpires conferred, 

and the finger went up. 

Here is the Law... 41.7 states that: ‘Any 

significant movement by any fielder after 

the ball comes into play, and before the 

ball reaches the striker, is unfair. In the 

event of such unfair movement, either umpire 

shall call and signal Dead ball. 

This is further clarified by Law 41.8: ‘For 

close fielders anything other than minor 

adjustments to stance or position in relation 

to the striker is significant.’ 

There now appears to be a suggestion 

that the wording of Law 41.7 is ‘about to 

be changed’ * and in preparation for this, 

various pundits have offered their own 

variations – including this one by Cricket 

Australia... “MCC has varied its position 

around significant movement according to 

the timing of when a close catching fielder 

can move … they will be redrafting this 

Law when next a rewrite occurs, so we are 

going to apply the revised intent that is in 

keeping with the game’s progress. As long 

as the movement of a close catching fielder 

is in response to the striker’s actions (the 

shot he is about to play or shaping to play), 

then movement is permitted before the ball 

reaches the striker.” 

There is also room for ambiguity: “On the 

day, if the umpires believe any form of significant 

movement is unfair (in an attempt 

to deceive the batsman), then the Law 

still applies.” 

To try to stem the firestorm that this incendiary 

had started, the ICC issued a 

‘clarification’ on October 13, 2014. They 

said that the following interpretation is in 

force:“As long as the movement of a close 

catching fielder is in response to the 

striker’s actions (the shot he/she is about to 

play or shaping to play), then movement is 

permitted before the ball reaches the 

striker. On the day, if umpires believe any 

form of significant movement is unfair (in 

an attempt to deceive the batsman), then 

the Law still applies”. 

Whichever words they might think most 

relevant, the one that really shouts at us is 

‘deceive’. A simple word but massive in 

how it reflects the ethos of the game and in 

the spirit of how it should be played. Historically, 

the fielders are positioned, the 

batsman settles and prepares to receive the 

ball, the bowler runs in and delivers the 

ball, the batsman plays at it seeking to 

avoid the fielders and thus score runs. 

Easy enough. But not any more! The outfielders 

these days, with their frenetic 

coaching and athleticism are now jogging 

in 15/20 yards as the bowler runs in, the 

close fielders now may have licence to hop 

here there and everywhere to re-position as 

well – and, wow, we must not forget the 

keeper - who is also a ‘close-fielder’ and 

can then legally sidle-up to the wicket - so 

all 11 could be on the move – just like a 

pin-table – so how can this be ‘fair’ for 

the batsman 

Worse yet, how can the umpires 

judge or measure either the fielder’s 

distance moved or his intent on 

changing position How can they be 

expected to know what was in the 

batsman’s mind as he was thinking of 

how and where to play the ball How 

can the umpires then judge whether it 

was fair or unfair, deceiving or not – 

and, with the need to call ‘Dead ball’ 

if one of them felt the move ‘deceiving’, 

how does one call that correctly 

if the other didn’t or wouldn’t think 

so This was a bad call from the ICC so 

let us hope the MCC can rescue them. 

(Why can’t we just talk about a simple 

subject - disciplinary yellow/red cards!) 

Now, just a quick pointer for the other hot 

topic – TV umpire/referee discussions 

and decisions being listened to by the rest 

of the world! Two immediate examples 

of exactly what we do not need. Just been 

watching the 2 nd Australia/South Africa 

ODI only to feel the embarrassment for 

Billy Bowden by him having to have his 

‘3 rd ump’ review comments broadcast to the 

stadium and world beyond as he made them 

– so we had the crazy moment when he 

says to Bruce Oxenford, who is on-screen, 

‘You may reverse your decision and you 

are on camera now’, and we can see Bruce 

hear and react, just like a puppet! 

Similarly, the Scotland/All Blacks match at 

Murrayfield, when, in the half-time interval, 

pundits Starmer-Smith, Wood, and 

Nicol, questioned why the query from 

French referee Romain Poite to the TMO 

was not audible to them ‘when of course it 

should have been’... because ‘...it would 

have clarified the incident for us’. No, no, 

a thousand times ‘NO’. 

Debating a professional assessment on air 

does not as much clarify as render either 

the onfield official or the TV official liable 

to ridicule, as one of them will give the 

version the pundits do not want, and by not 

wanting it, they continue to dissemble the 

authority of each or both. And this applies 

even more in cricket where onfield decisions 

are more likely to be ‘interpretive’ – 

the 4 criteria for ‘LBW’ and sometimes 

lack of visual and audio evidence available 

to the umpire at the bowler’s end as opposed 

to the keeper and fielders close to 

the batsman. It is time for the ECB, ICC, 

RFU and FA, to negotiate with the broadcasters 

to isolate the play-back feed exclusively 

to the match officials and refrain 

from public broadcast. 

This is another one for you to respond to 

via the mail-bag.... 

Ed: See MCC News on page 5 

PjT 

e-mail us at ecbaco@ecb.co.uk 4 contact us on 0121 446 2710

ECB ACO ‘E-Shots’ 

ECB ACO has recently begun to send ‘E-Shots’ as an 

additional communication 

You may have received the first one, on 

Friday 14 th November, and we plan to 

send these from time to time to 

complement this hard copy publication. 

E-Shots are designed to deliver clear 

and concise messages which we hope 

you will value. This function will 

allow us to get more relevant news to 

you more efficiently, rather than 

having to wait for the newsletter to 

land on your doorstep. 

‘Over and Out’ – ECB ACO 

News (Green) 

Used to announce news, new 

products and services or promote 

offers or events. 

The first example (as shown) 

contained a link to a video showing the 

England women’s team taking on ‘You 

vs. Hawk-Eye’ (see page 12), a 

reduced ‘You vs. Hawk-Eye offer (see 

page 12), an opportunity to umpire or 

score in the UAE, a congratulations to 

‘ICC Elite Umpire of the Year’ 

Richard Kettleborough and details on a 

Fearnley delivery discount. 

‘Membership Update’ – 

Membership Issues (Blue) 

These will be used to notify you of 

specifics concerning your membership 

such as advance DBS renewal 

notifications. We have already begun 

to send them, but as the content is 

sensitive we’ll refrain from printing an 

example here. However please note the 

email header below. 

We’re keen, as always, to hear your views 

on the first ‘Over and Out’ example. If you 

didn’t receive this in your email inbox 

(please double check your ‘junk mail’ 

folder – just in case!) then please let us 

know by emailing ecb.aco@ecb.co.uk with 

your correct/preferred email address. 

MCC News 

Fraser Stewart, MCC 

Cricket Academy 

Manager, Laws 

Committee member 

and ECB ACO Board 

member has 

forwarded the 

following MCC response, to three 

articles within this publication 

(listed below), on the topic of 

significant fielder movement. 

Page 4 - Beyond the Boundary 

Page 21 - By the Byes, ‘Steve Smith catch’ 

Page 26-29 - Letters ‘James McKirdy’ 

“MCC was contacted by 

ICC in September for 

clarity and guidance on 

this matter and it 

concluded that the game 

has naturally evolved and 

that this aspect of Law 41.7 & 41.8 is 

worthy of review. This area of Law was 

already on the Club’s radar to be reviewed 

for the next changes. 

The Law on significant movement was 

written to prevent under-hand tactics, such 

as the square leg fielder moving 

backwards during the bowler’s run up. 

MCC felt that the skilful anticipation by 

the fielder, which is in reaction to the 

batsman’s action, is very different and 

deserves to be given some leeway. 

ICC then issued 

guidance to their 

umpires to this effect. 

Whilst MCC is 

comfortable with the 

events, it will be 

maintaining a watching brief regarding 

updating this Law for the foreseeable 

future. 

MCC is likely to incorporate this natural 

evolution within the next update of the 

Laws of Cricket, but must first thoroughly 

assess the impact of this change on the 

game over a period of time before it 

becomes Law. The Club is also 

comfortable with other cricket governing 

bodies trialling this interpretation of the 

Law at all levels of the game.” 

Janie Frampton 

Janie was invited to join the ECB ACO Board in 2011/12 following 

Steve Bennett decision to stand down (as his work with FIFA took him 

abroad too often). 

Like Steve, Janie’s officiating background was in football refereeing, 

but she brought to the Board a great deal more than a consummate 

knowledge of the laws of football. 

Aside from her role with the FA, her work with SOUK (Sports Officials 

UK, see page 9) gave her an insight into developments in education 

across the broad spectrum of sports that was particularly valuable 

to ECB ACO. 

She was a major contributor to the formation of the women and girls 

initiative but perhaps the major legacy of her outstanding three year 

term on the Board is her contribution to the ECB ACO strategy and 

VMOST where her desire and insistence on using her experience and 

her position as independent member to sit between the Board Representatives 

and the ECB Executives enabled her to exercise that independence 

and influence the outcome sufficiently to ensure that the 

finished article was a balanced document that took account of the 

needs of the ECB as the governing body as well as the ECB ACO as an 

autonomous constituent. 

The Board and Executive join together in thanking her for her time 

and contribution and have no doubt that we will continue to work with 

her moving forward –albeit Janie will be in a different capacity. 

Roger Knight, ECB ACO Board Chairman 

Nick Cousins, ECB ACO Senior Executive Officer 


National Conference 2014 – 8th November 2014 

November 8th saw a sellout as 400 ECB ACO members headed to the Nursery Pavilion at Lord’s for the 

return of the National Conference. It was in fact, the best attended conference since ECB ACO came into 

existence and those present were not disappointed. 

Guests started arriving from 0900 with tea 

and coffee available and a chance to renew, 

and make new, acquaintances with officiating 

colleagues from across the country, with 

plenty of stories from the 2014 season being 

shared. The welcome desk was superbly 

marshalled by Martin Gentle and Karen 

Cassidy, with the ever helpful Sue Jones 

from Berkshire on hand to ensure everyone 

had their name badge and seminar details. 

At 1000 the day’s activities got started with 

the traditional AGM. 

AGM Report 

The AGM maintained its traditional format, 

consisting of the Chairman’s Report, the Senior 

Executive Officer’s Report and finally the 

Finance Report, delivered by Ben Francis. 

Roger Knights Chairman’s Report focused 

on the successes overseen by the association 

this year as well as the obstacles that have 

been encountered along the way. It speaks 

volumes about the year ECB ACO has had in 

2014 that the tone of this speech was wholly 

positive and looking forward to what 2015 

has to bring. 

Nick Cousins then took to the stage to deliver 

the SEO Report, focusing mainly on 

VMOST and the future strategic plans for 

ECB ACO whilst providing an overview of 

the National Cricket Playing Survey. Finally, 

Ben Francis (ECB ACOs Project and Finance 

Officer) delivered the 2014 finance figures 

and key changes to how we will operate in 

2015. For further enquiries in relation to 

these then get in touch with a member of 

ECB ACOs executive team. 

Once these formalities were complete it 

was time to commence the conference proper! 

Following the AGM, attendees were directed 

towards their pre-booked seminars with some 

heading off for a tour of Lord’s and a lucky 

six heading to ‘You vs. Hawk-Eye’. 

The seminar in the main hall was a presentation 

by prominent sports psychologist Dave 

Collins. Gary Colville gives his account 

Dave Collins– Gary Colville (Kent) 

At my first ECB ACO conference it was extraordinary 

to be amongst so many committed 

officials from all over. I had a good chat 

with the team from Gibraltar. 

This session on the psychology of officiating 

was indeed a highlight, being informative, 

challenging and extremely funny also. 

Dave’s rich experience of being involved in 

sport at the very highest level is a reminder 

that the mind matters in sport and of course 

recent concerns around players like 

Jonathan Trott were a poignant reminder to 

us all, even at the less pressured levels of officiating 

cricket, that we should make ourselves 

aware as possible of these important 

matters of the brain. This relates both to our 

management of the game overall and the 

players on the field, but also crucially our 

understanding of ourselves, what we do, 

how we react, and that what we say has an 

impact. Dave’s commendation of those involved 

in officiating cricket was heartening 

and also his challenge to us all to ensure that 

we continue to keep our minds focused on 

what we are doing and continually evaluate 

how well we are doing it. Make the most of 

the chat with your colleague, scorer and 

players to check out your perception of reality, 

good mental health may follow! 

Running alongside Dave Collins’ presentation 

was a session with Strength and Conditioning 

Coach Ross Hanbury on how 

nutrition and fitness can be applied to 

cricket umpires and how it can improve 

their performance. Russell Evans (Nottinghamshire) 

gives his account of the session. 

Ross Hanbury – Russell Evans 

(Nottinghamshire), First Class 

Umpire 

Following the AGM I attended a presentation 

by Ross Hanbury on fitness and nutrition 

which was most interesting. 

As an umpire you are going to be on your 

feet pretty much all day so it is important to 

be at a fitness level so you don’t get physically 

tired. If you do get tired then your concentration 

will waiver. Ross talked about 

physical fitness, lifestyle management, nutrition 

and a very important subject, Sleep, 

He broke down each section so within nutrition 

we discussed the roles of carbs, proteins, 

fats and vitamins, and minerals plus 

hydration. Hydration is difficult for umpires 

as we are not expected to take ‘comfort 

breaks’ but we also need to make sure we do 

not get dehydrated as dehydration reduces 

performance. The single largest contributor to 

fatigue during exercise is dehydration caused 

by fluid and sodium losses. 

Ross also took us through core strengths, 

posture and cardiovascular training, along 

with sleep, and how important it is to performance 

enhancement 

A most fascinating presentation and the 

next step for me would be to develop a personal 

programme with Ross to get the best 

from my diet and training to take on the field 

for my umpiring. Very worthwhile time spent 

as was the whole day at the conference. 

Having listened to everything that Ross said 

about balanced diets and eating well, those 

who attended his session made their way back 

to the Nursery Pavilion for the buffet lunch 

(including a particularly healthy lemon 

meringue pie). 

After everyone had been replenished it was 

time for Pat Murphy to take to the stage and 

deliver the Post-Lunch Speech. Pat, as we’re 

sure you are all aware, is a highly respected 

Sports Journalist for the BBC reporting on 

Cricket and Football for BBC Radio Sport for 

over 25 years and, like many other prominent 

Radio broadcasters, has an instantly recognisable 

voice. 

The following is Stewart Orrock (Essex) report 

on what Pat had to say. 

Pat Murphy 

In a wonderfully entertaining talk Pat Murphy 

started by briefly outlining his career. 

He is a former writer for the Bimingham 

Post. Well known to us for cricket and Test 

Match Special, he has also long reported on 

football for Radio 5 Live. Although he did 

not tell us that he had written more than 

forty books and collaborated with several 

great international cricketers, his intimate 

knowledge of the game and over 25 years of 

broadcasting for BBC Radio gave his 

speech enormous authority. It was especially 

interesting to hear Pat's views on a number 

of England captains. Not one to "tell tales 

out of school", he nevertheless gave an insider's 

insight into several characters and 

chacteristics. The talk was very well received 

by an attentive audience who were 

both entertained and informed. 

After finishing his Post Lunch Speech 

Pat Murphy invited Steve Harmison onto 

the stage to join him in a Q&A, whilst many 

scorers headed over to the Media Centre to 

take part in the ever popular ECB ACO 

Scorers Forum – a great opportunity for 

Scorers to share ideas and suggest ideas for 


the future of scoring within ACO. The 

leader of this session was Geoff Trett (National 

Scorers Administrator) and his summary 

of the session can be found on p32. 

Meanwhile, back in the Nursery Pavilion, 

Shaun Salisbury (Derbyshire) talks us 

through the Steve Harmison Q&A 

Steve Harmison - Shaun 

Salisbury (Derbyshire) 

To conclude my day at the ECB ACO National 

Conference I opted to listen to 

Steve Harmison. It was a thoroughly enjoyable 

talk as he reminisced with great 

fondness about the 2005 Ashes series; it 

brought back a lot of memories for me as a 

fan that enjoyed that legendary summer. 

Steve was also willing to tackle with honesty 

trickier subjects such as Kevin 

Pietersen and the issues surrounding the 

England team. He then went on to discuss 

his opinions on the current England team 

and what his selections would be for the 

forthcoming World Cup. Some of his picks 

were not the obvious candidates that people 

outside of the England set up would have 

come up with, which made this part of his 

talk very interesting. Finally, he touched on 

some of the humorous encounters with umpires 

in his career, and when asked by the 

audience he chose Daryl Hair as the umpire 

he rated most highly in his career. 

It was easy to see why Steve Harmison had 

become a fast bowler. Standing next to 

him, his height was imposing, as he towered 

above most in the room, notably our 

very own Ian Gould! 

There was time for a quick tea and coffee 

break in the marketplace of the Nursery 

Pavilion before all in attendance, for the 

final time, departed to sessions with Ian 

Gould and Malcolm Ashton respectively. 

Ian Gould Report – Peter 

Blackman Volunteer Guide Dog 

Trainer (Essex) 

Dad took me to 

a Level 1 umpiring 

course, 

which was 

very interesting. 

So when I 

attended the 

National 

Conference it 

was great to 

hear from 

Essex lad, 

Ian Gould. 

Ian got his 

big break 

when called 

up at late notice for a match 

at Chelmsford. Once there he wondered who 

the opposition for Essex were. It was Australia! 

My Dad wouldn’t mind that happening 

to him! 

Dad says I’ve got suspicious actions! It 

was very helpful to hear from Ian that we 

should never say that anyone ‘throws’. But 

we should refer them to ‘the authorities’ to 

have their ‘suspicious action’ investigated. 

Does that mean we shouldn’t stand at the 

striker’s end and call ‘no ball’ if we see a 

throw 

Anyway, I’ve now gone off to big school 

and left Uri to learn more about cricket with 

Dad. I was so good at Lord’s you may not 

have known I was there – although that nasty 

groundsman did shout at me when I ran 

round what he called ’my square’ and left a 

nice deposit! NOT. I had to go round to the 

garden near the main gate. I’m Roma, the 

Golden Labrador/Retriever, trainee Guide 

Dog for the Blind in the photo and Uri is the 

black trainee who’ll be with Dad during the 

2015 season. Dad is Peter Blackman. 

Malcolm Ashton Report – 

Su Klyne (Buckinghamshire) 

Those who skipped off early may have 

missed the monsoon but they also missed 

a treat. 

When listening to Malcolm “Ashtray” 

Ashton it was clear that he had a plan from 

the outset of his career. 

He learned the basics in club scoring; 

enjoyed it; developed his skills, learned 

Bill Frindall’s linear method and the Laws 

of the Game. 

He knew he wasn’t going to make a living 

scoring at County level so he wrote to 

Don Moseley at Test Match Special, possibly 

more than once. Having bluffed his 

way past the doorman at a Lancashire v. 

Essex match, he met Bill Frindall, showed 

him his scoresheets and he was off! 

Malcolm shared a few tips: 

■ Be proactive. 

■ Have confidence in your ability. 

■ Look the part. 

■ Be in the right place at the right time. 

■ Build up trust with the players. 

■ Say yes then worry about it later (as I 

did when asked to write this piece!). 

I’ve missed some bits out like meeting Nelson 

Mandela and working with Richie Benaud, 

and of course the wrong result in an 

ODI in Napier. 

What’s next He didn’t say, but I suspect 

he has a plan 

Once everyone had returned from their respective 

seminars, it was time to honour 

some of our members who have made an 

outstanding contribution to officiating with 

the 2014 Shepherd Frindall awards. Each 

award winner was invited on stage to collect 

their awards and acknowledge the applause 

of their colleagues. 

Shepherd-Frindall Award Winners 

The winners of the Shepherd-Frindall awards are determined by the ECB ACO Board following the 

review of the nominations in each category. This year the nominations were particularly strong and the 

following four were chosen as the 2014 winners. Congratulations to the nominees and winners. 

Ed: It’s easy to congratulate the winners, but we would also like to thank those who nominated someone for this year’s 

Shepherd-Frindall awards. Maybe it’s you who should be nominated next year… 

Alan Jones – Lifetime Achiever 

AJ (as he is affectionately 

known), 

having reached the 

age of 81, has quietly 

announced his 

retirement from umpiring 

to his Hunts 

ACO colleagues this 

month. 

Alan is one of the very few Honorary 

Life Members of ECB ACO and his dedication 

to the cricketing community in Hunts 

has been ‘lifelong’. 

He is a former club captain and official 

of Ufford Park CC where he began playing 

in the 1950’s. He took up the white coat in 

1974 and this season was his 40th umpiring 

year. He has also captained a young 

Jonathan Agnew and umpired a very young 

Charlotte Edwards. 

He has stood in Under 10 girls through 

to County 2 nd Xl games, umpired at Lord’s 

and been involved with local league and 

school cricket for longer than anyone can 

remember! Alan organised umpires at Oundle 

School and with Ken Lake assists in 

ESCA appointments. He will continue in an 

administrative role. 

He is a former ACU&S Chairman and 

was until recently Treasurer of the Hunts 

ACO. Alan attends all Hunts ACO training 

courses and has not missed one evening in 

over 10 years! 

We can think of no finer tribute to a 

man who has given everything for the 

game he loves. 

David Caldwell – Lifetime Achiever 

For almost 60 

years, Davy 

Caldwell has 

contributed to 

cricket in North 

West Ireland 

through his 

achievements as 

Continued on page 8 


Continued from page 7 

player, groundsman, umpire, tutor and 

fundraiser. 

After playing in the 1950s with Creevedonnell, 

he joined Donemana in 1963. A left 

arm seam bowler his 11 years there brought 

3 senior cup and 32 Senior League Championships 

and an interprovincial cap. 

His enduring love of groundsmanship 

began at Eglinton, where he prepared the 

pitch when Ireland hosted Sri Lanka in 1977. 

Most recently he has taken on the new 

ground at Bready, which hosted the 2012 

ICC European Women’s T20 qualifier and 

has recently been approved for ODI status. 

A panel umpire from 1988, his ability was 

quickly recognised with an Interprovincial 

appointment in 1992. Further promotion saw 

him stand in 12 senior Irish international 

matches between 1999 and 2004. 

Davy became an ACU&S umpire tutor in 

1991 and is now the local Training Officer, 

travelling many miles to deliver ECB ACO 

Level 1/1A courses every winter. His graduates 

include 4 current members of ICC Europe 

Panels and numerous other successful 

representative umpires. 

As the tireless Secretary of the Derry 

Midweek League since 2004, he has also 

been instrumental in raising over £50,000 

for local charities. 

Mick Walker – League panels and 

Associations 

We were unanimous in nominating hard 

working Fixture Secretary Mick Walker for 

this Shepherd Frindall Award. 

Mick organises all the umpiring appointments 

for Lincolnshire County Cricket 

League games (5 divisions on Saturdays), 

the North Lindsey League (Sundays), the 

Broughton and District League, plus Lincolnshire 

County age group fixtures in our 

area. In addition, he umpired more Saturday 

games himself last season than anyone else 

on our panel. Through his dedication and 

skill in juggling the available umpires, our 

association appointed to 344 games in 2013 

– of which only 10 (in the lower leagues) 

had just one official standing alone. 

Our Sunday competition, the three-division 

North Lindsey League, provides many 

complications with teams failing to fulfil fixtures 

or rearranging games at short notice for 

various reasons. These factors cause Mick 

considerable extra work, but he takes it all in 

his stride and with good grace and humour. 

He also helps out neighbouring associations 

in Lincoln and Grimsby, where possible, 

by sending Scunthorpe umpires to 

games they were due to cover. Typically 

Mick has reassigned himself to cover in 

the Premier Division on behalf of our 

neighbours. 

peter Hinstridge – Behind the Scenes 

For 10 years Peter 

has arranged the 

umpire appointments 

for the top 

end of the Hertfordshire 

League – 40 

appointments each 

week. The establishment of Herts Premier 

League has increased this requirement to a 

minimum of 50 umpires each week. 

Peter embraced the early adoption of computer 

technology (prior to WTU) to assist in 

the appointing process and was the driving 

force in the successful adoption of WTU for 

the vast majority of appointments within 

Hertfordshire at all levels and, until recently, 

he assisted Peter Tomlin with appointments 

for the Home Counties League also. 

Peter has been the chairman of HACO 

since 2010 and is a major factor in the excellent 

relationship HACO has with both 

League and County Boards – a relationship 

which is used by ECB ACO as an exemple 

of best practice. Peter will also often step in 

to fulfil duties not otherwise allocated or to 

assist others at short notice. 

He was approached to represent Herts 

ACO during the establishment of the Herts 

Premier League and was responsible for 

compiling the new rules and regulations at 

the behest of the League Committee. 

As a L2 tutor, he has been involved with 

the training of umpires for over 10 years, 

initially in assisting to run courses before becoming 

a lead tutor himself with a very high 

success rate. 

2014 Awards: ECB NatWest OSCAs 

WINNER: Anne Vine, Welwyn Garden City Cricket Club, Hertfordshire 

Martyn Holloway- 

Neville – 

Young Volunteer 

Martyn started scoring 

at Ashtead CC at the 

age of 12 and soon 

completed a first level 

scorer qualification. 

Within 3 years he had 

acquired full membership 

of the ACU&S 

and has subsequently 

become one of the 

first in the country, 

and by far the 

youngest, to gain the Level 3 ECB ACO 

scorer qualification. 

For the last 8 years he has been the first 

team scorer for Ashtead and prior to going 

to university he was the first team scorer for 

his school. He has also been the regular 

scorer for several county age group sides 

and has been selected as the South & East 

scorer at the Bunbury Festival. In the last 

year he has scored an England Under 17 international 

match. 

At his club, Martyn organises the scorer 

rota for the senior sides and has provided 

training for scorers, particularly in the understanding 

and use of the Duckworth – Lewis 

system. Martyn has also led a course on Duckworth 

– Lewis for the Surrey Championship 

and on computer scoring for the SCB ACO. 

Since 2010 Martyn has combined his 

studies with the role of Surrey Championship 

statistician. This is a demanding task, 

checking around a hundred scorecards each 

week of the season, urging defaulters to 

enter and complete scorecards and then 

preparing the end of season statistics for the 

Surrey Championship Handbook. 

Martyn is still only 21 but has already 

contributed much skill and time to cricket in 

Surrey over several years. 

All that remained was for Nick Cousins 

to wish everyone a safe journey and for the 

guests to make their way home with most 

commenting on what an enjoyable day 

they’d had at the Home of Cricket. 

We’re not complacent; we’re keen to hear 

your views for speakers at future conferences. 

Anne is a vital part of WGCCC. In 2010 she became Club Secretary, bringing her considerable skills of administration 

and diplomacy, and always providing excellent support in this increasingly demanding role. Anne is also 1st XI 

scorer. She runs scoring courses for parents for junior matches, and scorers for senior teams. Anne’s involved in 

Hertfordshire County Cricket Association, organising scorers for county junior matches, and if none are available 

will score herself. 

RUNNER-UP: Avril Acres, Berkshire Cricket Officials Association, Berkshire 

As Membership Officer for BCOA, Avril has increased the number of umpire and scorer members progressively for 

the last three years. 

2014 sees the membership at its highest ever level of 174 members. This has been achieved by the excellent advertising 

campaign for the training courses with self-designed posters distributed to all clubs within Berkshire at the 

beginning of each year. In addition she has done much secretarial work for our Performance Officer and organised 

the refresher workshops through the season. 

RUNNER-UP: Keith Parsons, Irthlingborough Town Cricket Club, Northamptonshire 

Keith has always played the game in the right spirit. He is a great decision maker as an umpire. He has given so 

much to the Northampton Umpiring community – mentoring younger umpires and being at the top of the panel list 

for a number of seasons and sits on the Northamptonshire Cricket League’s board. He attends regular meetings and 

also goes around the county watching games and seeing how the other umpires on the panel are performing. 


Sports Officials UK 

The critical role of officials and volunteers in delivering professional, safe and enjoyable games is 

generally recognised by all participants, as is the fact that if a game doesn’t have an umpire it cannot go 

ahead. Similarly, having qualified and competent officials will greatly enhance the playing experience of 

the participants. All this was evidenced by the recent Player Participation Survey carried out for ECB. 

Sports Officials UK (SOUK) is the umbrella 

organisation that supports the development 

of sports officials across all sports in the UK. 

It is committed to developing the best possible 

support it can to the recruitment, reward, 

development and retention of officials and 

volunteers so that they can meet the needs of 

the sport. 

It supports the education and development 

of sports officials through collaborative 

thinking, sharing best practice and providing 

generic officiating support resources and advice. 

The individual membership includes 

representatives from cricket, triathlon, swimming. 

lacrosse, badminton, show jumping, 

football, weightlifting, athletics, basketball, 

pentathlon. squash, canoeing, rowing, 

wrestling, rugby and American football. 

ECB ACO has always had close links with 

SOUK. The current Chairman of SOUK is 

ECB Umpires’ Manager and Board member, 

Chris Kelly, and the main director of SOUK 

is ACO’s previous Independent Board Member 

Janie Frampton. 

This year SOUK held its Conference and 

Awards ceremony at Staverton Park near 

Daventry on 30 th October and ECB ACO 

was represented at the event by Finance & 

Project Officer, Ben Francis, and Executive 

Officer, Glyn Pearson. 

The excellent day started with a presentation 

by Duncan Mascarenhas who is the 

Senior Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Psychology 

at Glyndwr University and has 

worked for five years with the RFU national 

and international referees. He has also 

worked with football and rugby referees in 

New Zealand. He spoke of the psychological 

characteristics of officiating including 

commitment, self-awareness and analysis, 

realistic performance self-evaluation and a 

robust self-belief in one’s own abilities. He 

also spoke of ways of avoiding distraction 

and of the need for a passion and enjoyment 

of the sport. 

He then went on to speak of the skills necessary 

to achieve this. Such skills included 

pre-event routines, critical self-reflection 

(both before and after an event) and quality 

practice of officiating. Also covered in this 

informative talk were the benefits of planning, 

imaging and self-talk. 

After lunch the stage was taken by Janie 

Frampton who updated attendees on the programme 

of Continuous Professional Development 

(CPD) modules provided by SOUK. 

These modules, each lasting two to three 

hours, cover: 

■ Communication 

■ Focus and Concentration 

■ Conflict Management 

■ Observation and Decision Making Under 

Pressure 

■ Emotional Intelligence 

■ Honesty, Integrity, Ethics and Fair Play 

■ Equality and Diversity 

■ Respect 

■ How to Stand Out Above the Rest 

These are all skills of vital importance to any 

official wishing to progress to the highest 

level. The session included informative and 

entertaining practical work. 

The evening was given over to the presentation 

of officiating awards for 2014, which 

were presented by Wayne Barnes, Richard 

Illingworth and Howard Webb, and here 

ECB ACO featured prominently. 

Ex First Class and international umpire 

Mervyn Kitchen was runner up in the Official 

Coach/Mentor of the Year category. 

One of the cohort of the ECB ACO Young 

Officials programme, Jordan Montgomery 

Else from Durham beat off competition from 

hockey and netball to win the Junior Official 

of the Year award. This is awarded to the official 

under 18 who has shown exceptional 

performance over the past 12 months. During 

this time Jordan has made outstanding 

progress in his officiating culminating in his 

appointment to the prestigious Bunbury Festival 

that attracts the country’s best under15 

cricketers in the country at Oakham in July. 

Throughout the week Jordan’s performance 

were given positive feedback from players 

and coaches. Furthermore he, along with his 

colleagues, was given an honourable mention 

by ECB’s National Performance Manager 

in his ‘end of festival’ speech. 

The Lifetime Achievement Award went to 

Ivor Chaplin from Brentham Cricket Club 

who triumphed over nominees from table 

tennis and lifesaving. Ivor has not missed 

scoring a match for his club 1st XI since becoming 

the scorer in 1968 – a total of 1,880 

successive matches. In addition to his scoring 

duties Ivor also collects the tea money, 

checks out the dietary requirements of the 

team, looks after the players’ valuables (including 

the ubiquitous and not switched-off 

mobile phones) and sorts the kit at the end of 

the day. 

He has long been a Vice-President of 

Brentham CC and to mark his unique 

achievements in the County League as a 

whole, he was elected a Vice-President of 

the League as well. 

Club Captain Mark Saggers described Ivor 

as “simply a legend - his impact at Brentham 

is impossible to sum up in a few words and 

beyond price. Ivor has never taken a penny 

for his work and dedication – he sees his reward 

as watching young players come 

through the ranks, establish their position 

and go on to flourish as cricketers. He’s currently 

researching 19 lost members of Brentham 

from WW1 so we can rededicate and 

plant new war memorial trees on the north 

side of the ground - all of this in his own 

time, researching public records at Kew.” 

Ivor is held in really high regard on the 

club circuit and Brentham owe him a massive 

debt of recognition and heartfelt thanks. 

These two well-deserved awards rounded 

off a truly enjoyable day. 

Glyn Pearson, 

ECB ACO Executive Office (North) 

In the 

slips… 

On p.25 of edition 20 we published a letter 

on positioning from David Allen. The 

eagle-eyed amongst you may have noticed 

that, due to an editing mix up, we 

replicated one of the earlier pictures for 

the ‘best position’ diagram. To save us 

reproducing the whole article, the diagram 

intended as the ‘best position’ is 

below. Our apologies to David, we hope 

that this clears up any confusion! 


EXCESS BAGGAGE 

ECB ACO member and cricket writer Douglas Miller 

Oh dear, I didn’t give a signal on the fourth 

ball of the over. It was midway through the 

second innings of the match, the time when 

concentration can easily falter. A pity, I reflected, 

because up to that point nothing 

identifiable had gone wrong. Then I began 

cogitating further. Why had this been a 

good match Well, as it definitely was, I can 

happily identify it in all its lowliness: 

Thames Valley League Division 3B, Chalfont 

St Peter v Wooburn Narkovians. I never 

feel too aware of exactly where teams stand 

in the table, but I guess the pressure was off 

– the home side were heading for relegation 

anyway and the opposition had neither hope 

nor fear of their status changing for the 2015 

season. I should perhaps also give credit to 

my colleague that day, especially as he is a 

man of wider importance in the cricket 

world, Angus Porter, Chief Executive of the 

Professional Cricketers Association. 

Whereas I was supplied by the league panel, 

Angus belonged to Narkovians and admitted, 

as attached umpires are wont to do, that 

this probably worked to the advantage of his 

club’s opponents. 

The match had begun pleasantly with willing 

compliance with the groundsman’s request 

to delay the start by a quarter of an 

hour. Thereafter nothing had occurred to clutter 

an umpire’s mind with what I call ‘baggage’. 

When I attended this year’s ACO 

National Conference, I learnt a smarter term 

for it – ‘negative rumination’. I like those 

words – they make it all seem a bit more important, 

but ‘baggage’ will do for me. And 

baggage can come to afflict an umpire from 

all directions. 

Our job breaks down into essentials and 

peripherals. Top of the essentials, I am sure 

most umpires would agree, is to give correct 

decisions. So much threatens to fall apart if 

decisions, especially important ones, are 

wrong – worse still if they are obviously 

wrong. I was interested to read a comment 

from Howard Webb, former top football referee, 

that Premier League officials too easily 

allow a mistake to affect how they conduct 

the rest of a game. Why should umpires be 

any different I well recall meeting with a 

colleague in mid-pitch and saying it had been 

playing on my mind that I might have been a 

bit too hasty in raising my finger for an LBW 

appeal. ‘I know just how you feel,’ she 

replied. Yes, my colleague was a lady and 

perhaps that made her better equipped to empathise 

with how I was feeling, but I mustn’t 

go too far down that track except to say that I 

know she’s a jolly good umpire. 

This is the first category of baggage, the 

self-inflicted. As I type these words, I learn 

from television that Bruce Oxenford, almost 

certainly a far better umpire than you, dear 

reader, whoever you may be and certainly 

one of the world’s very best, has just been reversed 

following a referral that showed his 

LBW decision to be wrong, by at least an 

inch. How was he feeling I could only wonder, 

but the sage words of Jack Bond, ten 

years a first-class umpire, came back to me. I 

wrote a short book with Jack and I can see 

him now as he said: ‘There’s nothing worse 

than on the first morning of a three-day game 

you get something wrong and you realise 

quite quickly that you got it wrong, and you 

think there’s another three days to go. It can 

play on your mind.’ 

We club umpires so often never know if a 

tight call was right or wrong. I return to my 

match at Chalfont and an appeal for LBW. 

Yes, no, maybe….’Not out.’ The bowler’s 

eyebrows show that he hoped for more, but 

he smiles and gets on with the game. He had 

the chance to add to the day’s baggage, but he 

chose not to do so. This will be familiar territory 

for any umpire, when player disappointment 

spills over towards more overt 

disgruntlement and on down the avenue of 

dissent. Such a bowler’s hope, no doubt, is to 

influence the next decision in his favour. 

Does he achieve this My contention is that 

he has merely added to the umpire’s baggage 

and, risked impairing the clarity of his mind, 

but almost certainly done nothing to improve 

the quality of his decision making. The next 

decision may go either way, but it will not 

have been improved by the extra clutter in the 

umpire’s mind. Indeed memory goes back 

some years to a moment when a particularly 

vociferous bowler was on full song. ‘You 

mustn’t give him a cheap LBW,’ a voice was 

saying inside my head. ‘Not out,’ I said, then 

another ‘Not out,’ then ‘Not out’ again. Now 

what was wrong with that one Not a lot, but 

the inner voice had tilted the decision against 

the bowler, perhaps unfairly. 

Player attitudes can certainly add to baggage, 

and sometimes the baggage they bring 

may be physical. ‘Would you mind keeping 

this for me ‘This’ can be anything from a 

nasal spray or expensive watch to a mobile 

phone, an item which can qualify for the additional 

request to ‘let me know if it vibrates.’ 

Those with little experience of such 

impositions should do a little umpiring for 

the Lords and Commons, where affairs of 

state create a constant flow of unauthorised 

comings and goings in the field as well as 

cheerful disregard for such niceties as when 

the latest arrival might, strictly speaking, be 

permitted to bowl. 

The notion of baggage may on occasions 

stretch to a colleague’s undue fastidiousness 

or, perhaps laxity. And how difficult it can be 

to catch his eye when it is needed; but then he 

has to suffer one’s own peccadillos. The other 

partners in the officiating team, the scorers, 

can also add to the problems. Do they not realise 

that I cannot see the signals from the 

gloom of their little hutch Worse still in the 

lower reaches of the game – ‘I’m afraid we 

haven’t got a scorer today’ – where the quality 

of acknowledgement moves around with 

the book as, sometimes, does the book itself. 

And will that lost run find its way back into 

the total Or has the wide been missed altogether 

In my match at Chalfont the scorer 

sat always in the same place at a table outside 

– the gloomy box was destroyed in the winter 

– and he wore a brightly coloured pullover 

that distinguished him from the crowd. No 

matter that he may have been single-handed, 

he did the job to perfection and the score was 

posted up each over. Better, by the way, than 

the electronic board that is marvellous until 

the power runs out or an unfamiliar operator 

loses the plot in trying to eradicate a mistake 

and finds that the technology resists deducting 

runs that have been awarded in error. 

Of greater concern may be those aspects of 

nature over which there is no control, the 

clouds rolling in, the light diminishing or, a 

Thames Valley special, Heathrow operating 

on full throttle. There are then those factors 

over which control has gradually been 

usurped, the endless regulations that may, or 

may not, be in force. The Laws of the game, 

it seems, are increasingly inadequate for most 

competitions –above the waist, above the 

shoulder, above the head, fast ball, slow ball 

– what day of the week is it and I’ll let you 

know if it’s a No ball. And now I am introduced 

to ‘profile wides,’ an alien concept 

creeping up from somewhere in Surrey. 

‘We’d like to play Cricketer Cup rules, but 

we haven’t got the circles –we’ll have to 

imagine them.’ ‘Thank you very much and 

are we otherwise playing the Laws of 

Cricket’ ‘So it’s more than two bounces for 

a No ball’ ‘Oh don’t worry about that. It’s 

not going to happen.’ I beg your pardon. I 

have seen the double bouncer, though admittedly 

not the treble, seven times in a match 

from one bowler who should long ago have 

been pensioned off to umpire. Perhaps more 

pertinently, a twenty-something year old did 

it three times in an over for Marlborough 

Blues. All this is baggage, as is the need to 

keep a count of fielders inside the circle. And, 

while we are about it, in the interests of conformity 

is it four fielders inside or not more 

than five outside Protest not – once a side is 

reduced to ten men, the two are not the same 

thing. To all of this are added the restrictions 

on young players – on their birthday or on 

31 st August the previous year – how many 

they can bowl, where they can field, where 

they can shower, what they can drink by way 

of celebration, who’s allowed to motor them 

home. ‘It’s his last over,’ I told one captain 

last year. ‘But he’s a spinner,’ I was informed. 

You might as well have called Miliband a 

Tory. This lad was tearing in off a full run and 

I hadn’t noticed him getting any turn. Our decision 

prevailed, and if he makes it to the 

higher reaches of the game, I trust he will be 

in Playfair as RFM. 

These few random words may fall on deaf 

ears. I am sure they will. But they are offered 

in the hope that those legislating for our game 

may sometimes reflect on whether their provisions 

are truly needed or whether they are 

merely excess baggage. 


Worcestershire ACO Recruitment 

It’s always great to see county ACOs taking the initiative and hosting events to attract new 

members to the Association. 

An example of such a scheme was sent into us by David Gower, Chairman of Worcestershire 

ACO. 

11th August saw England A play Sri Lanka A 

at Worcestershire’s New Road ground. Having realised 

that this fixture would bring in a larger than 

usual crowd, Worcestershire ACO ran an open 

day alongside the fixture to generate interest in 

their winter courses and also the benefits of joining 

ECB ACO. The day itself was declared a success 

with a number of spectators registering 

interest in future Umpire and Scorer courses. 

To help support the day David asked the two 

standing umpires. Alex Wharf and Tim Robinson 

(pictured, right), to be present after the game, 

both of whom were more than happy to do so. 

If anyone out there would like to run a similar 

event in their county please get in touch with a 

member of ECB ACO’s Executive team who will 

be more than happy to help in any way they can. 

Tutor Training 

David Gower, 

WACO Chairman 

Over the last few years ECB ACO has established an education programme to cater for 

the needs of its members with a pathway of Level 1, 1A, 2 and 3 for those who wish to 

progress and with 2 and 3 replaced by 2C and 3C as Continuous Professional Development 

(CPD) for those with no wish to progress but a desire to become the best they can 

be at whatever level of cricket in which they stand. 

Early 2014 saw a programme of course observation with trained observers attending 

some 35% of the 200 or so courses that we ran covering the whole curriculum and attending 

sessions throughout the country. As a result of this several minor amendments 

were made to the syllabuses at each level for Level 2 but the general feeling was that the 

programme “did what it says on the tin” without omission or repetition. For 2014/15 this 

course observation exercise will be extended to tutors in an exercise. 

For 2014/15 this course observation exercise will be extended to include tutor assessment 

in an exercise to share best tutoring practices. In preparation for this a programme of 

tutor training workshops was rolled out throughout the regions starting in South West in 

September and finishing in North in November. Those in South West and London & East 

were led by our Senior Executive Officer, Nick Cousins, while those in Midlands and 

North were led by Executive Officer, Glyn Pearson. The scorer tutor sessions at all four 

workshops were delivered by Graham Cooper from ICC (Europe). 

The day’s training started with a session explaining how ECB ACO had progressed and 

matured through the six years it has been in existence and the purpose behind the tutor 

observation to help improve the delivery of the ECB ACO education portfolio. 

This was followed by the main session covering generic tutoring skills and how these 

differed, not only from tutor to tutor, but also depending on whether tutoring the Level 1, 

which is basically a taught course, or the Level 1A or Level 2, which is a facilitated 

course. It also covered venue suitability and layout together with the effective use of 

PowerPoint and other teaching aids. In addition, advice was given on how to recognise, 

and cater for, the different learning styles of candidates and what teaching methods each 

type of candidate would best benefit from. 

After lunch it was time for input from the attending tutors and prospective tutors. 

They were split between scorers and umpires and between Level 1 and 1A and above. 

It was then for them to be led through the courses and discuss the various ways in 

which each session could be organised and delivered most effectively to maximise the 

benefit to the candidates. 

When it was originally organised it was anticipated that up to 60 tutors would be interested 

in attending these tutor training days. It is a tribute to the commitment and dedication 

of the volunteer workforce that by the time the last workshop was completed a total 

of 167 tutors had attended them. 

Glyn Pearson, 

ECB ACO Executive Office (North) 

Production of a Devon 

ACO polo shirt for 2015 

Having canvassed my fellow umpires & 

scorers during the tail end of the 2014 

season, I became aware of a desire for 

colleagues to have a polo shirt showing they 

represent DACO. 

I decided to take the bull by the horns and 

look to see what I needed to do to make 

this possible. 

But where do you start 

Step 1: Contact the local ACO Chairman to ask 

permission to investigate producing a county 

polo shirt, check if there is a county logo and/or 

colour to be used. 

Step 2: Contact Ben Francis at ECB to gain permission 

to use their logo. 

Step 3: Contact Paul Fearnley at Duncan Fearnley 

for them to produce artwork of the finished 

product and agree the cost per shirt. You can ask 

for a separate cost to place a sponsor’s logo on 

the shirt sleeve if you have one. 

Step 4: Use the County membership database 

(usually available from the secretary) to forward 

to all members a copy of the artwork of the shirt, 

sizes available, requesting the members to confirm 

if they want to place a pre-order, state the 

highest amount the shirt will cost without sponsorship 

in place. Remember to include postage 

and packaging costs, if necessary. Set a two week 

period to gain a response. 

Step 5: Set up a payment method to enable payment 

by BACS and cheque. You can use an existing 

account or set up one specifically for this 

purpose. 

Step 6: Confirm to all colleagues who requested 

an order the final cost of the polo shirts 

and date of payment. Payment must be obtained 

in advance 

Step 7: Once payment has been received 

place the order, delivery will take approximately 

4 - 8 weeks depending on order size 

and time of ordering 

Step 8: Distribute shirts as required, at regional 

meetings or by post (whatever you decide to do) 

It’s great to know our membership are happy 

being members of ECB ACO but also proud of 

representing the county of Devon. 

Be Proud of your ACO 

With the groundwork already done there is now 

no excuse why other regions of the ACO 

should not follow in our footsteps to promote 

their own counties. 

Ray Allen, DACO Management Committee 


Umpire Level 3: The Final Stage – “Presentation” 

Devon was the venue for Adjudicator and 

ACO Senior Executive Officer, Nick 

Cousins, to assess Tim Boston (Cornwall), 

Steve Lavis and Andy Forward (both 

Devon). 

The three umpires had attended all four of 

ECB ACO’s Level Three umpire course, 

which is designed to assist umpires to prepare 

and prosper in multi-day cricket and, in particular, 

in MCCA and D List cricket matches. 

The modules are titled as below: 

■ Effective Match Management 

■ Working as a Team 

■ Decision Making 

■ Limited Overs Cricket 

Having completed the four modules of classroom 

based facilitated 

learning each participant 

then has to produce a “technical 

report” on a cricket related 

matter. It’s not as 

straightforward as it 

sounds, and rightly so, because 

the participants are 

required to apply to their 

lead tutor to agree a suitable 

subject on which they will 

deliver their Technical Report. 

Once complete, the 

participants have to present their reports. This 

is in the form of a twenty minute presentation 

to the tutors and fellow participants, followed 

by a session of questions and answers. 

Over time, ECB ACO will develop a reference 

library 

of these reports. 

Andy 

Forward 

started the 

ball rolling 

with an insight 

into 

coming to 

terms and 

dealing with 

fast, short-pitched bowling. Steve Lavis followed 

with his report on assisting, as a mentor, 

a colleague over a two year period and 

Tim Boston completed the trilogy by dealing 

with managing match situations. The three 

topics were presented in three different ways 

by three brave men, each of whom responded 

happily to probing by Nick Cousins and 

questions from the audience. Everyone 

learned something useful to take forward. 

Nick Cousins explained the process, provided 

courteous helpful and challenging feedback 

to each participant and explained why in 

his opinion each participant had deservedly 

“passed” and merited the award of UL3 status. 

This was a challenging evening for the 

three participants whose mettle was tested in 


Hawk-Eye test for England women 

England women’s cricketers Tammy Beaumont, Natasha Farrant and 

Laura Marsh pitted their LBW decision making skills against each 

other and Hawk-Eye ball tracking technology in the MCC Cricket 

Academy on 3 rd November. The England girls were joined by ECB 

ACO umpires Janet Rogers and Sophie Mclelland, who offered tips 

and guidance 

During the session at Lord’s, the players took it in turns to make a 

series of LBW decisions, before heading up to the Performance 

Analysis Suite to review their decisions using the Hawk-Eye technology. 

All three players were surprised at the level of concentration 

required to umpire just two overs each and how difficult it was, at 

times, to stand by the decision with such an enthusiastic bowler appealing 

at them. 

Once in the Analysis Suite the girls got to see just exactly how 

well each had done. Natasha Farrant had been adamant that each one 

of her four decisions had been wrong but she shone through getting 

all four decisions correct. 

The session, which is well worth a watch if you haven’t seen it already, 

featured on Sky Sports News and is also available to view on 

ECB’s YouTube channel. 

ECB ACO is keen to promote, recruit and support more female 

officials to the game and this was a great way to get our top achieving 

England players more engaged with umpiring, and a chance for 

our current female umpires to offer up advice and techniques. 

ECB ACO is working to address the gap in female officiating 

through a range of local and national initiatives that will be launched 

over the next year, with an overall aim to have more female officials 

involved in the game from 2015 onwards. 

‘You vs. Hawk-Eye’ offer reduced… 

ECB ACO and the MCC Cricket Academy have previously worked 

together to offer umpires around the country the chance to partake 

in a ‘You vs Hawk-Eye’ session where umpires are asked to make a 

series of LBW decisions in the Academy nets and then given the 

opportunity to review these on the Hawk-Eye technology in the 

Performance Suite. 

ECB ACO has previously partnered the MCC Indoor Academy to 



continued from page 12 

front of colleagues. The fact that everyone 

thoroughly enjoyed the evening is 

a testament to the three who thoroughly 

earned their UL3 Certification. 

The criteria for being accepted on the 

Level 3 programme are: 

Duration: 10 - 12 hours 

prerequisites: Levels 1, 1a and 2, 

in the top quartile of a Premier League 

and grading C1* 

Target: Umpires who aspire to and 

are capable of officiating in Minor 

Counties or County Second XI cricket. 

Tutors: Appointed nationally. 

Arrangements: By invitation only; 

no applications. Nominations from 

CPOs via RPOs to Performance 

Committee for final decision. Four 

modules over a minimum of two years 

followed by at least one season of 

umpiring with match planning, selfassessment 

and independent 

observations. 

Accreditation: by a professional 

discussion and presentation of a 

Technical Report on one aspect of 

the programme. 

Cost: £160 

Gavin Lane, DACO Chairman 

‘You vs. Hawk-Eye’ offer 

reduced… continued from p12 

offer umpires around the country 

the chance to partake in an LBW 

scenario, simultaneously logged by 

Hawk-Eye, with a bid to test themselves 

and learn more about the 

tracking system in the process. 

The existing offer has been further 

discounted, exclusively for 

ECB ACO members, with prices 

dropping from £130 to £96 per 

hour for up to six officials. 

The deal includes the following: 

■ An introduction to the session 

■ A chance to umpire in the net 

■ A comparison against Hawk- 

Eye’s decisions 

■ An understanding of how 

Hawk-Eye works 

To book a group session or 

for more information about 

‘You vs. Hawk-Eye’, please 

contact Ashish Gusani 

(0207 616 8610 or 

analysis@mcc.org.uk). 

For individuals wishing to 

join a group please contact 

ECB ACO on 0121 446 2710 

or ecb.aco@ecb.co.uk 

Who’s The Umpire (WTU) 

Since its introduction to English cricket some four years ago WhosTheUmpire.com has helped 

to significantly improve the administration of cricket umpiring and scoring throughout the ACO. 

However, WTU is not just an appointing tool - ECB’s nationwide contract for WTU also allows 

for the input of both captain’s feedback reports umpire’s pitch and fair play reports and the 

creation and distribution of disciplinary reports. . 

ECB ACO continues to work closely with WTU’s developers to ensure the software continues 

to meet our changing requirements. For example, 2014 saw the introduction of ‘InEx’ 

(Information Exchange), a new tool which allows ACOs and leagues to store documents and 

resources on WTU, with permission restrictions if required. Users of InEx get first access to 

ACO’s newsletter as it is uploaded when it has been approved and sent to print. 

Future developments 

In 2015, new functionality for managing the payment 

of match fees and travelling expenses will 

also be added to the software. ECB ACO hopes 

that making this capability available to all, will 

simplify the task for our volunteer workforce as 

WTU’s sister in rugby, WhosTheRef.com, already 

includes the tool for recording payments 

for rugby referees. 

It’s important to note that WTU will not be involved 

with the handling of actual payments, 

these remains under control of the league/ACO; 

however, WTU will calculate the payments and 

allow you to record them. It will also allow 

ACOs to generate invoices if they need to do so. 

So how else does WTU help 

cricket officials and 

administrators 

The system does not remove control from the administrators. 

Appointers still make all the decisions 

about which umpire to appoint to which 

game. WTU simply makes it easier to view the 

information needed for each appointment and to 

communicate with the officials. 

One of the most powerful tools on WTU is the 

availability calendar. Officials are expected to 

maintain their calendar online. so the appointers 

can see at a glance who is available on any 

given day. 

At the time of appointing, the appointments officer 

can view each umpire’s recent appointment 

history to ensure, for example, that an official is 

not appointed to the same team too often. You 

can also prevent umpires from being appointed 

to specific clubs, maybe because they are members 

or because the particular venue is difficult 

for them to get to. 

Club secretaries and team captains receive an 

automatic email so they know who to expect as 

umpires for their games, and WTU can be integrated 

with external websites, whether County 

ACOs or leagues so that appointments can be automatically 

displayed on these. 

These tasks alone greatly reduce the workload 

of ACO’s volunteers. 

Once an appointment has been made, an official 

can be notified via email or SMS at the click 

of a button. Each official is expected to acknowledge 

receipt of the email or SMS by indicating 

whether they accept or decline each appointment. 

This allows the appointer to see at a glance 

the status of each game, whether it is covered, or 

if further appointments need to be made. 

Umpires have access to the latest version of 

playing regulations via InEx, as well as any other 

documents you create to help them. Using this 

central store of key documents, you can ensure 

the most up to date version is the one that is always 

presented. 

How does WTU help post match 

If as an ACO or league you require team captains 

to submit feedback on the umpire’s performance, 

then this can be performed using WTU. There 

are a number of standard forms available for you 

to use, alternatively if your ACO or league requires 

a specific document, then this can be uploaded. 

Similarly, umpires can input pitch report and fair 

play forms to record information about the facilities 

and their match. 

Such reports are of course confidential and the 

system has controls to ensure only authorised 

users are able to view each report. The data submitted 

can be extracted into a spreadsheet for 

analysis by the appropriate committee. 

If disciplinary reports are required, then not 

only can these be created on WTU but the system 

will also automatically ensure they are 

distributed to those who need them in real 

time. No more 8 part forms being hand written 

and posted! 

Why should you use WTU 

Society is changing, many sports are finding to 

harder to recruit and retain volunteers needed to 

ensure sport runs smoothly. ECB ACO recognises 

the value of our volunteers and hopes that 

by making WTU available across England and 

Wales, that they can carry out their jobs as efficiently 

as possible. 

ECB ACO recognises that each ACO and 

League has a wealth of experienced volunteers 

who are best placed to make decisions. WTU 

does not take away any decision making – that is 

left entirely with the appointer, but, the service 

does make it easier for them to carry out their 

valued work. 

Tributes 

This year WTU has been very well received by 

those ACOs and leagues who adopted it for the 

2014 summer season: 

“In my meeting with Nick Cousins yesterday I 

think I described WTU as “the best thing since 

sliced bread” as it brings umpire appointments & 

administration into the 21st Century! “ 

Steve Davies, Wales ACO Chairman & 

Appointments Officer 

“I am very pleased with the progress that has 

been made over the three years since ECB ACO 

first used it and this is a good example of an 

ACO success story.” 

Nick Cousins 

“I have to admit it is easy to use and will 

definitely save me lots of time.” 

Mick Kirkbright NYSDCL 


Frank Chester 

Kenneth Hutchings, an amateur 

who played for Kent was 

killed by enemy shellfire at 

Ginchy, France on 3 rd September 

1916. Although he played only 

seven Test matches he was regarded 

by many as a potential answer 

to Australia’s Victor 

Trumper. His sole Test century 

was scored at Melbourne in January 

1908 and took only 128 minutes and contained 20 fours. 

As everyone knows, 2014 saw the centenary of the outbreak of the First 

World War. Amid the carnage and slaughter no fewer than 289 First 

Class cricketers, including four Test players, lost their lives. 407 First 

Class cricketers were decorated for bravery. 

The four Test players who died were: 

Leonard Moon, who played for Middlesex made four Test appearances 

for England, all against South Africa in 1905-06. Eventually the 

horrors of the war became too much for him and he shot himself on 

23 rd November 1916 while serving in Salonika, Greece 

Major Booth of Yorkshire. “Major” was his first name and not his 

rank, which was Second Lieutenant. Booth played 162 matches for 

Yorkshire scoring 4,753 runs and including two centuries, one of which 

was a double century. He also took 603 wickets. In May 1914, only 

two months before the outbreak of war he took 25 wickets for 202 runs 

in only two matches. In the month the war broke he and Alonso Drake 

bowled unchanged through all four innings of two county matches. He 

played two Test matches against South Africa in the winter of 1913/14. 

Booth became one of the many casualties of the Somme when he 

was killed on the opening day of the battle on 1 st July 1916. It was nine 

months later before Booth’s remains were identified by his MCC cigarette 

case 

Colin Blythe was one of the finest slow left arm bowlers to play First 

Class cricket. He took a total of 2,503 wickets for Kent including 17 

for 48 against Northamptonshire in 1907. He took 215 wickets in the 

1909 season. 

He played 19 Tests including two tours to Australia and two to South 

Africa and took exactly 100 wickets. 

His brother, Sid, was killed in the Battle of the Somme in August 

1916 and in November 1917 Colin was killed by a shell-burst at Passchendale 

in Belgium. 

Among the 289 First Class players who lost their lives was Percy 

Jeeves of Warwickshire who was generally considered to be a certain 

future England player. He was lost without trace in a night time advance 

against German machine gun posts. PG Wodehouse, a keen 

cricket follower, later used his name as the manservant to Bertie 

Wooster. 

In 1899 Arthur Edward Jeune Collins scored 628 not out in a house 

match at Clifton College. This is still the record for a genuine match. 

He was killed at Ypres, Belgium in November 1914 while serving with 

the Royal Engineers. He had been married for just six months. Both 

his brothers were also killed during the war. 

Altogether Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack carried almost 1,800 obituaries 

of Test, First Class, club and school cricketers, running to a total of 

over 385 pages, between 1915 and 1919. 

No First Class umpires were among the dead but one player whose 

playing career was ended by the war went on to become one of the 

most famous umpires in the history of the game. 

The story of how World War One affected the cricketing 

career of Frank Chester is a happier one than those 

mentioned previously but its effects were still significant 

Frank Chester was born in Bushey, Hertfordshire in January 1895. 

He played 55 first-class matches for Worcestershire between 1912 and 

1914. In 1913 he became the youngest player to score a county century 

when he made 108 against Somerset. This was followed in 1914 by his 

highest score of 178 not out against Essex. 

He volunteered on the outbreak of war to serve in the Royal Field 

Artillery in a battery commanded by his county 2 nd XI captain Major 

Allsopp. After serving at the Second Battle of Loos his unit was moved 

to Salonika in Greece where he lost his right arm below the elbow 

when a shrapnel wound became gangrenous. 

This obviously ended his playing career and when he returned to 

England he decided to take up umpiring His first First Class match was 

Essex v Somerset in 1922 where he gave both captains out (JWHT 

Douglas of Essex LBW and J Daniell of Somerset stumped), a move 

not generally considered very wise in those days. 

Chester stood in 48 Tests between 1924 and 1955 which was a 

record until passed by Dickie Bird. He also stood in over 1,000 firstclass 

matches 

In the Test Match against West indies at Trent Bridge in 1950 

Chester insisted that Doug Insole was out LBW even though the ball 

subsequently rolled on ot the stumps and dislodged a bail. He claimed 

he had given his LBW decision before the bail was removed and the 

ball was therefore dead. This led to a change of Law 30 by MCC to 

make it clear that bowled should take precedence over any other form 

of dismissal. 

Sir Donald Bradman described him as ”the greatest umpire under 

whom I have played”. This was despite the fact that Chester had objected 

to the demonstrative appealing of the Australians in 1948 and 

1953 and did not stand in any of the Tests after the first one in 1953. In 

reply he described 

Bradman as “the greatest 

run-making machine 

I have ever 

known” although he 

considered Jack Hobbs 

to be the greatest batsman 

of all time. 

Chester suffered 

from stomach ulcers 

which sometimes 

made him irascible and 

occasionally affected 

his decision making in 

his later years. EW 

Swanton still described 

him as “as nearly infallible 

as a man could be 

in his profession” 

He died in Bushey, 

Hertfordshire on 8 th 

April 1957. 


‘The Follow On’ 

In true cricketing form, we give you ‘The Follow On’. Although this feature doesn’t rely on a team 

having a lead of 200 going into the second innings, we hope it will keep you informed and updated on 

past events that are of interest to you. 

ECB’s National Playing Cricket Survey 

2013’s National Cricket Playing Survey, 

was the first survey of its kind ever undertaken 

by ECB to engage directly with recreational 

cricketers. In total the survey 

received 21,500 responses from current and 

former players. 

Back to this summer, early June to be precise, 

ECB ACO sent an email to you all regarding 

the second National Cricket Playing 

Survey requesting that you, and all the players 

that you engage with, complete it. 

We thank you for your help and are delighted 

to report that this second survey received 

an increased response rate from 37,500 

recreational cricketers. In total across the two 

years over 52,000 individual players have 

given us their views on the game they play. 

2014’s survey feedback was also aligned 


scorecards from play-cricket.com and player 

panel research, allowing the ECB to learn the 

following about the cricket playing ‘market’. 

Please see below more detail from 

www.ecb.co.uk on the survey’s findings 

ECB announces key findings 

from 2014 National Cricket 

Playing Survey 

ECB today announced its grassroots cricket 

participation figures for adults and children 

over the age of 14. These figures have been 

derived from ECBs Eureka! insight programme. 

This year’s research showed a seven per 

cent decrease in the total number of players 

playing cricket in teams – down from 

908,000 in 2013 to 844,000 in 2014. 

Males represented 93 per cent of the participation 

base with females representing 

seven per cent – the same gender breakdown 

as in 2013. The survey also revealed 

that 30 per cent of grassroots cricketers are 

drawn from ethnic minorities and 53 per 

cent of cricketers would like to play the 

game more often. 

The findings are based on 37,500 responses 

from recreational cricketers to this 

year’s National Playing Survey together 


scorecards from play-cricket.com and 

player panel research. 

This represented a significant increase on 

the 21,500 responses from recreational 

cricketers to the inaugural survey which was 

introduced last year as part of ECB’s wider 

efforts to engage more closely with the amateur 

game. 

The survey revealed that poor weather 

contributed to the decline in participation. 

70 per cent of amateur cricket is played on 

Saturdays and only 15 Saturdays were rated 

‘dry’ in 2014 compared with 20 in 2013. 

Further detailed analysis of the survey’s 

findings also revealed that: 

■ 247,000 were ‘Core’ players who play 

at least twelve weeks of a 26 week 

summer season 

■ 405,000 were ‘Occasional’ players who 

play between three and eleven weeks of a 

26 week summer season. 

■ 192,000 were ‘Cameo’ players who 

play one or two weeks of a 26 week 

summer season 

ECB’s Chief Operating Officer Gordon 

Hollins said: “ECB recognised the participation 

challenges that have been facing all 

team sports and we were determined to gain 

a greater insight into those issues and find 

long term solutions. To do that ECB 

changed the way in which it measured participation 

last year and introduced the new 

National Cricket Playing Survey as part of 

our wider efforts to gain a greater understanding 

of what drives grassroots cricket 

participation.” 

“Thanks to an excellent response ECB 

now has a much clearer picture than ever before 

of who plays recreational cricket, what 

type of cricket they prefer to play, when they 

want to play it and we are now setting about 

finding ways in which we can best address 

their needs going forward. 

“We are already working in partnership 

with our 39 County Cricket Boards as part of 

a detailed participation review. We will join 

them in working with their respective cricket 

leagues to tackle key factors which affect participation 

such as match end time, travel distance 

to matches, playing format, length of 

game and club/school links. 

“This year, we’ve run a pilot ‘player communications’ 

programme in four counties targeting 

current and lapsed players which has 

produced encouraging results. We’ve also 

launched a programme of engagement and 

development with South Asian communities 

which has been backed up by capital and revenue 

investment in five major cities with a 

high South Asian population. 

“Our recreational game also experienced 

greater frequency of rainfall on Saturdays in 

2014 than in the wet summer of 2012 and in 

the new year we’ll be announcing further 

plans to support clubs in their efforts to mitigate 

the impact of wet weather which had a 

significant effect on the number of fixtures 

completed.” 

ECB ACO’s National 

Officiating Survey 

As those of you who completed the player 

survey know, there were questions positioned 

for existing and ex-umpires and scorers. 

From this ECB ACO received valuable 

feedback, as alluded to on pages 2 and 3, 

which provides us with a greater understanding 

of the officiating market within England 

and Wales. 

As a 

follow-up 

to the National 

Cricket 

Playing 

Survey, 

and to 

support 

ECB ACO 

in their 

mission to 

improve 

the standard 

of officiating, 

and therefore 

player satisfaction, 

you’ll be aware that we issued an officiating 

survey at the end of November. 

This was designed to glean information 

from both existing ACO members and anyone 

who told ECB in the player survey that 

they umpire or score, whether as nominated 

officials or helping out from time to time. 

Put simply, anyone who umpires or scores, 

within England and Wales at any time, is 

welcome to complete it. 

The survey had two aims: 

1. Understand what existing ACO members 

value from the current membership 

proposition. 

2. Gain a better understanding of what 

officiating looks like at all levels of the 


The second of these had a particular focus in 

understanding how many people umpire at 

each tier of the game, how many of these are 

qualified (undertaken a form of education) 

and how many are existing members. 

You may have seen supporting communications 

on websites and in social media – 

examples are displayed below. 

The survey was designed to take around 

10 minutes to complete and closed on December 

8 th . Upon going to print we had received 

the following response: 

Total responses - 3,486 

■ 1,859 current umpire ACO members 

■ 42 Associate Members. 

■ 229 Current ACO Scorers + 16 

Associates 

■ 656 Umpire responses from Non- 

Members 

■ 288 Scorer responses from Non-Members 

■ Then lastly, 1,373 free text comments at 

the end of the survey 

Thank you very much to those of you who 

completed the survey; we appreciate your 

assistance and will get straight to work on 

analysing the data with the aim of providing 

the findings in the next edition. 



In edition 20, page 14 we asked for your feedback regarding best practice umpiring and scoring facilities 

to allow us to encourage clubs, via NatWest CricketForce, to improve the facilities. Unfortunately we 

received few responses, which is a shame considering the complaints over the last five years. However 

we will not back down and will push ahead with our plans (although we’re still open to your comments…) 

The six projects chosen 

for the officials’ 

redevelopment competition 

will be notified 

via an ‘Over and 

Out’ email (see page 

5) later in the new 

year when they have 

been selected. 

We really hope that 

ECB ACO members 

will head to these 

clubs and support the 

projects and make up 

the majority of the 

volunteer workforce 

to improve your officiating 

experience. 

We’ll report back in 

the pre-season edition 

with updates of each 

project. 

Over 800 clubs 

have already signed 

up to NatWest CricketForce 

2015 since 

registrations opened 

in October and our 

aim is to beat last 

year’s total of 2,247. 

NatWest Cricket- 

Force is an event 

where clubs are encouraged 

to bring 

players, members and 

the community together 

before the start 

of the season to get 

their ground and 

clubhouse ready for play! It’s a great event for getting lots of work 

done and helping team spirit too! 

Below are two examples whereby cricket clubs have taken the initiative 

to redevelop or completely rebuild their scoreboxes. 

Oulton Cricket Club - 

New Frontage for Scorebox 

During the Winter of 2013, we identified that the wood boarding of the 

Scorebox was in need of some repair. We had identified the 

Jewson/ECB offer of a deposit of £50 generating a value of £350 for 

materials purchased from Jewson. This seemed like the ideal opportunity 

to carry out the repair if the right materials could be sourced. 

We dismissed the possibility of repairing in wood board as the same 

situation would occur again. We identified the use of plastic foam 

filled cladding as a suitable option. 

We contacted Jewson, Stafford branch and discussed our options. 

They were very helpful and gave us the names of manufacturers that 

could be used. We discussed with the manufacturers what would be required 

for the trim etc and advised Jewson to obtain suitable prices. 

The overall costs were within the Budget of £400 so all the wooden 

supports and cladding was ordered. 

We had managed to secure a number of old “pull string” scoreboxes 

from Checkley (when they upgraded to an electronic) and included 

these in the reconstruction and upgrading. This included 2 x 0 - 12 

numbers for the batsmen. 

The reconstruction was completed including the painting black, of 

the white cladding. The facia of each box opening was then “boxed 

off” with shatterproof perspex sheet for added protection from cricket 

balls and the weather. 

The Scorebox / Umpires Changing facility was given a full paint for 

the 2014 Season to finish off a very neat job. The Total cost was in the 

region of £600, but would not have been fully undertaken without the 

Jewson/ECB offer. 


Brian Stretton 

Honorary secretary, Oulton Cricket Club 

Thorpe Hesley and High Green CC – 

Replacement Scorebox 

We decided that the old score box which was literally falling to pieces 

was in need of replacing so set about planning it. 

Our aim for the project was to get the new score box built as well as 

building a new umpires changing room in the same structure. We 

wanted the project finished 

by the 19 th April – our first 

home game of the season. 

We needed to ensure the 

project to be completed at a 

cost that was affordable to 

the club. 

Approximately 60 people 

turned out during our 


weekend on the 5 th and 6 th 

of April to ensure that the 

score box was indeed complete 

in time for the first 

weekend, with our umpires 

changing facilities, in particular, 

receiving very high 

praise indeed from members 

of the umpiring community 

who have used them. 

As well as completing the 

building, the main pavilion 

was given a complete overhaul on the inside – (a lick of paint, new 

fridges and oven to store and cook food on match days) – and a coat or 

two of wood stain to the outside. There have also been improvements 

to storage facilities with new shelves being added to the garage. 

Maintenance work was also done in the outfield with trees being 

trimmed so they no longer reached over the pitch. As well as this new 

sponsor boards were treated and boards attached. 

The project was completed at a cost of roughly £3,000 to the cricket 

club with over £15,000 worth of labour and resources being provided 

by local businesses in return for sponsorship boards being placed 

around the ground. 

The highlight of the project had to be on Saturday when tools were 

momentarily put down as Radio Sheffield and the Sheffield Star turned 

up to interview Gareth Davis, the son of our club president and Cricket 

Development Officer for the YCB. Looking round, over 30 volunteers, 

including 4 from NatWest, paused as Gareth explained the events of 

the day and the plans for the future. 

Iain MacDonald 

Chairman, Thorpe Hesley and High Green CC


Developing cricket officials under the age of 25 

This feature of the ACO Newsletter is part of 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! 

Young Leaders in Cricket 

October 5 th saw 400 people crowd into the Nursery Pavillion 

at Lord’s to celebrate the achievements of over 140 

Young Volunteers in Kent. The Young Leaders in Cricket 

scheme teaches 4 modules to young cricketers (Umpiring & 

Scoring, Coaching, Groundsmanship and First Aid). They 

are then required to volunteer at their clubs, putting these 

skills into practice. The ceremony was presided over by 

ECB’s National Volunteering and Participation Manager 

Jane Hannah who welcomed, amongst others, ICC Elite 

Umpire of the Year Richard Kettleborough onstage to help 

present certificates to those who completed the programme. 

The programme itself resulted in 3000 volunteering hours put 

into clubs in Kent with a total of £3500 made in fundraising and 

the most hours completed by an individual volunteer 133 hours. 

ECB ACO has been involved with the teaching of the Young 

Leaders Umpiring and Scoring module for the last 4 years and 

special thanks must go to Peter Brown, Martin Seguss and 

Dennis Stones for their work on tutoring the course. I’m sure 

they will all agree it is a fantastic scheme to 

get young people involved in cricket and has 

gone from strength to strength each year. 

If you want to find out more 

about the Young Leaders programme, 

or maybe you would 

like your child to participate in 

2015, then you can contact the 

programme coordinator Andy Littlechild at 

andy.littlechild@btinternet.com or via Twitter @cricketleaders 

Grandfather and Grandson Pair Up 

When Bryan Mallinder started umpiring in the Doncaster and District Cricket League at the start of 

Summer 1972 It was probably the largest league in the country with up to 120 teams involved. Skip 

forwards 42 years and Bryan is without doubt one of the longest serving umpires in South Yorkshire 

and perhaps the county. 

However, umpiring continues to provide him with new experiences, such as on June 14 of this 

year when he officiated in the Rockingham v Thorncliffe match in the South Yorkshire Senior 

Cricket League with his grandson Callum Johnson, aged 22. Callum having successfully attended 

the Level 1 course at Rotherham earlier in the year. 

Over the years Bryan has served the game well in the South Yorkshire area, with a reputation as a strict 

umpire who is always in full control of the game; he still umpires in that vein and stands no nonsense. Having bought a holiday 

home in Scarborough he now divides his umpiring time between the Scarborough Beckett League and the South Yorkshire 

Senior Cricket League. 

Callum has yet to decide whether he will take up the white coat on a regular basis as he still enjoys playing and is registered 

with a club in the South Yorkshire Senior Cricket League. If he does choose to umpire he has a wonderful role model in 

Bryan, something that I can speak of from personal experience as it was Bryan who encouraged me to start umpiring in 1975, 

and he was my mentor and a great help in those early days. I owe him a lot. 

Terry Bentham SYACO Chairman and CPO. 

Ed: Thanks to Terry for the ‘heads up’ and congratulations to Bryan and Callum – has anyone else got any stories in a 

similar vein 



Christmas Quiz 

The, now annual, Christmas 

Quiz makes a welcome 

return after a successful 

introduction in 2013. 

Last year we tested your knowledge of the Laws 

of Cricket, however this year we thought we’d 

change things up a little and test your general 

cricketing knowledge, with the prize on offer a 

2013 Graeme Swann ODI Shirt. All you need to 

do to be in with a chance of winning this great 

prize is to name the 5 English county grounds 

pictured below. If more than one YO names all 5 

then the winner will be picked at random. 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

You can email your entry to 

john.overton@ecb.co.uk or post it to ECB 

ACO at Lord’s. All entries must be received by 

Friday 9 th January 2015. Good Luck!! 


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. 

C A N A D A 

ACO Member, Keith Healey, visits Canada 

In July 2014 ACO member Keith Healey 

and his wife Judy, also an ACO umpire, 

travelled to Winnipeg Canada for the wedding 

of their daughter. 

Not one to waste an opportunity to sample 

cricket in another country Keith called 

ahead of their visit to arrange for Judy and 

himself to umpire some local 

league matches. He was delighted 

to receive a confirmation email 

from ‘The Manitoba Cricket Association’ 

appointing him to a match. 

The following is an account of 

their experience. 

There are three cricket grounds, 

side-by-side, in Assiniboine Park. 

These are quite large playing areas, 

certainly as big as many Premier 

league grounds with which I am familiar. 

No square, as such, but a 

central artificial pitch, covered with 

coconut matting, pegged out tightly 

on a clay base. This surface played 

very much like a hard, fast grass 

pitch. Seam movement early on and 

spin later. The bounce and carry was largely 

true, but there was just an occasional low 

bounce. No metal spikes allowed on this surface. 

International matches have been staged 

here. The players came from a variety of 

backgrounds. Quite a few from the Asian 

sub-continent and other established cricketing 

nations, plus a few Canadians. 

We met the captains, dealt with the prematch 

requirements and awaited the start. 

The sun was shining and the temperature a 

rather sultry 28 ºC. The game commenced at 

11:00am. With 45 overs to come, 2 drinks 

breaks, and 3 hours 10 minutes in which to 

complete this allocation, my thoughts moved 

to whether an over-rate of 15 to the hour 

could be met (they were astounded when I 

told them that in my local league, 17 per hour 

was the minimum acceptable rate). Anyway, 

this did not present a problem and the innings 

duly closed within the limits set. 

Lunch! Two varieties of curry were available, 

one was chicken-based and the other, 

vegetable. Wonderful! Had I died and gone 

to heaven Ah well, enough of this. Back to 

equally important matters. 

The second half of the match commenced 

and still no sign of the rain we’d been promised, 

although the sky did start to go cloudier 

– and darker. Runs were scored and wickets 

fell. We had seen the second drinks break 

come and go and it looked as though the 

game might be concluded in dry conditions. 

However, the batsmen stuck around a bit 

longer. There was a distant rumble of thunder 

but no sign of the accompanying flash of 

lightning. Then a spot of rain, then 

another. We played the last 2-3 overs 

in light drizzle before the last wicket 

fell, the total still somewhat short of 

the target. The game was over and 

we all left the field. (There was a 

match also being played on one of 

the two adjacent grounds. They 

played on well into the drizzle’s progression 

into quite heavy rain, before 

they bowed to the inevitable. Messrs 

Duckworth & Lewis were called 

upon to resolve that contest.) 

A thoroughly enjoyable experience 

– for all concerned, I hope. 

Much shaking of hands was done 

and warm “thank-yous” said. We 

certainly enjoyed our Canadian experience 

and particular gratitude must go to 

David Nirmala, who is in charge of umpire 

training and appointments for the Manitoba 

Cricket Association and facilitated our involvement 

in the match. 

More games were scheduled for Sunday, 

but we declined acceptance of further appointments. 

We had a brilliant experience in 

Canada and can now list it alongside Lanzarote, 

Germany and Hungary as countries I 

have umpired in. 

Membership Renewals 2015 

It’s that time of the year again to renew your 

membership. 

If you pay by Direct Debit then you have 

nothing to do as we will take the payment on 

January 23rd 2015 and send you confirmation 

in mid-February. 

If you pay by cheque or credit card we have 

just sent you a reminder with all the details of 

what you need to do to renew your membership. 

Don’t forget if you want to pay by direct 

debit (UK bank accounts only), it’s not too late 

- and you save money as well! 

The main stumbling block to renewal is that a 

member’s DBS (formerly known as CRB) is out 

of date so please check that yours hasn’t expired! 

ECB have produced a 10 step guide on how to 

get a DBS – see the reverse of the address 

sheet that accompanied the mailing. 

Please note that Membership Services are unable 

to answer any queries about the progress 

of any DBS application. Please contact GBG 

(formerly TMG) on 0845 251 3000 if you 

have any questions about your application. 

If you want to discuss the renewal of your 

membership, please contact Membership 

Services by email to ecb.aco@ecb.co.uk or by 

phone on 0121 446 2710. 

On behalf of Karen and myself, we would 

like to wish all our members a Merry Christmas 

and a Happy Officiating New Year! 

Martin Gentle 

Membership Services Manager 


‘By-the-Byes’ 

Tom Harrison new ECB CEO 

ECB has announced 

its new 

Chief Executive 

Officer, a role that 

until recently was 

filled by David 

Collier. Tom Harrison, 

previously 

of IMG, a leading 

sports marketing 

agency, has been 

named as the successor to the hugely successful 

Collier. A former professional 

cricketer for Derbyshire and Northamptonshire 

Harrison will join ECB in January 

once his work commitments with IMG 

have finished. Harrison stated that “As a 

lifelong cricket fan, I feel extremely honoured 

and privileged to have been offered 

this opportunity to lead the ECB as its new 

Chief Executive Officer. I am a passionate 

supporter of the game across all formats, at 

all levels and I am genuinely excited by the 

substantial opportunities that the game has 

moving forward in this country”. Giles 

Clarke added to this that “it was important 

to the panel that we chose a leader who 

would inspire all those connected with the 

game and in Tom we believe we have 

found a leader with the charisma and vision 

to achieve this.” 

Technology for Suspicious Action 

Following recent 

high profile 

cases, such as 

Saeed Ajmal 

and Kane 

Williamson 

being found 

guilty of throwing 

after undergoing 

tests on 

their action, 

news of a technological 

breakthrough 

in 

analysing a bowler’s action will be a relief to 

many. ICC and MCC are jointly funding a 

wearable technology that places inertial sensors 

on a bowler’s arm and will automatically 

detect if a bowler breaches the 

regulations for flexion of the elbow during 

the bowling action. Use of this technology 

will reduce the pressures on onfield umpires 

to report bowlers for illegal actions, a system 

that has clear flaws. 

It is hoped that the 

technology will be 

ready to use by mid- 

2015, so it may even 

make an appearance 

in the forthcoming 

series between 

England and 

New Zealand 

and Australia. 

Steve Smith Catch 

An incident in the Pakistan Australia ODI 

series, we’re sure, will have provoked a few 

discussions in our membership. 

In the 18th over of the 3rd ODI Xavier 

Doherty bowled a fairly innocuous delivery 

to which Fawad Alam played a paddle 

sweep. Steve Smith, standing at first slip, 

saw Fawad’s initial movement across his 

stumps and dashed across to leg slip. Alam, 

oblivious to Smiths movement, top edged 

the delivery and could only turn around and 

watch Smith take a relatively simple catch 

in his new position. 

Confusion followed, with Alam initially 

refusing to walk off, however his dismissal 

was confirmed after a discussion between 

onfield umpires Richard Illingworth and 

Ahsan Raza and third umpire Nigel Llong. 

Law 41.7 dictates that “Any significant 

movement by any fielder after the ball 

comes into play, and before the ball reaches 

the striker, is unfair. In the event of such 

unfair movement, either umpire shall call 

and signal dead ball." Whilst Law 41.8 

gives greater clarity on this stating that "For 

close fielders anything other than minor adjustments 

to stance or position in relation to 

the striker is significant.” 

It could be argued that Smith’s movement, 

judging by the criteria above, was unfair 

and that Alam’s dismissal was unjust. 

However when asked to comment on the 

situation MCC backed the umpires’ decision 

confirming that 

“As long as the movement of a close 



play or shaping to play), then movement is 

permitted before the ball reaches the striker. 

"On the day, if umpires believe any form 

of significant movement is unfair (in an attempt 

to deceive the batsman), then the Law 

still applies." 

See MCC news on page 5 

Cheteshwar Pujara Out 

Handled The Ball 

September 

saw 

Cheteshwar 

Pujara fall 

victim to a 

rare 

method of 

dismissal, 

Handled 

the ball. It 

was, indeed, 

only 

the 59th 

time in the 

history of 

first class cricket such a dismissal had occurred, 

and the first time in England since 

Karl Krikken in 1996. 

A ball from Atif Sheikh looked certain to 

rebound onto the stumps until Pujara instinctively 

flicked out a hand and knocked 

it away from his stumps. The onfield umpires, 

Martin Saggers and Jeff Evans, had a 

brief discussion before confirming Pujara’s 

fate. Pujara did respond in magnificent 

style in Derbyshire’s second innings, compiling 

his first century in county cricket, 

and finishing unbeaten on 100*. 

Michael Gough named PCA 

‘Umpire of the Year’ 2014 

Michael 

Gough has 

been 

named 

England’s 

top umpire 

for 2014 

after being 

awarded 

the ‘Umpire 

of the 

Year’ trophy 

at the 

Professional 

Cricketers 

Association 

(PCA) 

awards in 

October. 

Gough, 34, from Hartlepool, started 

playing for Durham Academy at the age of 

12 and progressed on to be Captain of England 

Under 19s and also toured New 

Zealand and Bangladesh with the England 

A side (now known as England Lions). 

His playing career was short lived, however, 

retiring at the age of 23 only to discover 

a new passion in umpiring. Having 

developed through the North Yorkshire & 

South Durham League structure Gough advanced 

onto the first class list and is widely 

regarded as one of the most reliable decision 

makers in world cricket. This award, 

for which he was nominated by the players 

he officiates, is a fantastic recognition of 

Gough’s rise to the top of the county game 

and hopefully is just one of many accolades 

to come. 


‘SIMMONS SAYS’ 

Below is an article that was also produced in the Cheltenham Echo. Cheltenham Captain Will Simmons writes each week 

for the paper and on 20.8.14 he wrote the following about umpiring... Thanks to Will for allowing ECB ACO to reprint! 

Coming towards the end of the season and my 

spell of writing for the Echo, I thought I should 

include a piece about the umpires. 

The officials in cricket do an extraordinary 

job – and not an easy one. With huge amounts 

of very tight decisions to make over long periods 

of time, they display incredible concentration 

and fine judgment under intense scrutiny. 

Not that those factors are much different 

from officials in any other top flight sport with 

TV coverage, replays and technology being so 

eagle-eyed. What sets them apart for me is the 

vast lengths of time standing still in the sun 

that they have to keep their concentration; and 

the finality of the decisions they have to make, 

particularly in the case of giving a batsman 

out. Those decisions often influence the outcomes 

of games if not people’s careers. 

With the Decision Review System (DRS) 

now mandatory in all international matches 

(except those involving India), every decision 

the umpire makes is judged and either corrected 

or validated. Under this system, I am always 

amazed at the high proportion of 

decisions the top umpires get right. I believe 

their percentages are mostly in the high 80s 

and 90s which, given the variables, speed and 

reaction time they have to make their calls in, 

is very impressive. 

It is not surprising that they ‘go upstairs’ for 

most decisions when possible. I know it annoys 

everyone watching but, when the stakes 

for the players are so high as I’ve explained, I 

can appreciate why they always want to make 

sure on run outs etc. It is the LBWs that are 

still entirely the umpire’s domain and they 

have to make an unaided call in a split second. 

There are many purists out there who would 

still like to see more of the responsibility put 

back on to the standing umpires. Perhaps this 

is what the Board of Control for Cricket in 

India (BCCI) believes and why they do not 

allow the use of DRS in any of their games. 

Personally, I think they are just being awkward 

and asserting their authority as they make up 

the majority of the ICC…and they can. 

I cannot see any real reason why you 

wouldn’t want to make sure that batsmen are 

actually out when given out and vice versa. 

Again, it can make or break careers. I wonder 

whether any statisticians have looked back 

through Indian games since the DRS has been 

employed to see how much incorrect and 

unchecked umpiring decisions have cost them 

in games. It would be interesting to know 

whether they have been vindicated in their option 

to back the umpires on the field or 

whether results could have gone more in their 

favour over that time. 

Almost every other sport – including football, 

finally!! – is now using the technology at 

hand and they all work really well without interrupting 

the flow of the games at all. In the 

sports where the officials have understood and 

utilised the technology best (tennis, rugby), I 

think that the review systems have even added 

to the spectacle. Cricket is one of those sports 

where the crowd adds to the tension as the big 

screen makes its mind up – especially in short 

versions of the game and tight Test matches. 

The ICC should make DRS a blanket system 

used by all nations and be done with it. 

At lower levels, the umpiring is obviously 

not quite so good but no less vital and the guys 

do an outstanding job. And most of these 

blokes give up their day voluntarily, without 

DRS or any other assistance and have to make 

exactly the same calls and receive a lot more 

grief for it. 

At my level, I have to write reports on the 

umpires assigned to our games, which is a 

tricky balance. Clearly, whenever you appeal 

and the umpire gives it not out, you disagree 

with him. I do not think that is ever a point 

worth arguing about at the end of the game 

(unless they are true shockers!) because what 

is more important, and all you really want to 

see, is consistency in their decision making. I 

try to give some detailed feedback when I 

write up the umpires, and I think honesty is 

key as they are striving to progress and sometimes 

make a career out of it, and we as players 

want to see the level of umpiring be as 

good as it can. Mincing your words is no help 

to anybody as long as it is all kept constructive 

and positive. Nobody on a cricket pitch 

throughout the day gets away without making 

mistakes – batters, bowlers, fielders and umpires 

– so there is no point slinging mud at the 

end of the game. It does stand true, though, 

that an umpire has had a good day when you 

haven’t noticed him. Like wicket keepers. 

I do have to beware that the umpires write 

reports on me now too! 

Whether we always agree with them or not, 

they are generally great blokes who put themselves 

out for the betterment of cricket and do 

a very good job in a tricky, and often thankless, 

role. They should be encouraged, not slated, as 

anyone who has played a club match without 

trained umpires will know that the game is a 

lot worse off for it. 

ECB Groundsman of the Year Awards 

The awards recognise the outstanding job 

county groundsmen do every summer to 

ensure the domestic game is played on the 

best possible surfaces nationwide. 

The close relationship between officials 

and groundsmen has never been of more 

importance with the ECB push to ‘Get the 

game on’. The awards optimise the importance 

of the relationship, particularly with 

umpires, as every pitch is rated at the end 

of the match by each umpire. These ratings 

are very important and are used as the basis 

for making the awards. 

Nigel Gray (The Ageas Bowl) was 

named the winner of the four-day category 

at the ceremony in Worcester with Gary 

Barwell (Edgbaston) and Andy Fogarty 

(Headingley) sharing the runner-up prize. 

In the one-day category, the winner was 

As a point of interest, they are the only official 

that has to be asked by the players before he 

makes some decisions. Another quirk of our 

sport. Good on them – they are as much the 

definition of cricket as anything else. 

Umpire banned from officiating 

church cricket match because 

of religious ancestry 

Cricket umpiring made 

controversial headlines 

in September when 

Michael Claughton was 

told he couldn’t umpire 

a church match as he 

wasn’t considered ‘theologically 

neutral’. 

Having been a club umpire 

for 18 years for 

various teams in the 

Kent leagues Mr Claughton offered his services 

for the one-off T20 match played between 

a Church of England XI and a Vatican XI. In a 

bid to support his application to umpire the 

match, Claughton mentioned that his Great- 

Great Grandfather had been the Bishop of 

Rochester, this tactic, however, spectacularly 

backfired when he was informed that he 

wouldn’t be considered because it had been 

decided that the umpires could not have any 

religious background. This decision was made 

in an attempt to ensure that there was no bias 

from the match officials. Despite possibly setting 

a precedent with this appointment, ECB 

ACO isn’t expecting faith tests to play a part in 

any future umpiring appointments! 

The match, which was played to raise 

awareness of slavery across the world and 

fundraise for the Global Freedom Network 

took place at The Spitfire Ground in Canterbury 

on 19th September with the Church of 

England XI victorious by 6 wickets. 

At the end of November the winners of the 2014 Groundsman of the Year Awards 

were announced. 

Neil Godrich (3aaa County Ground, Derby) 

with the runner-up prize awarded to Paul 

Marshall (Northampton County Ground). 

Commendations went to Neil Godrich 

(The 3aaa County Ground, Derby), and 

Matthew Merchant (Emirates Old Trafford) 

in the four-day pitch category, while Gary 

Barwell (Edgbaston), Andy Mackay (Hove) 

and Simon Lee (Taunton) were commended 

in the one-day category. 

Chris Morse from Usk was named winner 

for pitches at MCC Universities in respect 

of his work for Cardiff MCCU with 

Richard Sula at Oxford MCCU the runnerup. 

John Dodds at Scarborough was 

awarded the outgrounds prize with Ross 

Spry (Cheltenham) runner-up and James 

Askew (Horsham) and John McKnight 

(Swansea) commended. 


ECB Women’s Competitions Update 

In 2015 Division’s 1 and 2 of both the Royal London Women’s One-Day Cup and NatWest Women’s County T20 will be played in 

coloured clothing with a white ball. The decision brings the Women’s County programme in line with its counterparts around the 

world who already play with a white ball. Divisions 1 and 2 allow for those on the England programme, in the first instance, to play 

with a white ball more regularly. 

Mt. Kili Madness 

On 27th September 2014 cricket stars past and present joined together to participate in world’s highest match near 

the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in a bid to raise money for cancer research, African wildlife conservation charity 

Tusk Trust and building Rwanda`s first international cricket pitch. 

With the game being played in a flat crater just below the summit, at a 

height of 5,752m (18,871 ft), many would be unsurprised to hear that 

‘ground, weather and light’ came into play. In a bid to beat the fast 

moving clouds that were soon to descend on the crater, the umpires, 

none other than ACO member Jennifer Pettinger and Aliya Bauer, reduced 

the proposed T20 to 10 overs per side. 

Both Jennifer and Aliya were hot on the fact that in accordance with- 

Twenty20 rules a minimum of 5 overs per team constituted a match, 

and so this reduction wouldn’t affect the World Record attempt. 

We asked ACO member, Jennifer Pettinger , for her account: ‘It really 

was an amazing life experience and genuinely the biggest challenge 

was not getting distracted by what we were achieving and 

staying focused on the match. I also really struggled to stay on my feet 

as the match was the only time over the whole trip when I felt very unwell. 

When the likes of David Harper who organised the trip and 

Makhaya Nitini who was the porters’ crowd favourite both got out for 

golden ducks it was difficult not to feel for them despite keeping the 

umpires’ neutral perspective. When you have climbed a mountain for 

eight days with the players you feel a little invested in the match!’ 

The conditions were far from conducive for cricket and you’d likely 

be alarmed in your prematch checks, considering the vast blocks of 

ice and an oxygen level only half that at sea level. Regardless, the 

match went ahead and was played on the ash with a plastic ‘Flicx’ mat 

laid down replicating a pitch. 

Spectator and Tanzanian mountain guide, Mukuru Mugapablo, said 

“I’ve seen football played on strange pitches, but nothing, nothing 

beats this game for madness. Altitude up here is a serious issue, people 

really do get sick... this is a crazy thing to have witnessed on top of Kilimanjaro,” 

The result was pretty conclusive with “The Gorillas”, captained by 

England women’s vice-captain Heather Knight, scoring 82-5 to beat 

“The Rhinos” team, captained by ex-England spinner Ashley Giles, 

who managed 64-9. 

The Guinness World Record was acknowledged for the highestaltitude 

cricket match. A report on the Guinness World Records 

website reports – “Mt. Kili Madness” broke the existing record for 

the highest-altitude game of cricket by 588 m (1,929 ft). On 21 April 

2009, “The Everest Test 2009” was played at 5,164 m (16,942 ft) 

above sea level at the Gorak Shep plateau, Nepal. That match inspired 

“Mt. Kili Madness”. 

Result: Gorillas won by 19 runs 

Man of the match: Phil Walker 

Teams 

Gorillas - Raymond Lebokana (Alexandra Township Chiefs), 

Phil Walker (editor, All Out Cricket magazine), Heather Knight 

(captain; England vice-captain), Liam Breedveld (wicket-keeper), 

Hugo Worsley, Rob Barry, Christopher Fenton, Jonathan Worsley, 

Clare Connor OBE (former England cricketer), Jane Van Marken, 

Shripal Shah. 

12th man: Melinda Kocsis. 

Rhinos - Ashley Giles MBE (captain; former England cricketer), 

Robert Moloisane (wicket-keeper; Alexandra Township Chiefs), 

David Harper, George Jerram, Simon Rogers, Makhaya Ntini 

(former South African cricketer), 

Matthew Weihs, Ben Norrington, 

Steven Smith, Phil Fordham, 

Tess Norrington. 

12th man: Edward Haines. 

13th man: Rebecca James. 

Officials 

Umpires - Aliya Bauer and 

Jennifer Pettinger 

Scorer - Aliya Bauer 

Match summary – via www.mtkilimadness.com 

Gorillas 83-5 (10 overs) - Knight 21; Walker 20; 4 run-outs 

Rhinos 64-9 (10 overs) - B. Norrington 10; J. Worsley 1-0-6-3; 

Walker 1-0-9-3 


LEAVING THE CREASE 

ALAN WEST (1937-2014) 

Very sadly Alan West, our former 

Committee Member, Secretary and 

Association of County Cricket Scorers 

Chairman for five years, and Lancashire 1st 

team Scorer died on Sunday 28th 

September 2014. Members of his family 

were with him at the time. 

Alan had spent a full and successful 

career in education before the opportunity 

to score for his home county came along in 

1998. He proved to be the ideal man for 

the job, good humoured, conscientious and 

thorough in all that he did. 

For most of his early years cricket had played a huge part in his life: as a 

young man he had played league cricket regularly and he became involved 

for many years in the running and organisation of the Ribblesdale League in 

south Lancashire. For quite a while he had worked in a voluntary capacity 

reporting on league cricket on BBC local radio: on occasions we believe that 

he had to score and commentate simulataneously, no mean feat to do just 

one, but straightforward enough for a man of Alan's calibre. 

When the role of Lancashire scorer presented itself, he was delighted: he 

had always supported the county, ever since he had been old enough to 

recognise the existence of separate counties, and now all his many years of 

voluntary work in the game were to be rewarded in a more tangible way than 

he had imagined possible. 

Alan was one of the best of colleagues – while passionate about his own 

county, he was able to appreciate the strengths of their rivals and always 

had good words to say about Lancashire’s opponents when due. 

In addition he was a most enthusiastic quizzer: every Monday evening 

during the quiz season he would be representing his local pub team and 

he had the honour of captaining The Notchers, a team of county scorers, 

in the BBC 

television 

programme, 

Eggheads. 

He was also 

a prolific 

tackler of 

crosswords - 

one who 

enjoyed talking about this hobby with any players or colleagues with a 

similar interest. 

Alan cared very much about the role of county scorers and, during his time 

as Chairman of the Association of County Cricket Scorers, he worked 

extremely hard to ensure that that role was fully appreciated and maintained 

for future years. 

Alan first became ill at the start of the 2010 season and he decided that 

scoring was going to be too much for him after the first few weeks. After 

undergoing a full course of chemotherapy he seemed to be fully recovered 

and was able to return to his scoring for Lancashire first team for the next 

three seasons. When Lancashire were the county champions in 2011 this 

probably gave him more pleasure than any other event in his cricketing 

career. 

He became ill again at the start of the 2014 season and handed over his 

duties to Darrin White while he underwent more chemotherapy. It was 

remarkable how strong and positive he remained during these difficult times, 

and he was convinced that he would be well enough to return to the job he 

loved in 2015. 

Sadly it was not to be and Alan will be greatly missed by all his friends and 

colleagues around the counties. We send our sincerest condolences to all 

members of his family – his wife Jane, sister Linda, three sons, Tim, Chris, 

Martin and their families. 

ANDY WHITE (1960-2014) 

Andy was introduced to cricket at 

the age of 4 by his maternal 

grandfather and they played 

together in the back garden. When 

his grandfather took Andy to watch 

a local match, still at that young age, 

Andy wondered why they were just 

sitting on a wall at the back of the 

ground instead of in the “proper 

seats”. His grandfather assumed 

he’d quickly get bored, but Andy 

asked to move to the seats where 

he was absorbed during the whole 

match. He became a passionate 

supporter of the Kent cricket team 

and endeavoured to watch at least 

one of their games live each season 

however far he had to travel. 

Andy played for Henstridge Cricket Club when the family lived in 

Stalbridge and the club have sent their memories: 

When Andy became a member of Henstridge Cricket Club few of us 

envisaged just how lucky we were to have him as a member. A true lover 

of the game, his knowledge and enthusiasm soon won him many friends 

and the respect of us all. He became an officer of the club and as Treasurer 

kept the finances healthy and enjoyed the trust and confidence of everyone. 

When we decided to start a second team, with the main aim being to 

develop and encourage the younger members of the club, Andy 

volunteered to run it. He was an immediate success, creating an enjoyable 

atmosphere and infusing his players with his own enthusiasm and love for 

the game. He came to Lord’s with us when the club made history by 

becoming the first team to represent Somerset in the National six-a-side 

indoor finals. On another occasion he drove twenty miles to play as a 

substitute after another player had been rendered unconscious by an 

express delivery rather than let us take the field with only ten players! 

When the Head Teacher’s 

position became vacant at our 

Primary School we all hoped that 

Andy would be appointed: I still 

believe that he would have been an 

excellent choice. Sadly it was not 

to be and as a result Andy and his 

family left Henstridge to move to 

Tavistock. It was a big loss to the 

club with all of us being sad to lose 

him. He will always be 

remembered here with affection. 

The team photograph, with Andy in 

the back row, hangs above the side 

bar in our local pub (our principal 

sponsor) along with others and all 

the trophies and memorabilia from 

the club’s past. 

When the family moved to 

Tavistock, Andy decided his days with the bat were over and pursued his 

passion in a new way by qualifying as a cricket umpire for the Devon 

leagues, first appearing on the league umpiring panel in 2003. Gavin Lane, 

the Chairman of Devon ACO in Devon, said Andy was a respected panel 

umpire and stalwart of the West Branch. “A large, gentle man, Andy played 

a full part in DACO activities and will be sorely missed.” 

He loved his umpiring and, when he broke his leg so badly in October 

2008, he was determined to resume his umpiring at the earliest opportunity. 

Once back in action he rose steadily through the divisions on the Devon 

Cricket League panel. 

In the summer of 2010, he would spend from Friday after work until he 

had to leave for a game, with his leg raised and resting in preparation for 

a long day of standing. That season he had to keep topped up with 

painkillers every Saturday and plan a day recovering every Sunday, but he 

was determined to continue umpiring. 

continued over… 


LEAVING THE CREASE 

ANDY WHITE (CONTINUED) 

He became the Devon Cricket League Results Secretary in 2014, until his illness forced 

him to stop both this role and umpiring. 

Andy was a teacher at Tavistock Community College, where he taught mathematics. 

A statement issued by the college said: “The whole college community were deeply 

saddened to learn of the death of Andy White. “He was a lovely man and respected teacher 

who will be greatly missed. Our thoughts and condolences go to his family.” 

He is survived by wife Ruth and the couple's children Jessica and Matthew. 

A very well attended thanksgiving service for Andy took place at Tavistock Methodist 

Church, where he was a member of the congregation, and a selection of cricketing stories 

and photographs were shared. 

Ruth said “I would like the service - and get together afterwards - to be a celebration of 

Andy's life. We thought the best way to do that was a sharing of our memories of him”. 

Spitfire Flypast for Gentleman Bob 

Robert Hodgson Duckett “Bob” 14th January 1923 - 14th February 2014 

To have a war-time Spitfire perform a flypast at your 

funeral shows the high esteem in which your peers 

held you. 

As we waited to go into Chelmsford Crematorium 

for Bob’s funeral, on a beautiful sunny afternoon the 

6 th March, a spitfire flew over and around for some 

few minutes before two final runs, including a barrel 

roll, over the crematorium, much to the awe and appreciation 

of the mourners. 

Bob was born in Ormskirk, the middle child of three 

with an elder sister and younger brother, Tom. Although 

Lancashire born, Bob spent his early life in 

Southern England being educated at Great 

Burstead Primary School, King Edward VI School, 

Chelmsford and Tiffin School, Kingston Upon 

Thames. Rumour has it that he was expelled but recalled 

because without him the school cricket team 

were short of an opening bowler. 

He left school at 16 years of age and found employment as 

a very junior cost clerk at Hawker Aircraft in Kingston Upon Thames at the 

princely wage of 19/6d per week [97p in today’s money]. He stayed there 

for a year before moving to a job with Hatch Mansfield, a wine merchant, 

just off Trafalgar Square, which entailed a 24 mile cycle ride each way, six 

days a week. 

In September 1940 [aged seventeen and a half years] he volunteered 

for the RAF as a trainee pilot. He did his training in Canada, travelling there 

on the Queen Mary and in May 1941 was awarded his wings. During each 

stage of his training he was assessed as above average. 

After the Operational Training Unit, he flew Spitfires with two very famous 

squadrons, 222 (Natal) and 124 (Baroda). He was often detailed to 

fly along the coast of Europe and report on weather and cloud formations 

for Bomber Command. This frequently attracted the attention of the German 

fighter planes which chased him home. He crash landed twice. On 

one occasion he landed on a football pitch. When asked if he scored, he 

said, “Score I took the b....y goal posts and stands with me” He was 

also expert in shooting up supply trains and convoys. 

In March 1943 he was shot down over Chatham, and sustained a number 

of injuries which necessitated a lengthy spell in hospital. On discharge 

from hospital he returned to flying, and was loaned to the Fleet Air Arm, test 

flying American fighter planes. After the war his dream was to be a commercial 

pilot but sadly that was not to be. 

In 1944 he married and had a son and a daughter. The family lived in 

Kingston and Chessington before moving to Stamford where Bob became 

Regional Accountant for A. Monk & Co, a large civil engineering company. 

He stayed in Stamford for 46 years, during which time he played, captained 

and was later President of Burghley Park Cricket Club. 

It was at Burghley Park Cricket Club where he first became interested in 

umpiring when a broken arm ended his playing career in 1962. He contacted 

MCC who put him in touch with Tom Smith. He studied the Laws of 

cricket assiduously and revised with the help of “Doug Wright and bottles of 

white wine”. He took his exam in a room over a pub, The Three Nuns, in 

Aldgate, London. The examiner was Leslie Cheeseman. It was a move 

which proved very fruitful as in 1970 he was appointed by the Test and 

County Cricket Board to the full list of umpires for the Minor Counties. 

He held this position for 19 years, during which he officiated in 160 

matches, which was a record for some time. He was selected on numerous 

occasions to umpire the Minor Counties XI against the International 

touring sides, which included Australia, West Indies, India and Sri 

Lanka. He also officiated at Under 19s Test matches and many first 

class matches. These included the Gillette Cup for seven successive 

seasons when he was chosen for the 1st round and NatWest competitions. 

On five occasions he was chosen to umpire the challenge match 

which decided the Minor Counties Championship. Bob was always in 

the top four umpires and his marks averaged 8.75 out of 10 and those 

who stood with him understood why. 

Bob was on the MCC list from 1972 until 1988 when he reached retirement 

age. He toured Italy with MCC in 1993 and France in 1995 and umpired 

regularly at Lord’s. He officiated in the Cricketer Cup from its 

inception in 1974, including a Final and also umpired in the Village Cup. He 

umpired regularly for England U19s and U17s as well as Oundle, Uppingham, 

Oakham and Stamford Schools. Although he had ‘rubbed shoulders’ 

with the top officials in the country his proudest moment was when he was 

appointed to an MCC match at Lord’s with his brother Tom. 

He became an ACU&S instructor at Stamford with Doug Wright, the 

Principal of the local college, where they became a formidable pair in educating 

new umpires. One with the technical knowledge of teaching, and the 

other who could relate stories of instances where and when he had applied 

every conceivable piece of Law in games in which he had been involved. 

That was why they obtained 100% pass rates with their pupils year after 

year. The Stamford and District Association of Cricket Umpires was formed 

with Bob, as a founder member, being made President, a position he held 

for 32 years until his death. 

Although he moved to Writtle, to be nearer to his family in 2000, he still 

maintained his contact with the ‘Stamford Umpires’ and was a regular attender, 

and entertainer, at their Annual Christmas Dinners. 

More recently he was delighted to revisit airfields that he knew well 

and became reacquainted with his beloved Spitfires. He sadly passed 

away before he could actually fly in one again [we are assured it was to 

be as a passenger]. 

In a message from John Abrahams, the current England Under 19s 

Manager he said “Bob was always friendly, always welcomed you onto the 

pitch, was always smiling, enjoying where he was, what he was doing but 

would always be decisive when giving a batsman out or not out. At a time 

when there was less pressure on players and umpires, he epitomised the 

relaxed, yet competitive nature of the game, while maintaining the traditions 

and values we love about it.” 

Bob, the perfect gentleman through and through, will be sadly missed, 

not only by his family, but his cricketing colleagues as well. 

Gordon Hubbard 

Chairman of Leicestershire and Rutland ACO 


Your letters… 

David Cherry of Oxfordshire writes 

concerning trench digging (perhaps 

inspired by Mr J Trott, 

Warwickshire/England!) 

As a member of ECB ACO it has been my intention 

for some time to canvas umpires and 

groundsmen as to their views regarding batsmen’s 

habit of excessive marking of the 

crease, I know it isn’t normally considered 

abuse of the pitch, but I feel strongly that umpires 

should caution batsmen who, in my 

opinion, do it excessively for no other reason 

than making a statement of ”I am in control”. 

It has got to the point that, after three or four 

have taken their guard, it is virtually impossible 

for any later batsmen to identify their 

guard in the trench that has been dug!! I am an 

amateur umpire and groundsman for my club 

and in the past the biggest repairs required to 

the pitch were made by the bowlers. This is 

certainly not now the case. Other than the additional 

work it creates for groundsmen in 

having to rest pitches longer before reuse it 

looks unsightly and in my opinion unnecessary 

and I feel umpires should be prepared to 

caution batsmen. 

I would be very interested if others are as 

frustrated. 

ECB ACO Replies: 

A batsman marking his guard is usually regarded 

as being part of the game but if an umpire 

believes that it is becoming “excessive” 

and certainly if the batsman is contributing to 

“avoidable damage” to the pitch he can intervene 

under Law 42 (14) and insist that the 

batsman desists immediately. 

Ian Mather in Nottinghamshire, 

wrote regarding player behaviour 

and noise… 

I don’t have trouble with behaviour, as a general 

rule. I try to scotch it at the outset and 

find that that works pretty well. The situation 

I have that irritates me beyond belief is noise. 

‘Come on lads, we’re quiet, let’s have more 

noise’ is the constant cry and it drives me 

barmy. When I was a teenager nearly 60 years 

ago if you spoke on a cricket field you got a 

funny look from the captain and were terrified 

you’d not get picked next week. I’d not want 

us to go back to those draconian days but the 

present situation I find almost intolerable and 

suspect it has quite a bit to do with why some 

umpires are handing in their bails. 

It must be coached into the game at junior 

county level, and that concerns me because I 

think it is counterproductive. Who can possibly 

think it’s a good idea to shout at each 

other for the entire fielding period other than 

to endeavour to intimidate the batsmen. That 

would be contrary to the Spirit of Cricket and 

I can’t believe county coaches would instigate 

such a system, can I Shouting can soon lead 

to sledging and it’s amazing how soon lads 

learn the latter, which stems from the former. 

I have an example. 

I umpired an under 14’s county match this 

season which was otherwise a lovely occasion. 

The fielding side had obviously been 

coached to make ‘noise’ which they did with 

gusto until it slipped into sledging. Gully set 

about the batsman. ‘Oh, you can see he doesn’t 

like this bowler. He can’t wait to get to the 

other end.’ We called the game to a halt and 

informed the fielding captain that this was inappropriate, 

especially from a player who was 

hardly even a teenager! I told the player he 

might do that when he played for the senior 

side but not today. He grinned and said ‘fair 

enough ump’. I thought that was an end to the 

matter, but no, at the end of the over ‘management’ 

appeared on the field – unannounced. 

‘Parents are complaining about you. What is 

it my boys are doing wrong and I will stop it’ 

I explained the position, along with my colleague, 

and he called his fielding side together. 

The result was that they played the rest of 

the game in total silence, which was not what 

we had asked for. We simply did not want 

them making personal remarks aimed at the 

batsmen. After an over or two I spoke to the 

chief protagonist of the noise and asked him 

what had happened. ‘Oh, don’t take any notice, 

ump, it’s just a joke’. The cheeky monkeys 

were taking the rise out of their coaches 

– or us, but the ironical end to the story is that 

from that moment they started winning and 

eventually thrashed their opponents. 

I think that at all the levels I umpire the 

fielding side can and do ‘take their eye off the 

ball’ from time to time while thinking about 

the next witty remark to make. Much better 

to think about the job in hand, and get on with 

the task of dismissing the opposition. 


In most of its respective issues, this Newsletter 

highlights areas where the game of 

cricket has changed and /or evolved. The 

amount of noise generated by fielding sides, 

particularly during the opening overs, but 

often perpetrated throughout the innings, is 

another clear example. 

Older people who remember a genteel, 

quiet game often look aghast at the noise and 

antics of the younger generation particularly, 

but league players as well………but that is the 

nature of cricket today encouraged by many 

club and county coaches. 

Having said that - match and player 

management is probably the most important 

‘soft skill’ that an umpire needs – and this 

is dealt with in some detail in both Level 2 

and Level 3. 

There is no factual evidential statement that 

can determine what is an acceptable level of 

noise, and what is not; it must come down to 

the judgement of the umpires on the day, but 

if noise escalates to a level that is either 

clearly a distraction to the striker or detrimental 

to the ‘spirit of the game’, then umpires 

are empowered and expected to 

intervene under Law 42 (4) and (5). 

ECB ACO particularly welcomes your views 

on this emotive subject 

David Skipworth in Derbyshire, 

writes on lateness and delays… 

Back in August, I was umpiring a fixture in 

the Derbyshire County League Division 10 

South between Tutbury and Washlands. The 

visiting captain explained to me that one of 

his players would be late arriving of which I 

made note. 

The League rules and regulations state that 

a player arriving late becomes a substitute if 

he is not ready to play prior to the halfway 

point in the first innings, and, therefore cannot 

bat or bowl but can field. 

On this occasion, the late arrival became a 

substitute and as his side was fielding he was 

sent to the deep long off boundary and almost 

immediately the batsman struck the ball in the 

air towards him and as he moved backwards 

in an attempt to catch the ball he went over 

the boundary, fell over, the ball hit his chest 

and naturally a six was signalled. 

I confirmed that he was not hurt but unfortunately 

there was deep undergrowth and trees 

where he had fallen. The ball after a short 

search was soon found but the fielder frantically 

waved to me stating that his spectacles 

had been lost when he fell. 

The game could not restart and fielders were 

dispatched to the overgrown area to search for 

his spectacles, which caused some delay in 

proceedings, but fortunately they were retrieved 

undamaged. This did cause some 

amusement at the time although I thought it 

was an unusual reason for delaying play. 


Interesting - what other unusual occurrences 

have members witnessed – please let us know! 

Douglas Wade from 

Sevenoaks reminisces back to the 

mid 60’s… 

I have never had the pleasure of giving a 

whole side out LBW, but I am reminded of a 

match in the Northern Districts of Natal in 

the mid 1960’s between Colenso and 

Dundee. Dundee batted first and helped by 

some fumbles scored about 150 for 6 before 

declaring. All six were LBW including one hit 

in the throat, though to be fair he was trying to 

sweep. Colenso then scored a little over a 

hundred, with everyone out bowled or caught 

in the deep. My father and I umpired; and we 

were attached to the Colenso team. 

On the other hand I have stood in a senior 


Jim Heaton of Lancashire, wrote regarding David M Marks letter in Issue 20…. 

I am reading Newsletter, Issue 20, and have come across the letter 

from David M Marks, I firmly agree with his sentiments regarding 

the badges being not available. 

When I first joined the Association we did indeed get two metal 

badges (I wear one in my hat and one in my coat) and two material 

badges which I wear on the breast pocket of each of my umpiring 

coats. 

I was also hoping to purchase a couple more to attach to my shirts. 

When we have good weather and dispense with wearing coats I 

would like to be seen wearing the ACO logo. I find your reply to 

David as a poor excuse; we receive little in return for our membership 

fee, even the annual membership card has been dispensed with, and to 

supply to the few who would ask for these items seems a tad miserly. 


A factual response explaining why we are where we are reads 

as follows: 

Our range of onfield items includes polo shirts, match shirts and 

slipovers that display the ACO logo and are perfect for those days 

when you are not wearing your umpire coat. 

The membership card was dispensed with because it was costing 

£10,000 to produce per annum and served no practical purpose. The 

alternative would have been to increase the membership fee which 

we didn’t want to do. 

We believe that £30 for our annual membership represents good 

value particularly when you consider the level of Insurance provided, 

the opportunity to stand in ECB appointed matches, regular Newsletters 

and the access to training materials. 

It is also worth noting that all three of these decisions were taken 

by your representatives, elected by you in each of the regions to advise 

and act in members’ best interests and to ensure best use of financial 

resource, not made by either the Executive or some other 

ECB employee. While we are pleased to publish these comments in 

the newsletter, we wonder whether Jim or David have taken this up 

with their representatives in Lancashire – and would also ask if not, 

why not 

club match where not one of the forty wickets 

to fall were LBW’s. 

I once scored a school match lost by two 

innings and 131 runs. The scores 193/3 

dec; 6, 20 and 36. Why There was a long 

wait till the bus left. 


Here is another unusual occurrence. We are 

sure that your connection to the Colenso 

team had no influence on the fact that all 

six Dundee wickets were LBW and none of 

the Colenso wickets. 

Trevor Riley, from 

Nottinghamshire writes regarding 

Young Fast Bowler Directives…. 

I regret that I am unable to recall exactly 

when the Young Fast Bowler Directives 

[YFBD] were introduced, but I certainly 

remember why the Premier Leagues were 

started - an attempt to develop young club 

cricketers into the First Class game and 

also to get rid 

of County 2 nd 

XI teams. (As 

if that was 

ever going to 

happen) But 

the latter is a 

different matter 

for another 

forum! 

The 

YFBD’s 

were introduced 

as an 

attempt to 

combat the 

instances of 

bowlers 

breaking down through injuries, usually 

lower back, which were attributed to overbowling 

as youngsters. 

What I would like to know is if the 

YFBD’s proved effective in doing what 

they were intended to do. Has there been a 

scientific/medical follow-up review into 

these bowlers and if not then WHY NOT 

If such a study exists then the fact of me 

writing this is proof that the results have 

not been very widely circulated! Are we, 

as umpires, being left to police pseudolegislation 

that may actually be a complete 

waste of our time And, alarming as 

it may sound, be actually counterproductive 

but without the follow-up who the 

hell knows 

Don’t get me wrong, I do believe that 

limiting the work load of these young 

players has a part to play but I would suggest 

only up to the age of 16. By then 

these players should know their own bodies 

and their own limitations and have 

enough about themselves to advocate as 

such to their respective captains and 

coaches and these gentlemen should also 

be aware of the players in their charge and 

be equally ready to step in when necessary. 

YFBD’s were introduced with the best 

of intentions, of that I have no doubt, but 

there are two areas that are literally impossible 

to monitor. 

A player may turn out for a school team, 

a club team (perhaps more than one for 

various reasons) and a representative team 

as well as a league team within a 7 day 

period [not to mention net sessions] and 

there is a ‘limit’ to how many overs may 

be bowled in that period. Apart from rep 

& league matches the chances of a properly 

appointed umpire being present are 

slim to say the least, usually it’s teachers 

or coaches, so unless the bowler is compelled 

to carry an official ‘Log-Book’ 

recording every single time he bowls how 

can we enforce the YFBD 

Secondly, we have the seven dreadful 

months of winter when indoor nets come 

into their own. The more promising the 


Malcolm Howard, in Surrey, writes on 

First Class umpires and No Balls… 

In my letter (issue 20) I argued that professional 

umpires should be able to spot No balls and 

should not refer to technology. ECB ACO argues 

that I am missing the point as the important 

thing is that the right decision is made. 

Well the counter argument is that as recreational 

umpires we have to concentrate on getting 

No ball decisions right because if we don’t 

call it and a wicket falls that’s it! Sometimes it is 

a very close call and, of course, we would all 

love to resort to technology in these cases and it 

obviously makes sense for professional umpires 

to do so. But in most cases it is clear cut and in 

such circumstances it seems ridiculous for professional 

umpires to call for confirmation just 

because a wicket has fallen. It seems to me that 

because this technology is available professional 

umpires will not need to concentrate and will 

miss No balls where a wicket has not fallen. In a 

tight game, such laxity could alter the result. 

As an analogy, I am all for goal line technology 

in football, but it is only used if the ball goes 

near the goal! 


No umpire can officiate with 100% certainty that 

his/her decisions are correct - whether adjudicating 

LBWs, close Run outs or indeed No balls. 

Both ICC umpires and ECB umpires are subject 

to the regulations that govern the games 

they are officiating and those regulations include 

protocols surrounding the use of technology to 

check on the efficacy of the decision making. 

A generic opinion that covers most of the 

discussion that emanates from this suggests 

that If the technology is available to eliminate 

or minimise ‘umpire error’, then why would it 

not be used 


Ian Bagshaw from Fareham, writes ‘to 

Score or not to Score, that was the 

question…’ 

Without wishing to appear churlish or negative I’d like 

the opportunity to respond to some aspects of ECB 

ACO’s reply to my letter, printed in our Newsletter, 

Issue 20. 

I can assure ECB ACO’s correspondent that there 

will be much jumping around, in Hampshire, in sheer 

disbelief over the statement denying by implication, as 

it wasn’t categorically stated, that aspiring umpires 

‘using clickers or similar device’, will NOT have their 

aspirations terminated. 

I was under 

the impression 

that we work as 

a ‘Team of 

Four’ and any 

of us can make 

mistakes which 

should be rectified; 

this is not 

undermining 

scorers. In a 

top Southern 

League match a 

few years ago 

there were two 

top qualified 

and highly competent and respected scorers who have 

since moved up to county and, I believe, international 

appointments. During the first innings my colleague 

and I consulted and agreed at the end of an over that 

the scoreboard was showing one run short of our reckoning. 

It remained so until the end of the innings. 

The two Scorers were adamant that they were both 

agreed, that everything checked, so we were wrong. 

However, one Scorer, using the linear system, stayed 

behind and around 10 minutes later arrived for tea 

stating that indeed we were right and that one run 

needed to be added to the score. I contend that accuracy 

of score is crucial as it could not only change the 

result but, in an extreme situation, affect bonus points 

for both sides and the possibility of promotion or relegation 

issues. This must be included as an ‘onfield 

priority’. As stated elsewhere in the issue, umpires 

learn how to ‘switch on and off’ from full concentration. 

Two qualified and competent scorers can, I 

agree, cope with technological failure but conveying 

essential data to the field of play regularly or on demand 

in a quick, efficient manner is another matter. 

This would be particularly important and potentially 

irksome in a tight finish and appreciably less efficient 

than an umpire stating the situation at the end of an 

over or on request by batsmen or fielding captain at 

any time. 

I am greatly surprised at the comments regarding 

concentration. In my experience the use of a clicker 

for recording runs is conducted in the relative quiet between 

the ball becoming dead and the bowler turning 

for the next delivery. The umpire witnessed being obsessed 

with his clicker to the overall detriment of his 

performance must surely be an exception. 

Finally, the item ‘Beyond the Boundary - Appealing 

to James…’ on p5 of the same issue makes identical 

observations to my own. We cannot all be wrong. 

ECB ACO replies: 

The comments to the letter in Issue 20 remain valid. It 

is a case of individual choice for the umpire how he/she 

manages and prioritises the many duties and responsibilities 

of the umpire. 

Letters continued from page 27 

player the greater the instances of netting, 

perhaps three or more each week. 

The floors of these nets, however 

‘scientifically’ they may have been designed, 

cannot, I venture to suggest, 

‘give’ in the same fashion that even the 

hardest outdoor pitch does, so these 

bowlers are sending down perhaps 40+ 

deliveries every session, minus the 

time it usually takes outdoors for the 

ball to get back to the bowler thus cutting 

down the ‘rest’ between deliveries 

and we’re expected to believe that having 

a bowler taken off after 5, 6, or 7 

overs is the be all and end all in the 

fight against injury. Really 


All directives are ‘ECB Directives’ 

and therefore this letter has been directed 

to colleagues at ECB and 

within ECB Coaches Association for a 

response which will be published in 

the next Newsletter. 

James McKirdy, in sunny 

Bermuda, writes about ICC and 

their latest ODI playing 

conditions… 

I read with utter disbelief 

the explanation given by 

the ICC for its latest tinkering 

with the Laws of 

Cricket via its revised ODI 

Playing Conditions. 

Conditions that have been instituted 

“sub rosa” to the rest of the cricketing 

world for the Australia vs Pakistan Series. 

Specifically the altered Playing 

Condition that now allows, at the discretion 

of the umpires, a degree of significant 

movement by a close in fielder 

in anticipation of a batsman shaping to 

play a particular shot. 

The ICC has instituted this variation 

to their Playing Conditions & then 

dumped the poison pill of applying it 

right into the lap of the umpires. 

They have done so by leaving the 

degree of movement to be allowed at 

the discretion of the umpires & by 

leaving that discretion open to the umpires’ 

subjective interpretation on the 

day as to how it is to be applied in determining 

what is deemed fair & unfair. 

How is such an arrangement fair 

to the umpires, let alone the players as 

a whole Different umpires, different 

day, different match, different movement, 

different degree, different interpretation 

- all leading to different 

decisions. The net result of this latest 

ploy by the ICC is a recipe for total 

chaos. How can that be fair 

The ICC seems to me to have a total 

disregard for the Laws of Cricket & to 

be hell bent on messing around with 

cricket. Also, the apparent justification 

given by the ICC, that of there being a 

“trend of fielders moving in anticipation 

after a batsman had shaped to 

play a shot”, is fanciful at best. There 

is no such trend. Fielders have been 

doing this for ages & the Laws of 

Cricket have recognised this but have 

put limits on how much movement is 

allowed. Hence the discussion in the 

Laws on what is significant movement, 

that it is unfair &, in the game 

of cricket, fielders do not move 

around like footballers. 

Going by the ICC’s press release issued 

the day after the 3rd ODI between 

Australia & Pakistan, the MCC is also 

culpable in this most recent fiasco. 

The MCC appears to have abandoned 

wholesale their much vaunted 

Spirit of the Game & Respect for its 

Traditional Values as well as the Laws 

of Cricket to boot in order to satisfy 

the latest whim of the ICC. Or do they 

simply not have the strength of character 

to stand up for their Spirit, their 

Traditional Values & their Laws & 

simply say no to the corporate might of 

the ICC & its fiscal backers Still more 

worrying, has the MCC acceded to the 

ICC without fully taking into consideration 

& giving real, serious thought to 

the ramifications of the scenarios that 

could evolve in a match 

According to the ICC’s revised Playing 

Conditions & its directive to the 

umpires, as interpreted by the three 


umpires on the day, the movement by 

Smith, that from first slip to leg slip in response 

to Fawad’s move to execute a paddle 

sweep which resulted in Smith taking a 

catch off of Fawad’s shot with Smith passing 

the wicket keeper on his way to leg slip, 

was not significant & more to the point, was 

not unfair. The umpires must have satisfied 

themselves through their consultation that 

Smith’s actions were fair. How else could 

they give Fawad out, Caught 

For me, & a lot of fellow umpires I have 

spoken to about this dismissal, there is one 

glaringly obvious point that the ICC in its 

directive to the umpires, the umpires in 

their consultation following the event & 

their resulting implementation of the new 

Playing Conditions by giving Fawad out, 

have all failed to adequately take into consideration. 

That point, in this particular instance, 

is that the movement by Smith 

occurred behind the batsman Fawad & out 

of his normal line of sight. Just as the Laws 

do not allow a wicketkeeper to rush forward 

up to the stumps from standing back because 

he is out of the batsman’s sight, the 

ICC & the MCC should recognize that any 

significant movement that takes place behind 

a batsman must be deemed to be unfair 

because the batsman in such an instance is 

totally & completely at a disadvantage. A 

new Playing Condition that enhances the 

game of cat & mouse between fielders, 

bowlers & batsmen remains fair so long as 

it allows each of them to know what the 

other is doing, each of them can see what is 

going on & each of them can adjust accordingly. 

The Laws of Cricket in their entirety 

recognise that principle & have an implied 

contract between all the players to play the 

game fairly. To now allow one party to literally 

sneak around behind another’s back is 

simply unfair. It is not Cricket! 

The ICC needs to clarify urgently its directive 

to umpires in respect of this new 

Playing Condition & make it clear that any 

movement by a fielder that happens before 

the batsman has played a shot & that occurs 

behind a batsman, out of his normal line of 

sight, is unfair. The MCC needs to realize 

that they have made a grave error here by 

condoning something that is manifestly unfair 

& take immediate steps to press the ICC 

to sort out the matter with the umpires on 

their various panels that are being asked to 

employ this new Playing Condition. Or even 

better, the ICC should withdraw this variation 

to the ODI Playing Conditions. It is not 

within the Spirit of the Game. It is not 

within the “Game’s Traditional Values”. It is 

not within the Laws of Cricket. 

And while I & my colleagues accept that 

Cricket & its Laws need to evolve & not remain 

static, the ICC, & the MCC for that 

matter, need to be resoundingly reminded 

that cricket is a tactical living game of subtle 

strategy with the ethos of fairness at its 

very core. A fielding captain is responsible 

for assessing the state of the match & the 

conditions of the pitch, the field & the 

weather as they present themselves to him at 

any particular time & deciding his mode of 

attack against a particular batsman (which 

bowler to use & have him bowl what line & 

length) while deploying his defensive assets 

(his fielders) to anticipate & limit the resulting 

counterattack by the batsman. If a 

fielder, close or otherwise, is to be allowed 

to dash around & make a significant movement, 

once the field has been set, in response 

to the perceived actions of a batsman 

shaping to play a shot, where does it end 

Can the entire fielding side now rotate at a 

canter once the ball has left the bowler’s 

hand & the batsman has shaped to play a 

particular shot as estimated by the fielding 

side Will each fielding team next be allowed 

to dress up to three or four fielders in 

camouflage suits & try & hide them from 

the batsmen by placing them lying down, in 

the deep, on the boundary Absurd the ideas 

may well but they make my point. At what 

point does something become unfair 

Finally, I believe it is past high time that 

the ICC is brought to task by those who are 

prepared to stand up for the uniqueness that 

is the Game of Cricket for causing countless 

problems in, & untold damage to, the recreational 

game played globally by millions & 

umpired by tens of thousands through their 

messing around with the Playing Conditions 

that are applied in the elite circles of the 

game played by the very few. I hold the 

view that the continued & expanding digression 

of the mores of the elite game supervised 

by the ICC from those of the 

recreational game supervised by national & 

regional governing bodies is all done in pursuit 

of a larger TV audience & more money 

through attempts to make cricket a more homogeneously 

acceptable form of entertainment. 

ICC’s aim is to satisfy its commercial 

partners & their interests. All this has had & 

continues to have a negative effect on 

cricket, one that will ultimately weaken the 

recreational game. The recreational game 

will imitate the elite game, as it has always 

done, but it does not follow that this is always 

a good thing. Imitation might be the 

sincerest form of flattery but imitation in 

this instance will ultimately weaken the 

recreational game by moving it farther & 

farther from its moral centre, its Spirit & its 

Traditional Values. 

We who love Cricket for what Cricket is 

& who believe in its Spirit & its Traditional 

Values must stand up for Cricket & exert 

what pressure we can to get the ICC to stop 

messing about with Cricket. With apologies 

to Kenneth Grahame, the only thing that it 

is good to mess about in is, “messing about 

in boats”. 


The MCC is constantly reviewing the Laws 

of the game to ensure they cater for the rapidly 

changing way in which the game is 

being played. On 15 th October it clarified 

Law 41 (7) and (8) by issuing a statement. 

“As long as the movement of a close 



play or shaping to play) then movement is 

permitted before the ball reaches the striker. 

On the day, if umpires believe any form 

of significant movement is unfair (an attempt 

to deceive the batsman), then the 

Law still applies”. 

This is designed to cater for the batsman 

changing his stance to play a switch shot, 

reverse sweep etc 

Malc Ripley, of the York & DSC 

League Panel shares his thoughts 

and views, gathered over 53 years, 

on how recreational cricket is 

currently changing. 

Steven Wood’s recent ECB ACO 

Newsletter has prompted me to 

begin writing a book about 

local cricket scene/umpiring et 

al and where it could possibly be 

going presently. 

A number of items are beginning to concern 

this 76 year old. In the East Yorkshire/Hull/ 

York areas where I possess the knowledge 

after being involved in the summer game 

since I was aged twelve, I have seen a small 

number of clubs either folding, or are fielding 

a lesser number of teams, whilst probably a 

record number of clubs/teams this year are 

having to concede fixtures due to player 

shortages etc. So a lack of commitment here 

is seen to prevail 

Regarding teams/clubs folding over the 

last 30 to 40 years around these borders, a 

few colleagues and I have listed no fewer 

than 158 becoming defunct, with a number 

of grounds having subsequently being built 

on, with very sadly nigh on 1700 players 

being lost to our present game. Are they 

being replaced by youngsters 

No doubt and conversely, more of the 

younger (14/15 years old) juniors are appearing 

in a number of the more senior 

teams than ever before, even if they are 

sometimes not yet quite good enough for 

this elevation. Is their surprise appearance 

demonstrating that more of the, more recognised, 

regular, older players are disappearing 

from the game, one wonders 

It certainly augurs well for cricket in general 

that interest is being shown by these upand-coming 

well coached youngsters, as 

they will, one hopes, ensure that the future 

of our game will continue to flourish after 

we have gone. 

Despite the above, am I being really pessimistic 

when I venture to suggest that in 

15/20 years’ time probably about a third of our 

present players/clubs will also have also disappeared 

- never to be replaced, surely not! 

Could some of the possible reasons for 

fewer cricketers playing the game be the fact 

that by its very nature a game nowadays 

could last for up to six hours, disregarding the 

added travelling time, and even without a 

final positive outcome, i.e. match drawn 

Couple that with players not wishing to 

travel longer (expensive) distances even to 

find/participate in ‘better’ cricket. Do youngsters 

want a shorter game, as they may wish 

to do other things on that particular day, as 

life continually changes, unless they are really 

dedicated to their cricket Granted a number 

of the longer distances travelled are, and will 

be curtailed! 



Letters continued from page 29 

We are all well aware that football, the two 

rugby codes, tennis etc. occupiy some 90 minutes 

in comparison, plus travelling times, so 

additional social activities can be crammed 

into the day. Many youngsters now probably 

also enjoy golf more than ever before, so 

could this be preferred to the cricket, one 

wonders Is there any constructive answer 

Or figures to prove otherwise It’s all a rather 

complex issue. 

More ‘Food For Thought’ emerges. Most 

cricket clubs are constantly seeking that vitally 

important ingredient, “The Volunteer”, to 

help their local club to progress and to be run 

efficiently. To my mind in many instances, 

these people are simply not coming forward 

to assist, as they reckon they have too many 

things on their plate to deal with. The outcome 

is that many clubs are generally struggling 

to function as they would wish, with the 

old faithful band of half a dozen or less at the 

helm, with some reluctantly walking away in 

disgust after many years’ service. Hence a 

void results. 

I have noticed that a number of regular 

players at various clubs fail to turn up/cannot 

be bothered for their once- a- year AGM attendance, 

let alone the monthly committee 

meetings.This is a noticeable change from, 

say, ten years ago. Even clubs or their representatives 

show a reluctance to go to their 

league meetings occasionally. 

Turning to the present, active umpire 

availability to help facilitate matches in the 

region is another worrying negative trend 

that I find exasperating. 

A little less than 40 years ago, the East Riding 

ACU&S branch possessed in excess of 70 

officials standing regularly, (this figure excluding 

the then ‘club’umpires as my figures 

do at this time also). Today it is marginally 

less than 30 in number. 

The York Neutral Panel presently remains 

in a very parallel situation, as when 

I began with them in 1994, I was a (50/50 

then) member of a 53 strong panel, with a 

“Reserve panel “ of around 18, The all-in 

total has dwindled today to 37 regular 

colleagues. 

What can we do about this whole situation 

in an attempt to expand and to benefit the 

players 

All of the above has happened after ECB 

ACO has succeeded the now well defunct 

ACU&S, when both bodies put on their regular 

umpire/scorer education/training 

dourses/examinations each year in a concerted 

attempt to recruit more men in the white coat. 

Maybe we have lost scorers too But it’s 

difficult obviously to come up with their figures 

as they work with their particular clubs. 

To finalise, I feel it’s not all doom and 

gloom as it possibly appears to be. These 

thoughts of mine are meant to be constructive 

and not especially destructive. I would love to 

hear if you think my views are way, way off 

beam. I would be happy for you to prove me 

wrong, or even out of order! 


As he implies, Malcolm is both a long standing 

member of ACU&S and ECB ACO and a 

regular correspondent. 

He challenges other members to make their 

views known–so go ahead! 

Just for clarification, the Newsletter issued 

by Steven Wood and referred to in the first 

paragraph was a Yorkshire Cricket Board 

newsletter and not an ECB ACO newsletter. 

Bryan Cook in the West Midlands, writes with reference to the recent letters from David Marks and Peter Woodman. 

I have been umpiring for 

about 14 years and have always 

been a member of 

ECB ACO, or ACU&S previously. 

I always dress 

properly when umpiring and will always 

do so. I still wear traditional cotton shirts 

and jumpers which I have had for many 

years. They are all in good condition and 

smart. I also asked if I could buy ECB 

ACO badges to complement my shirts. I 

received the same sort of reply that you 

did, but I have thought more about it since 

reading your letter. 

I would make the following points/ask 

questions: they are not in any order of importance. 

1. Were (are) efforts made to keep costs to 

members as low as possible 

2. How long is the contract given to 

Fearnleys 

3. Whenever I umpire I do so as a member 

of ECB ACO and players and clubs know 

this. No doubt they will notice and 

possibly comment/report if I turn out in a 

manner not considered by them to be 

appropriate. I am not aware of any 

problems to date. 

4. When doing this it is left to me what 

standard of dress I wear. I always choose 

to dress in a manner I consider the role of 

umpiring deserves. 

(Don’t we all) 

5. I do not think any umpire deliberately or 

repeatedly turns out in inappropriate 

dress, unless perhaps if called upon in an 

emergency. 

6. I am proud to be an umpire and a 

member of ECB ACO. The replies given 

to David and myself suggest a degree of 

mistrust on the part of ECB ACO. 

7. Did the ECB ACO put the business 

out to tender 

8. If so how many applications did they 

receive 

9. Did the ECB ACO choose the 

cheapest tender 

None of the above should be taken as 

criticism of any of the kit supplied by 

Fearnleys. 

Peter, your letter makes me realise I am 

not alone either in my reaction to the ‘run 

out’ of Buttler 

I am told by colleagues that ‘Buttler had 

done it before!’ So what I ask Should we 

umpires not make every decision on what 

we have just seen and according to the Laws 

of Cricket In my view the bowler had not 

only entered his delivery stride but had actually 

completed it. He did not deliver the ball 

and waited for Buttler who quite naturally 

started to move away from the crease to 

move out of his crease. This is normal as far 

as I can see. Since this incident I have 

watched batsmen at the bowler’s end, and 

many if not most begin to leave the crease 

as the bowler delivers the ball (I make sure I 

am watching everything I should at the 

time). I think the whole matter has been 

mishandled. I do not condone any previous 

attempt by Buttler to steal a run (allegedly!). 

However I do not feel the bowler is without 

blame in this instance. I believe it was a deliberate 

attempt to mislead Buttler ,that the 

decision should have been ‘Not out’ and that 

a warning should have been given to the 

bowler. His action was, in my opinion, completely 

against the spirit of the game and the 

action was outside the Laws. 


ECB ACO has a commercial contract with 

Duncan Fearnley which was negotiated by 

a small committee consisting of your Board 

Representatives and the Executive. It has recently 

been signed in advance of the previous 

agreement expiring on 31 st December 

2014. The contract lasts for 4 years with the 

opportunity to renew on the same terms for 

a further 2 years. 

As the 

contract is 

commercially 

sensitive 

the 

details of 

the contract 

cannot 

be 

discussed 

here but 

the guiding 

principle 

is 

that the ECB ACO 

shop has been set up as a benefit for the 

members and as sales increase so will the 

annual royalty payment to ECB ACO. The 

costs of items are set as low as possible 

whilst maintaining quality and bearing in 

mind, of course, that Fearnleys have to 

make a profit as well. 

Over the last 2 years, 35% of all members 

have purchased items from the shop and as 

we continue to develop the concept of a one 

stop shop for all umpiring and scoring requirements, 

we anticipate this will increase 

further. Sales in 2014 are currently running 

at 10% above last year and next year we are 

aiming to have our best year ever with lots of 

new items being added to the 2015 catalogue. 

We apologise if previous replies have 

suggested any distrust of members although 

equally, your letter perhaps implies 

a distrust of the decision making process. 

We try to be a forward thinking organisation 

and we believe that the contract with 

Fearnleys is a good one for the members 

and one that will increasingly add value to 

ACO membership. 

Regarding the continued correspondence 

on Mankading –please note that Buttler was 

not dismissed in accordance with Law 42.15 

but for contravention of ICC Playing Condition 

42.11 for One Day Internationals. 


Interview with David Byas 

Yorkshire’s triumph in the County Championship this season brought back fond memories for 

David Byas, who captained the White Rose county to their last triumph in 2001. Nowadays David 

works for ECB as a mentor for first class umpires. Newsletter caught up with him during the 2014 

season and asked him about his role – although we started with his beloved Yorkshire who at the 

time of the interview were starting to pick up the momentum that would see them eventually 

crowned champions. 

What do you remember about 

winning the championship in 2001 

As with any title winning side, it was all 

about a combination of a good set of players 

and making the most of some crucial 

‘breaks’ we got – I recall us playing at 

Cardiff and facing a terrible forecast, but we 

got the game won just before the heavens 

opened; the same at Scarborough the day 

we won the game that clinched the title, it 

threw it down within minutes of us taking 

the final wicket. I’ve got very fond memories 

of the team. We had a terrific squad – 

we used 23 players through the season, as 

we lost players to England, and had more 

than our fair share of injuries. The guys who 

came in did wonderfully well, real unsung 

heroes but really decent players in their own 

right. Gary Fellows, Steve Kirby, Richard 

Dawson, Matthew Wood - who got 1300 

runs - James Middlebrook, Ian Fisher – all 

players who were a big part of the win. Darren 

Lehmann was brilliant for us as well, 

which helped! 

Going a little further back, how did 

you start out in the world of 

professional cricket 

It seems a very long time ago! I left school 

at 17, and although I loved cricket and 

hockey, cricket was what I really developed 

in. I started at Scarborough - probably as 

good a club as any in the country. They 

were no strangers to Lord’s finals and were 

a terrific club to be involved with. I was 

very unusual inasmuch as I was 23 when I 

got my first professional contract – that’s a 

long wait but I felt I had earned the chance 

through run scoring at a high level of amateur 

cricket and then getting a break and 

taking my chance in 2 nd XI cricket, which 

led in turn to the 1 st team. 

What were your thoughts on umpires 

when you were playing 

I don’t want to sound old fashioned but I 

was still of an era when the umpires made a 

decision which you accepted without question. 

At Scarborough I would never have 

survived, as a boy in men’s cricket, without 

obeying that basic principle, and when I 

came into the Yorkshire side, players like 

Phil Carrick and David Bairstow underlined 

that this was how it worked at county level. 

They held umpires in high regard. Players 

would take opposition players’ word on 

things like dubious catches – it was still 

played that way. More often than not, you’d 

walk. We had a lot of very good umpires – 

such as David Constant and John Hampshire, 

who were hugely respected players in 

their own right and equally respected as umpires. 

I’m not trying to say it was a better 

game in my day, but it was markedly different 

from today, when umpires are under 

more pressure than ever. You took the opponent’s 

word more then than seems to be the 

case now. 

How did you come to be an umpire 

mentor 

Well, the ending of my time with Yorkshire 

as a player is well documented – I then had 

two very enjoyable seasons with Lancashire 

as a player, then when my playing career 

was over, I went back to Yorkshire as Director 

of Cricket, which came to an end in 

early 2007. Then it was just one of those 

things – ECB was trying to put together a 

support mechanism for umpires in this 

country, and I was available and not long 

stopped playing and they felt I might have 

something to offer in terms of helping them 

develop. So like so many things, it was a 

combination of right place, right time. 

What was the particular appeal of the 

role and what does it entail 

The chance to stay involved with the game, 

primarily, as well as the sense of breaking a 

bit of new ground. As a county captain, you 

are more involved with the umpires, and 

they were always a main topic of discussion 

in pre and post season meetings with other 

captains. We were all aware that they are 

human beings and make mistakes, but we 

didn’t generally have an issue with that as 

such, we just wanted consistency and in 

general we felt we got that. 

Umpiring has always been a pressurised 

position, and as the chance arose 

to make some contribution after I’d 

stopped playing, the role of mentor was 

one I felt I could do something with, and I 

really do enjoy what I do. I have umpired 

schoolboy cricket, which can be hard 

enough and even through doing that I can 

appreciate how difficult umpiring can be 

as you progress through the various 

badges and levels, from club, to county, to 

first class, to international. 

My role as mentor is not about me 

teaching umpires how to umpire as such, 

far from it; it’s more focussed on the fine 

tuning, the insights I have from having 

played on how they have managed the 

game – providing another pair of eyes to 

watch, observe, and help them gain an 

extra 1% wherever possible. I have 

worked with the likes of Ian Gould, 

Richard Illingworth, and Martin Bodenham 

in the past; currently I’m working 

with Rob Bailey, Michael Gough, Martin 

Saggers and Ben Debenham. I also work 

with reserve list umpires – Alex Wharf, 

for example – and basically I do the 

equivalent of a captain’s report on their 

performance. I give them insights in a 

‘coaching’ capacity. ECB takes umpire 

development very seriously right the way 

through, and does not just assume that 

once you’ve made it to the first class list 

that you’ve somehow ‘arrived’. Once you 

start thinking you have no more to learn, 

you start going backwards, like it or not. 

Is it a bit odd mentoring people 

who you played with and against 

Not now, no, it’s simply a case of ‘that 

was then, this is now’. Richard Kettleborough 

and I coincided at Yorkshire. I 

clearly remember the hundred he made 

against Essex in 1996 which was just fantastic, 

but sadly first class cricket never 

quite worked for him, and he decided, 

rather than just pack up, he would get involved 

in another way and set himself the 

goal of umpiring, and as he developed, 

our paths crossed again, but it was simply 

not a problem for either of us. He’s gone 

right up to the ICC panel and I am delighted 

at how he’s doing. 

Michael Gough played for England 

schoolboys and he has now become a 

highly respected umpire - he has great 

‘presence’ and is always in complete control 

of his own emotions. Richard and 

Michael, like others, want to do well, and 

it’s only being in a dressing room with 

them that you realise just how professional 

they are and how well prepared 

they are. The pressure they are under 

can’t be underestimated and I have total 

respect for them. 


Mentioning Michael 

Gough, what was your 

view of the Buttler/ 

Sennanayake run out at 

Edgbaston that he had 

to adjudicate on 

Having seen and viewed the 

whole incident in detail, 

there’s no doubt in my mind 

that Michael handled it impeccably, 

fully according to 

the letter of the ICC regulations, 

and also in the best 

manner given the nature of 

the incident. I know there are 

two basic streams of thought 

on what happened but my 

view as an ex-player would 

be the same as Alistair Cook’s – it’s 

not something I would want to do or 

see happen. 

Do professional umpires appreciate or 

resent the increased technology in 

today’s game 

Umpires now generally enjoy having it, they 

don’t mind being held up to public scrutiny 

as it assists them to get the right decision, 

which is the absolute bottom line of umpiring 

- as well as delivering their craft they 

want to get it right. Had it been more prevalent 

when I was playing, I would have been 

quite happy with it. Technology obviously 

increases the pressure and professional umpires 

are more frequently criticised for 

‘howlers’ and the like. While I understand 

that, and, as I say, no professional umpire 

has a particular issue with it, I think there 

also needs to be a sense of perspective. If 

every club umpire was scrutinised to the 

same degree, it’s highly likely that a lot of 

errors would be picked up – not necessarily 

because there are big problems with club 

umpires, far from it, it’s just that mistakes 

do happen. 

Decision making is a split-second thing – 

calling a No ball for example, lbws, the thin 

edge to the keeper. Every umpire at any level 

needs to ask themselves honestly – if every 

decision I’ve given this season was reviewed 

from all angles many times, how many would 

be confirmed You will make mistakes; it’s 

how you react that will, hopefully, stand you 

in good stead with players, captains and 

coaches. Peter Willey recently corrected a 

mistake in the Roses match – he gave Andrew 

Gale out caught behind, felt immediately 

he’d got it wrong, consulted with his 

colleague, and reversed the decision. There 

are few umpires more experienced or respected 

than Peter but he was the first to accept 

he’d got that one wrong. Glen Chapple, 

the opposing captain, had no issue at all with 

it, which is typical of Glen and cricketers in 

general. They want the right decisions. 

So what does success look like for 

you in your role 

It would be to see colleagues move up the 

umpiring lists. I worked with Russ Evans 

and Alex Wharf last year and both went onto 

the full list for this season, which is success 

for all of us. That’s what makes it difficult 

for me to truly gauge success – I can help 

and offer advice on all sorts of things, but 

they have to want to put it into practice, 

want to develop. A consistently good season 

of captain’s reports is also a good indicator. 

What tips for improvement would 

you offer 

My number one tip would be simply – control 

the controllables to give y ourself every 

chance of being the best you can be. 

For example, getting prepared to umpire. 

Umpires live and die by their knowledge of 

rules and regulations – that is 

such a basic imperative, they are 

just a ‘given’. An umpire found 

wanting in that area will be 

rightly criticised because that is a 

‘controllable’ – it’s entirely up to 

the individual. There are plenty 

of opportunities for club umpires 

to take courses, do refresher 

courses – so, especially during 

the winter, I would say, whoever 

you are, whatever level of experience 

you have - get on a course if 

possible, or try and meet with 

colleagues even just to have a 

drink and chat over aspects of 

umpiring. Another option would 

be to try a correspondence course 

– be looking for ways to improve. 

Preparation to the ‘nth’ degree, and 

giving attention to detail are key elements of 

developing into a really good umpire – there 

are lots of ways this can be done. 

All umpires should ask themselves – do 

my diet and lifestyle reflect my intention to 

develop Kettleborough, Gough, Illingworth 

and many others all have thorough 

routines to keep their fitness levels good. 

To a large extent that is another controllable, 

no matter what level you umpire at. 

Regular walking, using stairs instead of 

lifts, keeping an eye on our diets are all little 

things that can be built into a daily routine 

which can help with stamina, fitness, 

and general health. 

Ask a lot of questions whenever you get 

the opportunity – it’s generally the more 

curious, and the ones who really want to 

learn and aren’t thinking they’ve learned 

all there is to know, that improve. Make the 

most of the opportunities offered by your 

local county ACO with this – there will be 

people involved here who can help you. 

My feeling has always been that, if you 

want to do something badly enough, then 

you will live accordingly. I would be pretty 

confident in saying that if you looked at 

any club competition in the country, the 

umpires held in highest regard will be 

those who have an appetite to prepare and 

be as thorough as they can, which gives 

them a great base from which to officiate, 

make decisions, and handle the game. 

ECB ACO and the 

Japanese Cricket 

Association 

September 2014 saw ECB ACO’s Chief Executive 

Officer Nick Cousins welcome a 

group of dignitaries from Sano City, Japan, 

to the ECB Offices at Lord’s Cricket 

Ground. The touring group, which included 

the Deputy Mayor of Sano City, were gifted 

some ECB ACO memorabilia, pictured adjacent 

in their ECB ACO baseball caps, a Tour 

of Lord’s and a translated welcome speech 

from Nick. 

Amongst the party from Japan was Chris 

Thurgate, a Director on the Board of the 

Japanese Cricket Association, who is an expat, 

regularly umpires across South East 

Asia and someone who is actively seeking to 

undertake his 

umpiring qualifications 

and 

join ECB 

ACO. It is always 

great to 

see how far 

across the 

world ECB 

ACO is 

reaching. 

During 

the visit 

Lord’s also 

played host 

to Japan’s 

Number 1 

mascot, who 

was given 

free reign of 

Lord’s for 

the afternoon. 

He proved particularly popular with 

staff and visitors alike, with people queuing 

up to get their picture taken with him. Pictured 

is ECB ACO’s John Overton with 

Sanomaru next to the Nursery Ground. 



50+ County Championship 

Martin White (Suffolk) and Billy Smith (Worcs) 

Royal London Club Championship 

Roger Tolchard (Devon) and 

Gary Marshall (Essex) 

Under 17s 

Vernon Fallows (Surrey), Neil Pratt (Durham) and 

Andrew Thomasson (Yorks), Naeem Ashraf (Lancs) 

Under 17s 

Naeem Ashraf (Lancs) and Andrew Thomasson (Yorks) 

Bunbury 

Mark Eggleston (Mentor) Nathan Hewitt (Notts), Tom 

Heenan (Bucks), Paddy Brown (Lancs), Jordan 

Montgomery-Else (Durham) & Glyn Pearson (Mentor) 

Under 15s County 

Jonathan Crabtree (Yorks), Paddy Brown (Lancs), Paul Joy 

(Mentor), Nathan Hewitt (Notts) & Chris Fortune (Gloucs) 



Womens premier Club 

Philip Barston 

Chris Johnson 

Kevin Smyth 

Rodney Watts 

David Perry 

Graham Pickering 

Under 15 National Club 


Jonathan Crabtree (Yorks), 

Ben Cousins (Bucks), 

Tom Heenan (Bucks), 

& David Tooth (Bucks) 

Under 13s National Club 


Jonathan Crabtree (Yorks), David Matthews 

(Wales), Sam Hollingshead (Gloucs), 

Sam Stringfellow (Notts), Daniel Brennan (Beds) 

& Ben Cousins (Bucks) 

Men’s ECB Appointments 

The climax of the recreational cricket season was duly reached and the Royal 

London ClubChampionship Cup Final; NatWest Club T20 Finals; Davidstow 

Village Cup Final; the ECB County Championship 50 + Finals and other 

ECB Age Group Competition finals: were all completed with the officials 

nominated and appointed. 

I would like to pay tribute to all the Appointments Officers across the country 

that do a sterling job to appoint appropriately and fittingly. Certainly the 

four ECB ACO Regional Appointments officers; David Ward, Peter McKenzie, 

Terry Burstow and Les Clemenson –supported in the administration by 

Howard Hudd and Ray Parker, have all done a fantastic job. 

Once again, it is worth noting what a massive improvement has been brought 

about by the use of WTU; it is quite difficult to conceive of making regional and 

national appointments and reappointments without it. Many ACOs have discovered 

for themselves what an efficient and time saving device it is as well as the 

fact that it facilitates complete openness and transparency around appointments, 

which is certainly best practice. 

You may be interested to hear of some of the appointments made this year: 

NatWest Club T20 Tom Lungley (Derbyshire) Russell Evans (ECB) 

Russell Warren (Notts) Ian Warne (Northumberland) 

Davidstow Village Cup paul Sparshott (Hants) Dean price (Wales) 

ECB U17 County Championship Alasdair Shaikh (Sussex) Lee Sockett (Staffs) 

BUCS prem A one-Day Final Tim Boston (Cornwall) paul Chambers (Notts) 

BUCS prem B one-Day Final Martin Sayles (Yorks) Alistair Shaikh (Sussex) 


Scorers 

National Scorers’ Officer, Geoff Trett, gives us his update… 

Valuing cricket statistics 

Since my last newsletter, a new Chairman has been appointed to the 

national Scorers’ Sub-Committee (SSC): Steve Davies who is the 

Chairman of Wales Region. Philip Radcliffe, the previous Chairman, 

remains on the Committee as the Board’s representative. Steve 

brings a wealth of experience in project management from the private 

sector and is looking forward to bringing a new drive and energy 

to the world of scoring. Steve’s arrival coincides with some 

exciting developments . 

The results of the recent players’ survey show that players value 

cricket statistics, which they like to see on the day and from the comfort 

of their homes via the internet. You may feel that this news is 

hardly earth shattering as we scorers have known this for years! But 

the acknowledgement that scorers are important in helping attract 

and keep players in the game is vitally important at a time when all 

sports are competing to retain and increase participation. 

It provides an opportunity to attract investment into scoring in 

terms of equipment and technology and provides further impetus to 

the new targets for scoring that I listed in my last newsletter article. 

So the focus over the next few months will be: 

■ Promote the development and use of electronic scoring as a complement 

to traditional book scoring so that more statistics are 

available online; 

■ Develop an online version of our existing Level 1 training course, 

which we hope to be available by Spring 2015; 

■ Encourage new membership via a recruitment campaign which 

will include the use of posters and leaflets which can be distributed 

to clubs. We hope to harness the enthusiasm of our existing 

membership in this campaign (see article [say where item is]; 

■ Try and improve the profile of scoring both in leagues and at a 

professional level by encouraging greater recognition in key 

matches, increasing the number of leagues that require qualified 

scorers to officiate in their matches and improving facilities for 

scorers. This has traditionally been a hard nut to crack but we intend 

to use the results of the players’ survey as an instrument to 

make further progress. 

We are now nearing the end of the conference season and it has 

been great to meet many of you over the past few weeks, especially 

at the National Conference, where over 40 people attended the Scorers 

Forum and talk by Malcolm Ashton. 

I was very pleased with the Forum where we had a lively and constructive 

discussion, with lots of engagement and good ideas from all 

the participants, many of which coincide with the ideas that I’ve described 

above. I am in the process of collating all of these ideas and 

am meeting with Steve Davies shortly to agree how we take them 

forward. I shall write more on this in my next article. 

One of the topics which we discussed at the conference was the 

provision of scorer-related merchandise from Fearnley. The Membership 

Office at Edgbaston has taken over the day-to-day running of 

the contract and is actively engaged in identifying new items specifically 

for scorers. These include a wider range of branded clothing, 

including items for ladies in women’s sizes, an official ECB ACO 

endorsed scorebook, a sun shield for computers and a starter-pack for 

new scorers to complement the umpires’ starter pack which already 

exists. Discussions are currently under way to take these ideas forward. 

At the regional conferences scorers have asked for distinctive 

clothing which distinguishes us from umpires; we are looking at 

ways of taking this forward. 

The Membership Team is represented on the SSC and is working 

closely with us to try and increase the number of scorer members in 

the Association. Apart from improving the product range from 

Fearnley, they have also led the move to reintroduce “Grandfather 

Rights” at Level 2 for experienced scorers who are not members of 

the Association. Such scorers must provide evidence that they already 

operate at Level 2 in line with the criteria that scorers moving 

along the Scorers Pathway must attain. Applications must be endorsed 

by the relevant County and Regional Scorers’ Officers. It 

has also been agreed that the first-year membership fee for new 

Level 1 scorers will be reduced to £10 to encourage greater take-up 

of membership. 

Finally, in the last newsletter I mentioned the creation of a role for 

a digital scoring champion. This role has now been properly defined 

as the Electronic Scoring Officer (ESO). The terms of reference are: 


Your Association Needs You ! 

At the National Conference, our new Chairman, Steve Davies, empowered all the delegates who were present to act as recruiting 

agents for the scoring element of ECB ACO – to bang the drum for ECB ACO, shout out loud the benefits and get that vast army of 

scorers who are not members to come along and join the party. There was a very positive mood at the conference – something of a sea 

change that we wish to harness and drive the organisation 

To help with this, we will be producing some helpful literature, but in the meantime, here is a list of some of the benefits of membership 

which you can use when you are talking with scorers in your area: 

Membership & Recognition 

■ Experienced scorers can join without having to sit an exam 

■ Reduced first-year membership of £10 

■ Visible acknowledgement that you are qualified and competent 

at what you do; the respect from colleagues and players that 

goes with that. 

■ Right to wear ACO-branded clothing and use ACO-branded 

merchandise 

Training and Development 

■ Portfolio of training courses available to suit all needs 

■ Courses which are easily accessible, affordable & progressive 

■ Pathway to higher-level scoring 

■ Access to information and training courses on new digital 

scoring systems 

Keeping up-to-date 

■ Quarterly newsletter and local communications 

■ Right to attend National Conference and other local events for 

umpires and scorers and to influence the direction of the 

Association 

Moving to the electronic age 

■ 25% discount on TCS software 

■ Access to the latest information on developments in digital 

scoring 

Appointments 

■ Access to higher-level scoring appointments across the country 

Insurance 

■ ACO insurance cover – which includes losing the team’s 

valuables bag! 


Scorers… continued 

■ Keep up-to-date with developments in 

electronic scoring – ie scoring using a 

computer, lap-top or other mobile device; 

■ Establish links with electronic computer 

software producers and report on 

developments to the SSC; 

■ Ensure that courses in the scoring 

portfolio reflect developments in 

electronic scoring and are kept up-to-date; 

■ Lead design of electronic scoring modules 

that can be taken independently from the 

main scoring courses; 

■ Represent electronic scoring on the 

national SSC; 

■ Give presentations on developments on 

electronic scoring to 

meetings/conferences and write newsletter 

articles on the subject as required. 

I am pleased to report that I have had a 

Nathan Bradley’s Blog for SCOPE 

number of expressions of interest in response 

to the newsletter article and from this year’s 

regional and national conferences. It is likely 

that we will appoint one person as ESO but 

use the others who have come forward to 

assist in some way. We expect to decide this 

shortly and I will announce the outcome in 

the next newsletter. 

I wish you all a Happy Christmas and 

successful new year: 2015 promises to 

be good ! 

In August 2014 SCOPE ( the UK disability charity that works with disabled 

people and their families in England and Wales) asked ECB ACO member 

Nathan Bradley to write a blog for their website. 

My name is 

Nathan, I am 22 

and am 1st team 

scorer for Heathcoat 

Cricket Club. 

In layman’s terms 

I am appointed to 

record all runs 

scored, all wickets 

taken and the 

number of overs bowled in a match. However my role encompasses 

significantly more that this! I have a huge passion for cricket and 

many have asked me why I am not out on the field. 

The answer becomes simple when I roll around in my wheelchair. I 

was born at 24 weeks weighing less than a bag of sugar, with quadriplegic 

cerebral palsy. Consultants told my parents I had minimal 

chances of even surviving as a vegetable, much less fulfilling the potential 

my parents saw. Thus a lifelong journey of proving people 

wrong began. 

I spent a year at the Peto Andreas Conductive Education Institute 

in Budapest, where my brain and muscles were trained in the ‘basics’ 

of living, toileting, feeding etc. I learned to speak Hungarian before I 

spoke English, though sadly Hungarian is one language that eludes 

me now. 

After excelling in school, until they wrongly decided that my physical 

condition was too difficult for them to deal with, I toured Europe 

and spent my time as a dual language teacher of English and Spanish 

and a general IT consultant. 

Upon returning to Britain, I came to Devon, and decided I wanted 

to indulge my greatest passion, which is sport. After looking around 

and considering every available opportunity from journalism to commentary, 

to refereeing and umpiring, I realised that there was and is 

absolutely nothing to stop me being a cricket scorer. 

After sitting an introductory course, I found myself thrust into 

league cricket the following week, scoring for what was then my 

local second team in Bideford CC. 

During my 1st season with Bideford in 2012, I was lucky enough 

to be appointed by England and Wales Cricket Board’s Association of 

Cricket Officials (ECB ACO) as a young official to the MCC Corporate 

Day at Lord’s, where I had the opportunity to work alongside 

some of the finest scorers in the country, many of whom score professionally 

for counties, as is my ultimate dream. 

I was also appointed to a ladies 

development game, and received 

glowing comments about my scoring. 

It was around this time that I 

truly started to realise I may have 

the ability to do it professionally. 

In the last close season, I realised 

I needed to move higher up 

the ladder in order that I might 

progress, so I approached and became 

scorer for Heathcoat CC, 

near Tiverton, who had just been 

promoted to the Premier League. 

I have always scored using a 

computer, as my ability to write quickly and, more importantly, legibly 

is hindered somewhat by my CP. 

For my club I print off small rainforests of stats every week, everybody 

wants a wagon wheel , a chart that shows which part of the field 

each scoring shot by a batsman was made (revealing the batman’s 

favourite places to hit the ball, or an analysis of a really good bowling 

spell, and I am first port of call when anyone wants to know a 

rule or a statistic. 

Yes, some scoreboxes are difficult to access, some are up flights of 

stairs, but that does not mean I will not get there, even if two people 

have to lift me up there in my chair. And a lovely thing about the 

cricket community is that people will help, I’ve even had opposition 

captains volunteer to lift me up. 

I have said before that I have a dream to score professionally for a 

county, and, by extension, in international matches too. I believe with 

the correct training, experience, determination and desire that I shall 

get there, and I shall not stop until I achieve this dream. 

In closing, I’d like to say that any disabled people out there with a 

dream, in cricket, sport, or anywhere, live it, chase it, achieve it. It might 

be a cliché, but it’s true: it is not about disability, it’s about ability. 

Press Box Scoring 

ECB ACO member, Ray Markham, scores England Test matches and ODIs 

Many thanks to author Arunabha Sengupta (cricket historian and Chief Cricket Writer at CricketCountry) for allowing 

us to reproduce the following. 

Ray Markham is an ever present face in the 

press boxes during the Test matches and One 

Day Internationals held in England. Whenever 

an incident of note takes place in the 

field of play, the voice of this assiduous scorer 

is heard providing all the associated facts and 

figures for the assembly of journalists. He 

cannot afford to miss one single ball, and 

somehow manages to cater to every query 

while making scrupulous notes about the ongoing 

action. 

Ray Markham sits in the the Ageas Bowl 

press box. He is 67. He has just climbed up 

several flights of stairs because the lift for the 

Media Centre has broken down. The air-conditioning 

in the press box is on full blast, and 

his normal dapper self is wrapped up in cardigan 

and muffler. He says on the phone that he 

is receiving artificial respiration but that is far 

from the truth. He is as sprightly as the next 

man, whatever be his age, and especially so 

when there is cricket in the offing. 

His paraphernalia is neatly laid out. There 

is his laptop with the special scoring software, 

there is the linear scoring sheet which he 

painstakingly maintains with his assortment 

of coloured pens, then there are the famous 

coloured pens themselves. A packet of mints 

and sweets are spread within reach as are a 

calculator, a small digital clock, a binocular, a 

pencil, a rubber, a ruler, an assortment of clips 

and bands, and finally the correction fluid. 



Continued from page 37 

According to his uproariously entertaining 

autobiography From Loft to Lord’s any scorer 

who says he has never made a mistake is 

being economical with the truth … ‘scorers 

ought to be sponsored by the makers of the 

fluid.’ Press box scoring started for Ray only 

after he retired from his day job as a teacher. 

Migration into the world of county and international 

cricket from the club world ensured 

that his pens were no longer ‘borrowed’ by the 

players – to scribble batting orders or to do 

their crossword puzzles. 

“Never lend a player a pen, if you ever 

want to see it again” is a rhyming couplet in 

his autobiography that he prescribes for all 

scorers, as important as the other scoring 

aphorism: ‘The sum of the batsmen’s runs 

plus total extras should equal the sum of the 

bowler’s runs plus fieldsmen’s extra’s. His 

pens have disappeared so often that he goes 

on to write, “I’m convinced that there’s a 

black hole somewhere in the universe 

labelled Scorer’s Pens and it’s filling up fast.” 

He has every reason to be testy about this. 

He needs those pens. He jots down the balls 

faced by different batsmen in different 

colours, so also do various different events 

taking place in the game find their way into 

his sheets in multiple hues. A practiced eye 

aware of the colour coding can pick up the 

story of the match in meticulous detail with 

one glance at those sheets. 

He is bright and early as always, having 

already had his refreshments. Unlike pressmen, 

as a scorer he cannot afford to get up 

and hover around the lunch room during the 

game. Neither can he snatch bio breaks other 

than during a drinks, lunch or tea interval. 

Besides, he is the last to arrive for lunch, 

after having scrupulously balanced every figure 

in his scorebook, and the twenty minutes 

for tea hardly ever allows him to grab a 

snack. “At the tea interval, I feel like a cross 

between the white rabbit and the mad hatter 

in Alice in Wonderland, as I mutter to myself 

— ‘Oh, my goodness me, is that the time 

I’m going to be late! I’m going to be late!’ 

and hurry back to the scorebox clutching my 

cup of tea and a plate, on which are perched 

my unfinished sandwiches and piece of 

cake,” Markham writes. 

But, he loves what he does. Every time a 

bowling changes, a wicket falls, a session 

ends, two consecutive boundaries are hit, a 

milestone is reached – his voice is heard over 

the microphone announcing the specific details. 

No, these details are not readily available 

even on live scoreboards of the online world. 

For Markham’s voice is one step ahead, “In 

case you are interested in the breakup of the 

partnership, Cook 16 off 28 balls, Ballance 33 

off 24 balls and one wide.” 

No those numbers are not accurate but a 

simulation based on what I have heard over 

the days and, well, influenced by the England 

captain’s somewhat strained approach towards 

quick runs in the second innings. For the exact 

figures, one has to laboriously go through the 

online archives or simply ask Ray. Most journalists 

prefer the second option. What is the 

bowler’s analysis from wicket to wicket Pat 

comes the answer, two for one from 13 balls. 

How many minutes has the partnership been 

going on for The online scoreboards don’t 

update this until after the end of the innings, 

but Markham’s digital clock has recorded it 

all. “What was Rohit Sharma’s score when he 

was dropped” The answer is there, including 

a small remark – ‘Hard chance’ jotted noted 

down by hand in his scoring sheet. And once a 

day he picks up the microphone and says, 

“Ladies and gentlemen, the most popular announcement 

of the day. Lunch is now served.” 

Before retiring from his job as a teacher, 

Markham used to score at the local club fixtures. 

His two sons played in the club, and because 

of his past background of scoring as a 

14-year-old Ray Markham was asked to score 

for these matches. “Every Saturday, we used 

to go as a family to the games. As they progressed 

from the Colts to the first team, I 

started to score – because I had experience of 

doing it. I had been a scorer at 14, and used to 

score from a little loft above the pavilion of 

the village green.” These forays into club 

cricket often involved hilarious incidents, documented 

in From Loft to Lord’s in fascinating 

anecdotes. From standing up manfully against 

the conflicting scoring sheet of an intimidating 

fellow scorer of the opposite sex, to swatting 

wasps in dingy scoring boxes; from documenting 

a batsman’s name as Bonehead, to 

the time when a jilted-in-love teenage poured 

her sob story into the ears of a grandmother 

who was too busy checking for a leg-bye. 

“When I took early retirement from teaching, 

I could score mid-week and ended up 

scoring for Cambridge University.” That was 

how his scoring slowly moved into the lush 

green fields of Test cricket. 

“It was when I was scoring in a match for 

the Cambridge University against Duke of 

Norfolk’s XI, that the scorer of that team, 

whom I had known for about three or four 

years, out of the blue asked me if I’d be interested 

in doing some press-box scoring. To 

which my response was ‘what is press-box 

scoring’. I’d never heard of it. I didn’t realise 

there was a scorer to help the media if they 

had any question about the match in hand. So, 

when he explained all this to me I was a bit 

daunted, but thought it was something I would 

like to have a go at.So I ended up sending my 

details to a lady at the England and Wales 

Cricket Board (ECB) and she contacted me 

and asked me to score a Test match in 2007 – 

at The Oval against India. It was the match 

where India totalled over 600 and Anil Kumble 

scored a century.” 

A few One Day matches followed and then 

in 2009 the legendary scorer Bill Frindall 

passed away. “Malcolm Ashton moved on to 

the Test Match Special team which left a position 

in the press box to score the Test matches. 

I was asked and I jumped at the chance. My 

role is specifically and simply to score on behalf 

of the world press and to give them any 

information that they may want about the 

match at hand. Apart from normal information 

about a batsman’s innings, bowling spells, 

partnerships, if anyone is writing an article 

from a particular perspective I can provide the 

stats from the needed angle as well.” 

To identify the fielders of the unfamiliar 

foreign teams is often not easy. When a catch 

is taken, the correct name has to be jotted 

down, and that requires deciphering the fielder 

by looking past the cap and, on occasions, helmet. 

“Sometimes I get to know who the fielders 

are by watching them in other matches, on 

television, or by looking at their profiles in 

websites. But, it is often difficult when they 

have their caps on or helmets. So, I rely on 

Sky Television, the TMS commentators and 

journalists in the box. You have to check from 

at least two sources.” 

Throughout his scoring career, Ray’s wife 

Sheila has been a pillar of support – although 

she used to take up a bit too much space during 

their initial journeys to cricket matches by 

packing clothes for every possible weather. In 

his book, Markham calls his wife Dearly 

Beloved or DB. The amount of trust he puts in 

her is apparent from the episode when he 

leaves her in charge of his laptop with the 

Duckworth Lewis tables, in the midst of two 

zealous club teams. The human trap of a chair 

she carries to the matches often proves a tedious 

burden, but that hardly offsets the blessing 

of a cricket-loving wife. 

“Fortunately for me my wife loves cricket 

and is fully supportive of me doing this. As a 

family we love cricket. My sons are very interested 

in following the game.We have great 

discussions, particularly about the England 

team. My wife still has the chair and she does 

expect me to put it up.” 

The most challenging task is to be able to 

focus on each ball. “Unlike the official scorers 

of the match, or county scorers or the 

premier league scorers of today, I have to do 

all of this alone. The other scorers generally 

work in pairs. So my attention has to be 

greater. Also there is the challenge of picking 

up the umpire’s signals, because he signals 

not to me but to the match scorer. There 

is also the additional challenge when journalists 

come to me asking for additional details 

while the match is in progress, and I 

have to retrieve information and pass it on to 

them while continuing to score the balls. I 

have to appreciate that some of them do 

need it immediately to put in an article.” 

Ray archives his scores on data-sticks, 

but keeps them on his computer till six 

months after the match in case some writer 

requires information for Wisden or some 

other work. He also prints out the scorecard 

of every Test match he scores, purely out of 

passion. Yes, he is passionate about what he 

does and it is apparent in the delightful autobiography 

which should form a part of any 

cricket lover’s collection. Not to be missed 

is the appendix which lays out some things 

every scorer needs to know. 

Some of these tenets are: 

■ How to get a batting order out of a captain 

■ How to shout ‘Bowler’s name please’ at a 

ridiculously loud volume, and how to decipher 

the reply shouted back 

■ How to develop X-Ray vision to see 

through the helmets in order to identify the 

incoming batsman 


Christmas Challenge 

The Notchers have challenged the Scratchers to yet another fireside fixture this year. 

Readers are invited to accept the Challenge by completing the scorecard and giving 

the result of the following match. Please send your entry (limited to one per 

reader, please) to The Third Umpire, 60 The Lawns, Rolleston-on-Dove, 

Staffordshire, DE13 9DB to arrive by first post on 15th January 2015 (or email 

johnmbrown60@gmail.com): please mark your entry ACO. All entries will be examined 

and the names of all those whose entries are correct will be put into the Umpire’s hat, from which the 

winner of the prize will be drawn at random. 

You are invited to solve the clues in order to discover how many runs each player scores. You should record 

all these scores in batting order, and complete your solution by giving the result of the match. Normal 

Laws of Cricket apply (no special regulations). There are no trick questions; all relevant information is 

provided in the clues, and you should assume that the umpire gives appropriate signals. 

The Scratchers’ XI (batting first) 

1. In a one-innings match the scores are level on 197 when the striker 

hits the ball, called and signalled No Ball, for a boundary 6. What is 

the final total of the winning team 

2. A fast bowler bowls a high full-toss which passes over both the 

striker’s and the wicket-keeper’s heads and then runs on to cross 

the boundary. How many separate (not necessarily different) 

signals would you expect the umpire to make 

3. … and how many acknowledgements should the scorer give 

4. The umpire calls and signals Wide Ball – the batsmen run two, but 

the striker is run out before completing the second run: both 

umpires signal Short Run. How many runs should be added to the 

total 

5. How many inches wide is the pitch 

6. A bowler has bowled 13.3 overs, including four No Balls and five 

Wide Balls: how many separate deliveries has he bowled 

7. … and how many of those deliveries are counted as balls received 

by the batsman 

8. The striker hits a No Ball, the batsmen complete two runs; the 

fielder’s return hits the helmet lying on the ground, and the ball 

deflects over the boundary. How many runs should be added to 

the total 

9. … and how many of those runs should be credited to the striker 

10. How many minutes is an incoming batsman allowed before he must 

be ready for the next ball to be delivered if he is to avoid the 

possibility of being given out Timed Out 

11. The striker plays no shot at a ball which runs off his pads and hits 

the helmet lying on the ground. How many runs should be 

awarded 

Extras: It has been agreed to play a match with thirteen players on each 

side: what is the maximum number of fielders allowed on the field while 

play is in progress 

Result: 

The Notchers’ XI 

1. At the start of an eventful over Team A have scored 113 for 4. 

What is Team A’s score at the end of this over The first ball is 

hit for a boundary 4; Ball 2 – batsmen run three, there are 

overthrows, and the batsmen run two more; when the ball is 

dead the umpire signals Leg-byes; Ball 3 – called and signalled 

Wide Ball which goes on to cross the boundary; Ball 4 – striker 

given out lbw; Ball 5 – striker hits delivery, called and 

signalled No Ball, batsmen complete two runs and have 

crossed on the third when the non-striker deliberately knocks 

the ball away with his bat. On appeal he is given out 

Obstructing the Field; Ball 6 – striker hits ball and the batsmen 

run three before an umpire signals Short Run; Ball 7 – the 

striker and the wicket-keeper both miss the ball which goes on 

to cross the boundary; Ball 8 - the striker plays no shot at a ball 

which deflects off the top of his pad onto his bat and then 

travels over the boundary. 

2. … and how many wickets have Team A lost now 

3. … and how many of those runs would be debited to the 

bowler 

4. In a two-day match Team A have scored 207 all out. How 

many runs must Team B score to avoid the possibility of being 

asked to follow on 

5. According to the Laws, in a match of more than one day, what 

is the minimum number of overs which must be bowled before 

a second new ball may be taken 

6. How high is a set of stumps to the nearest centimetre 

7. The striker hits the ball a second time in defence of his wicket, 

and a fielder throws the ball at the wicket in an attempt to run 

him out: the ball misses the stumps and goes on to cross the 

boundary. How many runs should be added to the total 

8. The striker edges a No Ball; the wicket-keeper misses the ball 

which goes on to deflect off the helmet lying on the ground 

and the batsmen run two before the ball is returned to the 

wicket-keeper. How many runs should be added to the total 

9. If a Wide Ball becomes irretrievable on the field of play (eg 

down a hole left by a goalpost), and the batsmen have crossed 

on the eighth run when a fielder calls Lost Ball, how many 

runs should be added to the total 

10. The toss is made twenty-three minutes before the scheduled 

start of play: how many minutes does the captain of the team 

winning the toss have before he must notify his decision 

whether to bat or field first 

11. In how many different ways may a batsman be dismissed for 

which the bowler receives the credit 

Extras: Assuming that no special agreement has been made before the 

toss, how many feet in front of the wicket may the covers extend 


Christmas 

Caption 

Competition 

Suggestions for each or either to 

the usual address – editior.aco@ecb.co.uk. 

A prize for the best caption for 

each picture is up for grabs. 

CApTION A 

DIARY 

This listing will appear here in every issue – 

but we are entirely dependent on you 

sending us the information. 

The LCB ACO Northern Branch meet at Unsworth 

CC , Bury at 7.45pm Dates of meetings are: 

January 8th 2015: AGM and Presidents evening 

February 5th 2015: "One for the scorers!" 

March 5th 2015: Guest Speaker Hugh Evans 

April 2nd 2015: Guest Speaker TBC 

CApTION B 

[A hot pot supper is available or a small charge] 

REMINDER: PLEASE SEND YOUR DATES TO 

editor.aco@ecb.co.uk 

PHILLIP HUGHES (1988-2014) 

ECB ACO wishes to echo the words as delivered by Giles Clarke, ECB Chairman, below: 

That’s out… 

This series of photos taken, of young 

Yorkshire umpire, Jonathan Crabtree at this 

year’s ECB U13 National Finals (Arundel, 

Sussex). We felt these were too good not to 

reproduce, congratulations to Jonathan on a 

good decision (one of many we hope!) and 

to the photographer – good snapping! 

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) today (27/11/2014) conveyed their sympathy to 

the family of Phillip Hughes after the tragic and terrible news of his passing in Sydney today. 

Giles Clarke, the ECB chairman, said: ‘This is sad and shocking news and the ECB joins 

England Cricket in extending its deepest sympathies and heartfelt condolences to the family 

of Phillip as well as all the members of the cricketing family who regarded him as a friend 

or colleague. 

‘He was an extremely popular and hugely respected cricketer in England and Wales not only 

as a successful tourist with various Australian teams but also as a wonderfully talented county 

player with Hampshire, Middlesex and Worcestershire. 

‘He will be missed throughout the world of cricket and today our thoughts are with his 

family and all those involved in Australian cricket.’ 

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

aco-no21-winter-2014-12998

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